Brad Mehldau - Live in Tokyo

I've been listening on and off to this treasured recording for almost a week. Likely it's one of my desert island discs. Having listened to it by now maybe hundreds of times, the music has seeped into my bones.  I remember very well how I stumbled into it whilst on holiday in Italy, five or six years ago. That whole week in the Marche got drenched in the tremendous artistry, energy and concentration of this formidable piano solo live concert. It may not be the most subtle piano playing around (in the sense that Shostakovich is likely not the most subtle symphonist around) but there is a no-holds-barred, joyful reverence for the sheer beauty of music that touches the heart. Nietzsche might have liked this kind of 'mediterranean' inspiration. It is the perfect blend of improvisational dash, wistful lyricism and hymnic exuberance that gets me enthralled every time again. I just love those rapturous, meditative, chiming chordal waves, those daring modulations in harmonic hyperspace, those complex contrapuntal textures (often including three separate lines) and also those fragile, sparse right hand musings. I have two versions of this recital: one featuring a selection only issued as a single CD, and another one (Japanese import) with the complete recital on a double CD. I almost always prefer the single CD version as the pacing and sequencing of the tracks is just perfect, starting from the disciplined but intriguing impro on Nick Drake's Things Behind The Sun, momentary settling down in Gershwin's Someone To Watch Over Me, onwards to the ever more dense and dazzling textures of Porter's From This Moment On and the riotious energy of Monk's Dream to culminate in the jaw-dropping, 20 minute long meditation on Radiohead's Paranoid Android. Then there is a lull, with Gershwin's sweet How Long Has This Been Going On?, only to launch into Drake's River Man as a rousing, exalted finale. What adds to the excitement too is the generous acoustics of Sumida Triphony Hall - with audience's intrusions adding to the atmosphere - that have been wonderfully captured, allegedly by a simple set of overhead microphones. It's a shame that Nonesuch seems to prefer a much drier and less involving sound for its other Mehldau recordings. For me, this is the provisional high point in Mehldau's output. I am curious to hear his next solo installment, but having heard his rather unfocused live concert earlier this year (in Hasselt) I am not hopeful it will upstage the Tokyo disc. Doesn't really matter. This one has brought me already so much pleasure, and will continue to do so for a long time.

Paolo Fresu 5ET - Incantamento

I'm getting behind with documenting my listening trajectory. During my stay in Stockholm I listened to just two discs on my Sony mp3 player. Easy listening fare, to chill a little bit after the rather strenuous thinking at the architecture school during the day. Incantamento is one disc in a series of five that Paolo Fresu and his quintet have been recording since 2005 for Blue Note, at the occasion of their 20-year existence (without changing their lineup!). Each of the titles is dedicated to original compositions of one the band members. In Incantamento saxophone player Tino Tracanna had a free hand. It's a beautifully crafted, suave recording featuring strong, but rather diffident compositions and superbly polished playing. Fresu himself is curiously reticent on this recording. It's all very enjoyable but maybe a little too polished for its own good. Most of these recording have already disappeared from the catalogue, I notice, but there is now a 2-disc collection that features the highlights from Fresu's Blue Note years (he is with ECM now).

The other audition was a rather less pleasurable experience. Jan Garbarek's In Praise of Dreams, an ECM production, brings together a star cast with Kim Kaskashian on viola and Manu Katché on drums. But musically it's a disappointing affair. Whilst the Fresu disc may not be very demanding either, there is the feeling of genuine musical invention. Here Garbarek leans a little too much to mindless new age schlock for comfort. I found this really getting on my nerves.