Photo by ©Luciano Rossetti

PORTFOLIO by Luciano Rossetti

Sergio Armaroli - Elisabeth Harnik

Sergio Armaroli - Giancarlo Schiaffini - Sebi Tramontana

Soundscapes #4 Berlin

Harri Sjöström - Sergio Armaroli

Sergio Armaroli - Giancarlo Schiaffini - Andrea Centazzo

Harri Sjöström - Sergio Armaroli

PROGRAMM

REVIEW

SOUNDSCAPES

DOME HALL IN SILENT GREEN

BERLIN

The Finnish soprano saxophonist Harri Sjö-

ström has been at home in Berlin for almost forty years.

Berlin for almost forty years: for more than ten

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LIVE

he has been organizing concerts at various venues

the city with the who's who of its rich improvisation scene and beyond.

improv scene and beyond.

The first two “SoundScapes” festivals

vals were held in Helsinki, followed by Munich

Munich and now for the first time in Berlin.

The festival took place over two evenings in the

impressive domed hall of the Berlin art complex

Berlin art complex Silent Green and featured a line-up

a line-up of 19 musicians from Finland,

Italy, Germany, Great Britain and the

the USA. The musicians did not bring any established

established projects or even their own music

music, but themselves and the impulse

to create freely improvised instant compositions.

compositions. Sjöström had divided them into groups ranging from

groups ranging from trios to octets. Each

group had 15 minutes to perform their set

live in the middle of the stately hall.

hall. Anyone who listens to improvised music

know that a group sometimes needs 15 minutes

15 minutes to find their feet; the time pressure

the time pressure lent immediacy and instinctiveness to every encounter.

and instinctiveness to every encounter.

At the beginning of the event, drummer

percussionist Olavi Louhivuori, pianist Libero Mureddu

Libero Mureddu, woodwind player Frank Grat-

kowski, violinist Philipp Wachsmann,

bassist John Edwards and flautist Livia Schweizer

Livia Schweizer quickly established a connection,

when the sounds of each individual member

members developed into a coherent whole.

developed into a coherent whole. After a very quick

change was followed by the quartet consisting of the

microtonal accordionist Veli Kujala,

trumpeter Liz Allbee, vibraphonist Els Vandeweyer and

Els Vandeweyer and Sjöström with an equally

equally captivating piece full of bright arpeggios

peggios and shimmering tones. Next up

the trio consisting of percussionist Tony Buck

drummer Tony Buck, horn player Elena Margarita

Kakaliagou and keyboard player Liz Kosack

Kosack explored a sonically structured space

full of fluid electronics, breathy brass

brass and multi-layered percussion.

During each of the nine sets of the first

captivating evening, the sextet with pianist

pianist Elisabeth Harnik, Edwards,

Buck, Sjöström, Vandeweyer and Wachs

man, who played a whole quarter of an hour

full of tension and rhythmic movement.

and rhythmic movement. - On the second evening, the

atmosphere was somewhat different. The first series

of sets was more subdued and moodier.

fuller. Trombonist Sebastiano Tramonta-

na, together with Louhivuori,

Wachsmann, Edwards and Sjöström developed a

structured and contoured set withl

characteristics of New Music. Buck,

Louhivuori and the percussionist and electro

ronist Andrea Centazzo created a fascinating and

fascinating and multi-layered percussive piece.

piece. The octet with trombonist

Giancarlo Schiaffini, the cellist Guilher-

me Rodrigues, Gratkowski, Tramontana,

Kujala, Sjöström, Wachsmann and Schwei-

zer illustrated the subtlety of the second

evening with a carousel of sound colors.

colors. The sounds undulated, whirred, buzzed

and roared, and the end was surprisingly

s c h e n d sentimental. Next, Centazzo introduced the concept of

Centazzo introduced the concept of soap blowing into

improvisation and ended the set with the abrupt

with the abrupt sample of a soul melody.

the. The last piece of the evening was a

quartet with vibraphonist Sergio Armaroli, Mereddu

Armaroli, Mereddu, Vandeweyer and Harnik.

This double duo was imbued with extended

techniques and was essentially characterized

essentially characterized by the percussive use

of the two vibraphones and the two cla

the percussive use of the two vibraphones and the two pianos. The event ended with a tutti

with a tutti in which all 19 musicians performed a

a joint commemoration of the recently

recently deceased cellist Tristan Honsinger

who recently passed away. Even after stepping out into the balmy

the balmy autumn night, past the enticing

past the enticing collection of the No Man's

Land pop-up record store, the feelings of this

feelings of this intimate shared musical

experience lingered for a long time.

PAUL ACQUARO