03-10-2017, 18:10
Carsten Dahl was born on this day in 1967, in Copenhagen, Denmark. He is a pianist, although he started out on drums at the age of 9, entering Copenhagen’s Rhythmic conservatory at 19, and being taught by the likes of Ed Thigpen before exchanging his sticks for the keys. He plays jazz, classical and experimental music, both solo and in ensembles/groups. A happy discovery for me – I really like contemporary European jazz and Dahl has a wonderful way with the piano – melodic and calming, yet with an essential creative edge.
He says “For me, music is, in principle, silence. So when I play, it’s actually a demo of silence. It’s as if it’s some unnecessary nonsense, because silence is the most complete music. You might say that music is a comment on the complete, and wonderful to execute, especially when you compose and create it yourself because the contrapuntal emerges on the spot and the fingers get to work on their own. I don’t have any thoughts about what I play, when I play – I focus a lot on being the one playing, not having any thoughts, not having an expectation of a certain result or a certain sound. It’s like entering a crypt beneath a church and making your own prayer or meditation, where you can be childish, outrageous, crazy, and have all the primal feelings that constitute a human being. And express all these primal feelings in a space full of love and eternity. It’s that solo where you don’t have any interaction with someone else who has another rhythm, where you on your own can accompany the silence, accompany what I call God’s whole note triplet, God’s universal massive rhythm that we all actually phrase to. That car moves to it, that man walks to it, the seagull flies to it; it’s interference, particular movement and rhythms. It’s a kind of order and ferocious chaos. Yes.”
Not sure if I’m sold on all of his ensemble stuff - not that I've heard it all, but his solo piano work, and specifically his album Grace, is simply gorgeous. Excellent for restoring equilibrium, IMHO! An audio link http://www.deezer.com/en/album/10994672. There doesn’t seem to be anything on YouTube other than a promo (which is actually quite nice so here it is … https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1p5T9AVkQRM).
“Joy” from Moon Water (Dahl/Andersen/Heral) … https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=v-PUSt-PIxQ
“Sophie’s Theme” – no idea where this is from …
He says “For me, music is, in principle, silence. So when I play, it’s actually a demo of silence. It’s as if it’s some unnecessary nonsense, because silence is the most complete music. You might say that music is a comment on the complete, and wonderful to execute, especially when you compose and create it yourself because the contrapuntal emerges on the spot and the fingers get to work on their own. I don’t have any thoughts about what I play, when I play – I focus a lot on being the one playing, not having any thoughts, not having an expectation of a certain result or a certain sound. It’s like entering a crypt beneath a church and making your own prayer or meditation, where you can be childish, outrageous, crazy, and have all the primal feelings that constitute a human being. And express all these primal feelings in a space full of love and eternity. It’s that solo where you don’t have any interaction with someone else who has another rhythm, where you on your own can accompany the silence, accompany what I call God’s whole note triplet, God’s universal massive rhythm that we all actually phrase to. That car moves to it, that man walks to it, the seagull flies to it; it’s interference, particular movement and rhythms. It’s a kind of order and ferocious chaos. Yes.”
Not sure if I’m sold on all of his ensemble stuff - not that I've heard it all, but his solo piano work, and specifically his album Grace, is simply gorgeous. Excellent for restoring equilibrium, IMHO! An audio link http://www.deezer.com/en/album/10994672. There doesn’t seem to be anything on YouTube other than a promo (which is actually quite nice so here it is … https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1p5T9AVkQRM).
“Joy” from Moon Water (Dahl/Andersen/Heral) … https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=v-PUSt-PIxQ
“Sophie’s Theme” – no idea where this is from …
"The surest sign that intelligent life exists elsewhere in the universe is that it has never tried to contact us." ~ Bill Watterson