Search - Eberhard Weber :: Chorus

The most beautiful sound next to silence

zos56 | Lane Cove, New South Wales Australia | 03/26/2010

(5 out of 5 stars)

"The title for this review was taken from ECM itself because this album is a pure expression of the genre. This was the first ECM album I ever purchased 25 years ago and still my favourite. The music is not to be listened to as background but something that can be truly appreciated through active listening. It is very slow and seemingly mournful but the minimalism lifts it out of that place so it becomes a counterpoint to the underling tone. Weber's alternate bowing and picking of his cello as well as running it through s synthesizer creates a senses of twilight with each note loaded with intensity of expression that floats above the soft brushed percussion intersected with occasional deep bass. Jan Garbarek's ice cold soprano saxophone deepens the sense of space with the same concentration. Each track flows into the next and the order is important. This music could be described as somewhere between ambient and jazz but the cold introverted passion makes it something else. Find a very quiet isolated place next to a lake before dawn with the the mist drifting in front of you. Put on your headphones, switch on your ipod and read "The Snowman" by Wallace Stevens. Everything fits into place."