Szilard Mezei Wind Quartet: Innen

Serbian violaist Szilárd Mezei has gained a reputation as a composer/musician that rarely fits into ordinary definitions and conventions. Throughout his career, he has systematically blurred the boundaries between modern chamber contemporary music, European folk-based themes and jazz and free improvisation. His second release with his Wind Quartet, following We Were Watching the Rain (Leo, 2009), is no exception.

With this unique quartet Mezei explores dark and deep-toned textures— playing viola and composing for trombone, tuba and bass clarinet (also, at times, clarinet and alto sax). His writing patiently investigates the colorful sonic possibilities of this rare instrumentation. The interplay of this quartet is superb and it is clear that not only did Mezei find sympathetic musicians, but he selected players keen on exploring his expressive ideas; always ready to challenge themselves.

The title track is one of the set's most beautiful compositions—a hauntingly lyrical, folk-based theme that blossoms slowly, leaving enough room for every musician to explore it in their solo articulations. "Nagymacska (Big Cat)" unfolds from a dissonant motif and features different strategies—in its impressive solo segments and within the quartet's interplay— to solve this dissonance, without losing a common thread throughout this 15-minutes composition.

Over the cours e of 26 minutes, "Hep 15 K" and " Hep 15 R" provide the four musicians a chance to expand on the rhythmic and timbral variations within Mezei's skeletal compositions, seeking nuanced and creative improvised parts. Both compositions feature the quartet's almost telepathic interplay and rich sound.

This unique recording concludes with the aptly named and beautiful "Régi Tánc (Old Dance)," a meditative and rather untimely composition that presents this quartet's wonderful aesthetic.