Music for Piano and Strings, by Stephan Thelen and Fabio Anile

Music for Piano and Strings

by Stephan Thelen and Fabio Anile

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Jeremy Clarke Bought this as an admirer of Stephan's work, but it turns out fellow composer Fabio Anile fabioanile.bandcamp.com is just as interesting. Pieces by each of them are ably performed on strings by Al Pari Quartet plus soloists including Anile. Compositions reminded me of Jo Quail's joquail.bandcamp.com/music looped cello and Michael Nyman's Greenaway soundtracks.

jim100flower Beautiful, soulful, and flawless. I hope Stephan does more in this new direction. Favorite track: Stephan Thelen: The Crying Universe (for String Quartet).

Dr. "Buzz" Frenzy (Matthew J Hesse) thumbnail

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1.	Fabio Anile: Eleven Tails (for String Quartet) 05:19	buy track
2.	Stephan Thelen: Metric Modulation (for Piano Quintet) 08:03	buy track
3.	Stephan Thelen: The Crying Universe (for String Quartet) 05:10	buy track
4.	Fabio Anile: Polymetric Counterpoint (for Piano Sextet) 07:36	buy track
5.	Stephan Thelen: Tunnel Drive (for Piano Quintet) 07:26	buy track
6.	Stephan Thelen: Ascension (for String Quartet) 05:21	buy track
7.	Fabio Anile: Foglie Morte (for Piano Quintet) 05:17	buy track

about

In October 2020, RareNoise Records released ‘World Dialogue’ (available on Bandcamp), an album of four propulsive string quartets written by Stephan. While one of the quartets was commisioned and played by the acclaimed Kronos Quartet, critics did not fail to notice the amazing qualities of the ‘other’ quartet, the Al Pari Quartet from Poland, who confidently performed the three remaining pieces of the album.

Enthusiastic about ‘World Dialogue,’ Fabio sent his freshly composed string quartet ‘Eleven Tails’ to Stephan, asking for his opinion. Stephan, who at the time had just finished writing his first piano quintet ‚Metric Modulation,‘ a piece commisioned by Swiss pianist Ulrich Koella, loved the piece. He immediately felt inspired to ask Fabio if he would be onboard to make an album of piano quintets and string quartets (played, of course, by Al Pari Quartet) together, feeling that their styles – while being similar and different at the same time - complement each other very well. Fabio didn’t hesitate and immediately, the ideas for ‘Music For Piano and Strings’ began to crystallize.

Although we grew up in different parts of the world, we have a very similar musical background in classical and in progressive rock music. We belong to the second generation of minimalists in which the original ideas of minimalism are combined with other types of music, in our case especially polyrhythmic groove music in odd meters. For Stephan, minimalism had always been about making the most out of a minimum amount of ideas. So that, in the ideal case, a piece is based on one single idea that has the potential to organically grow into something much larger. For Fabio, it was important to push the boundaries of ‘classic’ minimalism, integrating harmonic changes and melodies into the usual rhythmic textures of the musical genre, perpetually in search of horizontal and vertical movement inside the music.

We are very happy with the results of this inspiring collaboration and would like to thank the wonderful Al Pari Quartet (including its ‘fifth’ member Anna), Ulrich for asking Stephan to write a piano quintet (little did he know at the time that he would get two...) and Reto at Powerplay for an unforgetable recording session.

Stephan and Fabio, June 2022

credits

released May 5, 2023

Al Pari Quartet :

Marta Lucjan : Violin
Alicja Miruk-Mirska : Violin
Magdalena Maier-Borowska : Viola
Elżbieta Rychwalska-Dobrowolski : Cello

Ulrich Koella: Piano on 'Metric Modulation' and 'Tunnel Drive'

Fabio Anile: Piano on 'Polymetric Counterpoint' and 'Foglie Morte'

Anna Krzyżak-Siarkowska: Viola on 'Polymetric Counterpoint'

Recorded August 3 - 6, 2021, at Powerplay Studio A in Maur, Switzerland. Recording engineer: Reto Muggli
Tracks 1, 4 and 7 edited by Fabio Anile.
Tracks 2, 3, 5 and 6 edited by Stephan Thelen.
Mixed by Stephan Thelen in Zürich, Switzerland.
Mastered by Alexandr Vatagin in Vienna, Austria.

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about

Stephan Thelen Switzerland

Stephan Thelen is a composer, producer and mathematician based in Zürich, Switzerland. His activities are split into three main areas: 1) as composer, artistic director and guitarist of the Swiss minimal groove band SONAR, 2) as producer and guitarist for his Fractal Guitar and Fractal Sextet projects and 3) as composer of postminimal music ("Circular Lines", commisioned by the KRONOS QUARTET). ... more

stephanthelen.com

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