There is this moment, right before the music begins – everything could happen, it’s this moment of purity and silence, full of clarity, tension, expectation. The music on bei emerged from this very moment of silence.
The art of listening is something not only an attentive audience will acknowledge as a high value in music. It’s also the basis of an engaging collaboration and plays a key role in every duo’s encounter. While Henning and Christoph already stand out in operating their respective instruments, their new record also shows that they master in paying attention and responding to one another’s approach simultaneously.
As a result we’re treated with a charmingly spontaneous expression of musical vision that creates a fluid union of sounds to immerse in, proving the interplay of piano and violin to be a timeless and continually fascinating combination. Without taking itself too seriously, this is an honest recording and one that’s achieving a vivid listening experience by providing an almost organic feeling of breathing strings and whispering keys. However, bei delivers much more than the calmness of a whisper: Henning and Christoph let their tunes float and move freely without ever losing their grip, combining versatile shapes of a classical duet with the playful touch of open-mindedness in the most refreshing and satisfactory manner.
The fact that these wonderful suites of chamber music are born from an improvised performance makes the understanding at hand even more astonishing. The two friends’ joined forces have turned into a highly entertaining album, rich with emotions and influences to discover. Through their broad spectrum of transmission we’re witnessing two artists at their most focused and daring: The process of immediate composing.
Henning Schmiedt: piano
Henning Schmiedt was born in 1965 and grew up in the former East Germany where working with art and music represented social freedom. He studied music in Rostock, and gave concerts and made CDs particularly with jazz-oriented ensembles in the middle of the 80s. In the 90s, he was influenced more and more by both classical and world music.
He played, arranged and produced for many international artists like Mikis Theodorakis, Maria Farantaouri, Jocelyn B. Smith, Zülfü Livaneli, Wu Wei, Georgeos Theodorakis, Sema, Lauren Newton, Maria Del Mar Bonet, Milva, Dimitra Galani, Al di Meola, Petros Pandis and many others.
Creative desire for musical experiments: film soundtrack for a Kurt Weill film, theatre music for “Metamorphosis” based on ideas by Kafka, re-instrumenting of Mahler’s “Songs on the Death of Children”, various sound installations, composition of chamber music, vocal music, etc…
Global player: in addition to performing in concerts all over the world with all kinds of ensembles and orchestras, he was dedicated to his very own project PamagieRA, combining and improvising contemporary chamber music with original world music as well as his own solo CDs.
Christoph Berg: violin
Christoph Berg is a composer and musician living and working in Berlin, focusing on fragile acoustic chamber music compositions for violin and piano that he is performing as a one man ensemble.
After releasing his critically acclaimed debut album Paraphrases in 2012 through the Facture imprint, he started touring and working with several artists such as Rauelsson, Henning Schmiedt, Takeshi Nishimoto and Aaron Martin, to name a few, as well as writing and producing music for films.
Besides, he is member of several collaborative music projects and also works as a studio violinist every now and again.
Release Date: Japan – March 22nd / Overseas – April 14th, 2017