Tasten

The artists: Hans-Joachim Roedelius (piano), Onnen Bock (piano), Armin Metz (piano). The music: minimalist, spherical sounds by three grand pianos. Introverted, minimalist classical music has reached full bloom as devotees of the neo-classical movement flock to see the likes of Nils Frahm, Olafur Arnalds, and Chilly Gonzales. Neo, though, is something of a misnomer; Erik Satie is seen as the progenitor of this style - and rightly so - yet he lived over 100 years ago. If the current breed of neo-classicists have one thing in common, it is that they come from a rock/pop background and their audience is socialized accordingly. One pioneer of the genre is Hans-Joachim Roedelius. There is little classical music to be found in his backstory as a member of the avant-garde electronic combo Cluster. When he released an album of solo piano (Wie das Wispern des Windes... Like the Whispering of the Wind) in 1986 (BB 066 CD/LP), the neo-classical designation lay many years in the future. Roedelius has since issued numerous albums on which the piano plays a dominant role, either as a solo instrument or as a component in electronic collaborations, as with Stefan Schneider (To Rococo Rot), for example. Qluster was undoubtedly the most important collaborative project he was involved in. This spelling signified the group's third incarnation, having been founded under the name of Kluster in 1969 by Roedelius, Dieter Moebius, and Conrad Schnitzler. Schnitzler quit Kluster in 1972, leaving Roedelius and Moebius to carry on as Cluster. When the duo disbanded in 2010, Roedelius continued to fly the K/Cluster flag, this time as Qluster, joined by the keyboarder and electronic musician Onnen Bock. The duo again became a trio in 2013, when Armin Metz, an adventurous virtuoso on the bass, joined Qluster's ranks. Tasten can conceivably be described as the successor to the 2012 album Antworten (BB 077 CD/LP), on which grand pianos played a similarly significant role. While Antworten featured singing bowls, Tasten is exclusively a piano work, one which sees the instrument used at times in unconventional, percussive ways, it's strings plucked or stroked. Qluster explore the musical depths of three Steinway concert grands to their fullest potential. Spherical sounds of three overlapping instruments, complete with gentle tones and little melodies, sporadically culminating in impulsive sonic storms. A wonderful piece of neo-classical music by three masters of their art.