Wednesday, January 24, 2024

Christoph Schiller & Carlo Costa - Spinet and Drums (Neither Nor, 2023)

By Stef Gijssels

As a warning, this music has nothing to do with free jazz, but it meets our high expectations of innovative and creative boundary-breaking music. The main material is provided by German spinet-player Christoph Schiller about whom we've written before, in the context of his collaboration with other musical minimalists. A pianist by training, Schiller switched to spinet already some years ago, possibly because of the lighter texture of the tones that can be extracted from the inside of the instrument. His partner here is Italian percussionist Carlo Costa, who is one of the subtlest and possibly most lyrical of the moment. 

Together they weave four pieces for us, structured and developing around silence, calmly, with precision and a wonderful sense of pace and power, each time adding single strokes or featherlight touches to a selection of strings and objects. This is music that requires careful and quiet listening, personally, individually, intimately. 

In the chaos of year-end, the violence in the world, the cheap commercial excitement, the false claims of politics, and all the other stuff that's going on, it is a relief to take a time out, to isolate yourself from all this, and to listen to this music. You will be delighted by its aesthetic, and I hope you will feel invited to actively particpate in their world of unhurried precision and authenticity. 

Listen and download from Bandcamp.










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