Customer Reviews

Vienna Concert

5 star:		(22)
4 star:		(2)
3 star:		(5)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

The inside of liner notes read: "I have courted the fire for a very long time, and many sparks have flown in the past, but the music on this recording speaks, finally, the language of the flame itself." Keith Jarret could not have put it any better. This release is far and beyond more complete, more epic than almost anything I have ever heard - certainly a highlight from Jarrett's discography, anyway. Paris, generally concieved as the best Jarret release by Amazon reviewers, seems like passionate but unorganized playing when compared to Vienna. Vienna has a completeness like no other Jarrett recording, from beginning to end it is as if we are a lone tree wethering a terrible storm only to emerge once again, still alive, or perhaps even resurected, back into the glory of sunlight; experiencing death and rebirth; experiencing - witnessing - the true act of musical CREATION. Nothing improvised compares to this - it is absolutely miraculous that such a complete and seemingly organized transportation could have emerged from pure improvisation. This is Jarrett's favorite Solo recording, and it is my favorite, along with Bremen-Lausanne, as well. Part 2 remains a Coda of Part I, albeit a powerful one, perhaps the most dark (yet tonal) and entrenched (emotionally) movement Jarrett has ever spawned from his ivories; Undescribable. There is a wholeness to Vienna, an emotional journey - that begins with 00:00 of Part I and finishes with 26:03 of Part II - that is completely unique to this recording. From the Cecil Taylor-inspired percussive frenzy of the storm to Jarrett's final last exhasperation, "Oh!", in the face of what can only be described as musical light breaking through clouds of doom at last, Vienna is a masterpiece of modern art and sure to please; but only if you are willing to listen.

If you liked La Scala (the runner-up to this one), Paris Concert or Dark Intervals, this album is sure to knock you off of your feet.

I have listened to just about everything that Jarrett has released over the last 35 years, even his work with Miles, and this ranks as my favorite. For a long time I thought that nothing could compare to his Bremen & Laussane, Sun Bear Concerts or Koln Concerts in terms of his live improvisational work...... until I heard this CD. As other reviewers have indicated, it is really impossible to describe this recording, so I won't really try to do that. But to give the potential listener some sense of what they're in for, the first piece is roughly 41 minutes and change and the second piece comes in at about 25 minutes. The first piece begins with a very deliberate approach. The chord changes are almost hymnal in genre, the melody melancholy, yet soothing. As the piece progresses, it builds momentum and you can hear Jarret's humming and cries of joy, feet stomping, hands slapping at and pounding keys and wood. The piece then takes a darker turn, as if replicating a life's journey through triumph and tragedy. The second piece picks up where piece one left off, yet seems to come to terms with the earlier conflict along the journey and concludes with a kind of quiet resignation, as do most of us in life. The crowd responds with delirious applause. I'm not trying to sound like a dinosaur, but you really have to search for this kind of music in these times; the kind that moves you, that resonates with you viscerally. It's out there, but it's very rare, indeed. Even though this CD takes some participation by the listener because it is a huge work, when you give it the time, it is a wonderful listening experience for those who enjoy classical, hymnal, jazz, and any kind of improvisational music. The music is powerful, soothing, simple, complex; it runs the gamut of human emotion. Most highly recommended.

The art of improvisation has been embedded in music for as long as music itself has existed. Contrary to popular belief, improvisation is not reserved for only jazz musicians. The undisputed masters of classical Western music - J.S. Bach, Mozart, Liszt - were incredible improvisors, though most probably consider them strict, verbatim composers. Great composition, however, flows from the same river as great improvisation, and sometimes, the two meld into one, uniting the two most significant musical disciplines into a seamless artistic statement. Keith Jarrett has done an immense amount of solo piano improvisation and has come away with some wonderful works, but never has he composed spontanteously, with such beauty, on the piano as he did on that glorious night in Vienna.

If the listener is to gain anything from listening to Vienna, they must treat it with respect. The program demands it - one 42-minute and one 20-minute piece. Be rest assured, however, that the more respect you give this recording, the more it will give back to you. Don't listen to this while you walk the city streets or ride the subway, at least on your first several listens. Listen to this in a quiet room, with no distractions, just as you would during a concert of Jarrett's music.

Part I is the centerpiece of this recording, and is effectively divided into several movements. The first movement, at roughly 13 minutes, establishes a deceptively simple, yet beautiful, theme and plays with it in various permutations, often swelling and ratcheting the intensity of the notes to build tension and take the listener a journey instead of taking them through a mundane sonata form. Jarrett's music has never been this beautiful, and there are few other recordings where he reaches this level, with Radiance being a possible exception. For those who have heard Jarrett's earlier recordings, especially ones like The Koln Concert from the '70s, the quantum leap in facility and skill will be striking, as Jarrett comes closer and closer to creating music without physical limitations of hands, fingers, or mechanisms.

The second movement starts extremely quietly and builds to a raucous climax that is so aggressive that it almost sounds atonal, yet on close examination falls squarely within a key center. Jarrett again begins with a basic theme and alters it to his liking until concepts like theme and variation are transcended and only music comes forth. After blowing the second movement out of the water, Jarrett comes down slightly for his third and final movement, his coda of Part I. It restates the theme from the first movement differently, yet retains the same cohesive narrative thread that he established in the first several minutes of Part I. Jarrett ends with beautiful falling action and brings the listener down softly to an ultimate, satisfying resolution in a squarely consonant, major tonality.

Part II is in the spirit of Part I's second movement, except it has less skillful rise and fall in the way of musical narration. Jarrett is more clearly riffing on a basic groove or riff in Part II, and it's still viscerally pleasing, yet without the sophistication and contour of Part I. After Part I, however, it's only natural that he should be a little tired, so to speak, and resort to a more watered-down form of improvisation.

Part I is one of the finest solo improvisations you will ever hear from Jarrett, let alone anyone. The way he skillfully blended his various themes into a tightly woven narrative framework that constitutes a legitimate composition has been reached few other times by Jarrett (notably on La Scala, although that was several years after Vienna). In the end, though, the music speaks for itself, and this review is simply to convince you to go out and experience it for yourself. I suggest you do so, and treat the music with respect. Few other works of art deserve it as much as the Vienna Concert does.

This album is unbelievable. I have not heard all of Jarrett's solo work yet, but I do also own the Koln concert and La Scala and I think that this one is far better than either of those. This was the album that Jarrett himself thought was his best when he recorded it; that he had acheived here what he had always strove for. He even held a press conference with his producer Manfred Eicher, he was so pleased with this album.

One thing I think this concert has that the others don't is a sense of completeness. In all of them he's playing for quite an extended time, with constant creativity, and the first part of this concert almost has the feel of a unified piece. It is especially unbelievable to me that this whole thing was improvised.

If you like beautiful music(and who doesn't?) you can't go wrong with this album.

I was obsessed by Jarrett's playing for many years and while now I can find myself irritated by the enormous ego and its sometimes stultifying effect on his music, Vienna Concert remains for me a sublime creation which made a profound impact on me the first time I heard it. More than in any of Jarrett's other solo concerts, the capacity for waywardness is kept in check and he delivers a marvellously focused performance, synthesising styles that would seem to be irreconcilable into an inevitable whole. As a professional classical pianist, I'm tempted to say that of all piano records I've heard, this one has been the most influential.

To my knowledge, Jarrett released three solo albums in the 80s and 90s that ECM markets as venue-specific concert recordings: 'Paris' (1989), 'Vienna' (1992) and 'La Scala' (1997). Each is very different in style, yet it's impossible to say that one is better than another. Each to my mind deserves a clear 5-star rating. Each is best played to suit or create a different mood.

It only struck me yesterday, when returning from holiday on a Boeing 737 and listening to 'Vienna', that for this improvisation, Jarrett just conceivably could have been inspired by the two-tone steward call as he flew to the venue. whne you're next in an airplane, listen to the very first two notes of the recording, upon which much of the improvisation is built, and then press the 'Steward' button! There's a striking similarity.

You can buy 'Vienna' just for the first 15 minutes, if you want something instantly appealing. Here Jarrett sets up one of his best-ever grooves, almost doing the job of a four-man rock band: while his left hand lays down the bass line, his right hand performs the lead solo, his foot taps out the rhythm, and then there's the familiar vocalising. I don't believe that his singing would have given Ella much cause for competitive concern, but Jarrett fans will know that it's absolutely right for his music. No, I suspect the greater marketing potential is for whichever manufacturer makes Jarrett's shoes -- they're probably unaware of its use as a musical instrument. (Future CD inlay card statement: "Keith Jarrett plays Bosendorfer pianos and Hush Puppies footwear.")

My brother bought 'Vienna', recorded the first 15 minutes for his own consumption, and then gave his father-in-law the CD for a birthday present. Cynical?! He's missing a real treat.

Really quite amazing music. Although I wouldn't reccomend starting with this as your first Jarrett cd, it's definitely worth getting into if you liked Paris or La Scala. He starts out with about ten minutes of isolated chords in something that sounds a lot like Messiaen. For about half an hour, the listener is taken on a journey through some quite intense (and quite atonal) playing, ending with the essence of C major. Pure bliss. The second part is interesting and does fit the tone of the cd but as another reviewer said, the first track is complete in itself. Very intense work and very very moving. Well worth it.

This is one of my favorite solo piano concerts by Keith Jarrett.

It may be somewhat less accessible than the Koln concert for example, because in the first part we find an extended atonal improvisation, which to the uninitiated can be quite unpleasant or even disturbing to listen to.

However if you listen with an open mind you will find some stunningly beautiful moments on this album. The first jazzy section is very pleasant listening, and then it gradually morphs into a very dark chordy passage rife with fascinating harmonies.

It is after this section that a very intense, rhythmic and dark portion starts. This is one of my favorite moments in the entire concert. Eventually he immerses us deeper and deeper in dissonance until he indulges in virtuosic atonal runs up and down the keyboard for a long time. However---he continues with a similar figuration from the atonal passage and transitions into a glorious major key passage! It is like contrasting Hell with Heaven.

The second part of the concert may be seen by some as repetitive as he stays very much in one key area for a long time, however the variations in dynamics and rhythm are fascinating.

After that my favorite moment in the whole concert begins. He starts playing these atmospheric tremolo passages with an almost medieval style melody. The melody has a "conversation" between the hands, with some slowly descending figures. Suddenly! He takes this conversation and plays them as very very soft chords---it is some of the most intensely sad piano music I have ever heard. Then the tremolos come back...this has a very powerful effect.

Being a piano improviser myself I highly highly reccommend purchasing this album. Keith Jarrett is one of a kind!

The type of improvisation in which Keith Jarrett excels is, at its best, a wonderful experience. It is, however, also full of suspense, because along the performance there are always points in which he seems to have lost his way. People who listen to his probings in all directions until he finds a way out are unavoidably left in anxious expectation - will he get away with it, this time? He always seems to do, that is what we wish and what we have come to expect from him, but there is this unpleasant fear, as if we were parents watching their child`s debut on the scene. Amazingly enough, this anguish at the "lost" phase does not disappear when we listen to the CD repeatedly, but it also makes the final liberation an unforgettable experience every time. So the various people who reviewed this CD before me were all right in their apparently disparate judgments. It is wonderful, and it is exhasperating. It does feel like a lonely tree that has survived a tempest, as a reviewer put it, but it is frustrating to those who would like it to be easier to listen, as others have pointed out. The reviewer who said the creative strain will become clearer with each listening was also right. Because there is a lot of probing, and a very slowly emerging solution, the evolution of melody is hardly perceptible for a while, but listening to it repeatedly reveals the uniqueness of Jarrett`s creativity. No wonder he considers it to be his best work - it sounds as a real battle with inspiration, and a victorious one.

As the lucky owner of 30 Jarrett CD's, I must declare this as my number one. Vienna Part II took me two years to "learn" to hear, but I'am sure now that it is his best - ever. It takes time to get into Jarrett, and I'am now "working" with Sun Bear Concerts... B.R. Mikael Funch