Panta Rhei is the first solo piano album from Jacob Anderskov, recorded at an intimate studio session at the end of a tour in Scandinavia October 2006.
Hearing Anderskov improvising solo is like being let into the composing alchemist’s workshop. Transparant aphorisms as well as denser textures are wrought, refined and sculpted in real time, right in front of us. The music incorporates elements and estetics from the music of Anderskov’s larger ensembles, as well as more transparent sonorities – but still with his unmistakenable signature mark.
"PANTA RHEI" is Greek for ”everything is flux” (Herakles). For this album it means a.o. that everything here is improvised, with maximum attention given to the actual sounding music rather than to any preconceived ideas about what it ought to sound like. The improvisational approach was about presence, awareness and associations – rather than adherance to specific stylistical preferences. There are no edits or overdubs on the album.
As a composer and bandleader, Jacob Anderskov is the mastermind behind acts such as Anderskov Accident, Jacob Anderskov Trio, Doctor Structure, Jacob Anderskov på dansk [in danish], An Auf and his duo with Airto Moreira. Panta Rhei is his 11th album as a leader.
"Danish pianist Jacob Anderskov’s playing comes across to me as a quiet celebration, even in passages of high density or volume. His virtuosity is never in question, and his conception of note and chord relations is deliciously complex. Yet, every note is meditative, seemingly born of long introspection. His warm tones and effortless chromaticism conjure shades of Messiaen and Cage in ways that only Richard Grossman’s pianism has done previously. The music blends freedom and tradition in a manner that is often revelatory. Connoisseurs of the piano should also take note, as this is one of the most original voices I’ve heard on the instrument in some time." - Marc Medwin, Cadence Magazine (usa), April 2007 |