Richter 858 (Hybr) [Hybrid SACD - DSD]

Bill Frisell (Artist) | Format: Audio CD

Product Details

• Audio CD (February 8, 2005)
• Number of Discs: 1
• Format: Hybrid SACD - DSD
• Label: Songlines
• ASIN: B00077CYL4
• In-Print Editions: Audio CD  |  MP3 Download
• Average Customer Review: 4.6 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (5 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #330,284 in Music (See Top 100 in Music)

Editorial Reviews

In 2002 Bill Frisell was commissioned by producer David Breskin to create the music for an elaborate art book project on the great German painter Gerhard Richter. The book, RICHTER 858, was published in connection with a comprehensive US retrospective of Richter's work, although it focused entirely on a recent series of eight small abstract paintings numbered 858 1–8. There were poems, essays, superb reproductions of the works, and Frisell's music on an inserted CD -- one piece for each painting. When Songlines' owner Tony Reif was approached about releasing the recording he suggested enhancing the music in two ways: remastering it from analogue to DSD for maximum sound quality as an SACD, and creating a CD-ROM slideshow that would present the paintings and their details together with the pieces they'd inspired, demonstrating analogies between visual art and music that Breskin and Frisell had been working with.

In fact this music is a departure for Frisell, although it builds on musical friendships going back years or decades. Having discussed the possibility of a project with strings since the '80s, Breskin and Frisell settled on the basic sound, electric guitar and three acoustic strings, and on the players -- gifted, far-ranging improvisers who would relish the aesthetic challenge. After viewing the paintings in a private showing and finding out more about Richter, Frisell set about composing. A few months later Breskin and the band rendezvoused in Seattle and after a couple of days' rehearsal the music was recorded in a live mix to 1" analogue in just one day by master engineer Joe Ferla. There's a density to the music, a layered quality, and performance strategies that all clearly relate to Richter's art. But Frisell's RICHTER 858 also stands on its own as an evocative suite that straddles jazz and contemporary new music, moving between musical abstraction and something more melodic and "representational," from extremes of dissonance, energy and noise to darkly serene meditations. Inspired by the whole process, Frisell has since written much more for the band, which premiered this music January 11/03 at the San Francisco Museum of Modern Art, has recorded as the string section of his latest Nonesuch project Unspeakable, and is undertaking its first US tour as the 858 Quartet in February.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

28 of 30 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Let a thousand quartets bloom!, February 13, 2005

By 

greg taylor (Portland, Oregon United States) - See all my reviews
(VINE VOICE)    (TOP 1000 REVIEWER)   

This review is from: Richter 858 (Hybr) (Audio CD)

In recent years, I have read some reviews that chastised Bill Frisell for making music that is a little too accessible. Any fears that we might have that he will engage in that kind of nonsense on this CD are put gloriously to rest during the first two minutes of play.
The opening is two minutes of electronic distortion, skittering extended techniques on string instruments and oddball humor. Delightful. Out of that emerges a strumming guitar followed by Ivesian melodies by the string section.
I recently remarked in a review of a Dresser-Uitti CD that I felt that creative improvised music was experiencing a string instrument renaissance. Part of that renaissance is a renewal of interest in the string trio/quartet as a medium for improvised music. Early efforts in that renaissance were made by Henry Threadgill, Anthony Braxton, Julius Hemphill and Oliver Lake (of course- that particular quartet of individuals started the music off in so many directions). In the last decade, Tristan Honsinger and Ig Henneman have made fascinating contributions to the quartet form while the Arcado String Trio and the Amsterdam String Trio have explored a nearby sonic world.
The delight of this particular CD is the conceit of using Frisell's guitar and electronics in lieu of one of the traditional violins. The other players are Jenny Scheinman on the violin, Eyvind Kang on the viola and Hank Roberts on the cello. The eight pieces are inspired by eight paintings in a series by Gerhard Richter. The CD's booklet has very nice reproductions of the paintings and interviews with both Frisell and producer David Breskin who oversaw the whole project. The interviews tell you much about the creative process that was involved.
I find this to be mostly a very successful piece of music. I was trying to be precise earlier when I mentioned Ives. The last few years of Frisell's career has been defined by an immersion in and a reimagining of Americana. With this CD, he gives American folk sensibilities as much of a tweak as Ives did in many of his pieces. The results are both familiar and oddly disturbing. Part of the reason for the disturbing quality is the way the geography of the sound is spaced. Frisell is in the center and the other three are heard through and around him. Frisell uses plenty of space of course so he does not dominate the sound but the result is that his playing frequently emerges seamlessly out of the playing of one of the others.
My only beef with the music is the electronics. One of the problems I have with electronics in music is that occasionally they almost always remind me of cheap sci-fi movie special effects. I know this is nothing more than my weird quirk but there it is. This occurs for me on the sixth piece. From Ives to Star Trek in a single musical phrase. I am just getting too old for that sort of juxtaposition.
But this is a minor and personal criticism. I enjoy this CD everytime I have put it on. I hear something new every time. And every time I feel a delight in the fact that my beloved string quartet format is being renewed. My thanks to Hank, Jenny, Eyvind and Bill.

8 of 11 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars definitely not The Intercontinentals, June 7, 2005

By 

Drusca (somerville, ma) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Richter 858 (Hybr) (Audio CD)

Most interesting and adventurous work Frisell's released in almost a decade. Dissonant and abstract. Parts resemble Bartok's string quartet writing. One for those of us who have grown quite bored with the pentatonic blues licks and the static vamps.

Thanks Songlines for putting this out, and for doing such a comprehensive job in presenting the project.

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars WOW ! ! !, May 12, 2010

By 

A Reader "snailgate" (Newark, DE United States) - See all my reviews
(VINE VOICE)   

Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: Richter 858 (Audio CD)

I picked this up because I like the guitar work of Mr. Frisell and The NY Times had a review of a concert performance of a group led by Frisell called "858"

I had no idea what I was getting. It is a group of musical pieces (tone poems?) composed in response to a group of paintings by Richter. The liner notes include pictures of the paintings. When I plugged the disc into my computer, two CD icons came up. One was a typical icon for musical recordings, and I copied that into my computer memory. The other icon produced a slide show of the paintings, full screen on my computer display and they were beautiful. At the same time the music played in my computer speakers.

I have not the musical vocablulary or knowledge to describe the music. Some of the liner notes compare it to Philip Glass. The first cut starts as (to me) pure noise. But the left side of the picture is kind of chaotic and jarring. This moves into other, kinder sounds.

Each painting is different, and each of the eight musical reactions is different. Rarely did I hear any kind of melody. But they are all interesting and worth replaying, while carefully looking at the paintings.