Home » Jazz Articles » Album Review » radio.string.quartet.vienna with Klaus Paier: Radiotree

348

radio.string.quartet.vienna with Klaus Paier: Radiotree

By

View read count
radio.string.quartet.vienna with Klaus Paier: Radiotree


Following their high octane homage Celebrating The Mahavishnu Orchestra (ACT, 2007), Austrian conservatoire rebels radio.string.quartet.vienna return, in part, with a salute to their fellow countryman, keyboard player Joe Zawinul, who passed in 2007. The quartet, augmented by accordionist Klaus Paier, offer striking interpretations of three of Zawinul's compositions—the iconic "In A Silent Way," from Zawinul's years with trumpeter Miles Davis, "Cannonball," Zawinul's own homage to alto saxophonist and sometime band mate Cannonball Adderley, and "A Remark You Made" which, along with the ubiquitous "Birdland, was one of the most enduring tracks on Weather Report's





Heavy Weather (Columbia, 1977).



A fourth track, "Hosent'raga," was written by the Austrian vibraphonist Werner Pirchner, who shared Zawinul's culturally inquisitive world-jazz vision, and who died in 2001. The other six tracks were composed by Paier.



A generation younger than the pioneering jazz-playing string quartet, Kronos Quartet, radio.string.quartet.vienna's brasher take on the genre makes for compelling listening. They play fast, attacking the strings with percussive emphasis, they play dirty, bending notes and roughing up textures, and they play loud. "In A Silent Way" is practically the only track to deviate from this template (and to hear the tune in its unadorned, unprocessed, acoustic state only confirms its greatness).



"Cannonball" and "A Remark You Made" are given more expansive readings, the first moving between meditative and explosive passages, the second expansively arranged by Paier and wearing its emotions on both arms. Fiercer still are Paier's "FlyUp" and Pirchner's "Hosent'raga," which are both played with a whirlwind intensity reminiscent of Mahavishnu Orchestra guitarist John McLaughlin at his most abandoned, or perhaps the dervish-like fervour of eighteenth century Italian violinist Niccolo Paganini (if his legend is to be believed). Paier's "Tarantella," an appropriately wild arrangement of the upbeat Italian dance, inhabits similar, if more mellifluous, territory, and contains especially stirring and hard swinging violin and accordion solos.



Elsewhere, Paier's composing tends towards the derivative, its influences, perhaps unsurprisingly, including Argentinian new-tango accordionist Astor Piazzolla's work with string groups. But it's the playing that's the thing here, and the playing is magnificent, in-your-face and emphatically of the times we live in. Exciting and adventuresome, a real sonic blast, Radiotree opens up new possibilities for jazz and string quartets.

Track Listing

FlyUp; Musical Journey In Three Movements; In A Silent Way; Tarantella; Cannonball; Humoreske; Prelude & Circulo; So The Story Run; Hosent'raga; A Remark You Made.

Personnel

Bernie Mallinger: violin; Johannes Dickbauer: violin; Cynthia Liao: viola; Asja Valcic: cello; Klaus Paier: accordion, bandoneon.

Album information

Title: Radiotree | Year Released: 2008 | Record Label: ACT Music

Tags

Comments


PREVIOUS / NEXT




Support All About Jazz

Get the Jazz Near You newsletter All About Jazz has been a pillar of jazz since 1995, championing it as an art form and, more importantly, supporting the musicians who make it. Our enduring commitment has made "AAJ" one of the most culturally important websites of its kind, read by hundreds of thousands of fans, musicians and industry figures every month.

Go Ad Free!

To maintain our platform while developing new means to foster jazz discovery and connectivity, we need your help. You can become a sustaining member for as little as $20 and in return, we'll immediately hide those pesky ads plus provide access to future articles for a full year. This winning combination vastly improves your AAJ experience and allow us to vigorously build on the pioneering work we first started in 1995. So enjoy an ad-free AAJ experience and help us remain a positive beacon for jazz by making a donation today.

More

Tramonto
John Taylor
Ki
Natsuki Tamura / Satoko Fujii
Duality Pt: 02
Dom Franks' Strayhorn
The Sound of Raspberry
Tatsuya Yoshida / Martín Escalante

Popular

Old Home/New Home
The Brian Martin Big Band
My Ideal
Sam Dillon
Ecliptic
Shifa شفاء - Rachel Musson, Pat Thomas, Mark Sanders
Lado B Brazilian Project 2
Catina DeLuna & Otmaro Ruíz

Get more of a good thing!

Our weekly newsletter highlights our top stories, our special offers, and upcoming jazz events near you.

Install All About Jazz

iOS Instructions:

To install this app, follow these steps:

All About Jazz would like to send you notifications

Notifications include timely alerts to content of interest, such as articles, reviews, new features, and more. These can be configured in Settings.