Snow in New York
North Country
Michelle
The Line
The Hudson
Roxbury Park
Stone Rose
January
Sidewalks
Manhattan
April
Madison
Sienna
North Country II
Serenity
Ola Gjeilo – piano
Tom Barber – flugerhorn
David Coucheron – violin
Johannes Martens – cello
This is Norwegian composer
and pianist Ola Gjailo’s first ‘solo’ album,
and following on from considerable success
as a performing artist this release has been
much anticipated by fans. The contemplative
nature of his playing is a defining factor
in his style, and in the interview booklet
notes he cites Keith Jarrett as an example
of one whose work he has found attractive
in the past. ‘Contemplative’ need not be confused
with somnolent however, and as numbers such
as the opening Snow in New York and
Michelle show that more up-tempo numbers
are very much a part of Gjailo’s package of
goodies. Pieces like Roxbury Park and
the Lyle Mays sound-alike Manhattan roll
along with a relaxed and open character, and
could only come from a deep affinity with
American culture.
While most of these tracks
are indeed solo work, there are a number of
other musicians involved. Cellist Johannes
Martens appears on the super-romantic tunes
The Hudson, and Sidewalk, both
of which run the risk of melting your loudspeakers,
such is the sweetness of their effusion. He
also contributes to Madison, which
is also powerfully sentimental but has a less
overtly obvious melodic structure. Violinist
David Coucheron joins in to form a trio with
the piano and cello in Sienna, which
has a typically rolling and full-sounding
accompaniment to simple melodic phrases which
speak directly and clearly. The beautiful
North Country II sees the flugelhorn
of Tom Barber adding its own special sonority
to the piano and cello mix. Of the numbers
with added instruments this is a clear favourite,
with plenty of soulful twists and turns over
the relatively straightforward descending
bass line in the piano’s left hand. Barber
also helps close the album with Serenity,
which rumbles along fairly innocuously to
start with, but develops quite a head of steam
over the 5 minutes of its duration.
Recording label 2L’s Lindberg
Lyd was nominated for ‘Best Surround Sound’
at the Grammies in 2007, and the symbiosis
between Ola Gjeilo’s playing and producers
and engineers sympathetic to creating the
best possible piano sound has produced something
of a demonstration disc when it comes to sound
quality. Exploration of sonority and harmonic
relationships are an interesting element in
Gjeilo’s music, and it would seem he is as
much at home with the classics as with the
kind of ‘country’ jazz which often crops up
here. There are whiffs of Erik Satie in the
hymn like title track Stone Rose, and
to a certain extent in the lyrical grace of
April, and the rise and return gesture which
opens January reminds me of Richard
Strauss’s In Abendrot.
At his best, Ola Gjeilo produces
some marvellous piano playing coupled with
an intelligent and deeply felt compositional
style. Many of the tracks are relatively short,
and none outstay their welcome, but you will
have to be in tune with and appreciate his
particular heart-on-sleeve expression and
manner to love the whole album. For me some
of the pieces overflow into a rather too facile
and emotive idiom to be entirely successful
or durable. This is a very fine line of course,
and when the whole thing works we get potential
classics. If you like the more introverted
Keith Jarrett of The Koln Concert coupled
with, dare I say it, some of the kind of writing
which has helped artists like Elton John do
reasonably well for themselves, then I would
heartily recommend this disc. This young musician
has embarked on a hopefully long and gloriously
successful career with this rather marvellous
calling card, but I suspect he will have a
great deal more to offer with the added depths
of age and further experience.
Dominy Clements
CD Reviews
2L48 SACD [51:30]
