Search - Kandinsky Trio, Kurt Rosenwinkel, Paul Langosch :: On Light Wings

With a soaring spirit of wonder, imagination, and adventure, the Kandinsky Trio's On Light Wings spans the American musical worlds of jazz, classical, and creative improvisation. Journey through three world premieres -- across a long musical bridge, through the haunts of silent film, and on the hunt with an iconic American composer to find his unique voice within 20th century music. Jazz makes its presence known throughout all three works. Composer/jazz trumpeter John D'earth wrote Natural Bridge for the Kandinsky with the addition of guitar and bass (on this recording, Kurt Rosenwinkel and Paul Langosch, respectively). Rosenwinkel describes Natural Bridge as "a wonderful journey through diverse musical landscapes that showcases the Kandinsky's natural eclectic vision, enthusiastic and open-minded spirit, virtuosity and cohesiveness, and juxtaposes modern jazz guitar as the lead narrative voice, blending sonic and stylistic territories." The Trio commissioned D'earth's beautifully creepy Silent Faustus as an adaptation of his full score for F W Mernau's 1926 silent film masterpiece, Faustus. This condensed version is a musical evocation of Faust's pact-with-the-devil story, but reworked to push the performers' limits in new ways. On Light Wings takes its name from the subtitle of Gunther Schuller's 1984 four-movement Piano Quartet, performed here by the Kandinsky and guest British violist Roger Chase. A metaphor for the work's generally light character, Schuller says the piece "results not so much from 'experimentation' or any kind of radical attempts at 'originality,' but rather from an urge to identify a recognizable, personal language." The last movement, "Bagatelle (with Swing) attempts "once again to bring the strings into the world of modern jazz an idiom to which this category of instruments (and instrumentalists) has been curiously resistant," notes Schuller.