With so many great pianists in ECM’s current roster, it is almost inevitable that listeners will gravitate towards certain favourites. Wolfert Brederode (b.1974) is certainly one of mine, his great economy of touch and dark, poetic lyricism striking a particular chord.
His fourth album for the label, a suite for piano, string quartet and percussion, is something of a departure from the norm. Joining Brederode are the ever sensitive Lijbaart, who has played both in duos and alongside Brederode in saxophonist Yuri Honing’s sublime quartet for many years, and the Matangi Quartet, regular collaborators since the pianist’s days at The Hague’s Royal Conservatory.
Originally a commission marking the centenary of the end of WW1, the suite has come to assume great personal significance, says Brederode, because of its handling of the themes of grief, loss and renewal. Given the gravity of the subject matter few would expect anything other than a profoundly reflective piece, but for Brederode that’s comme d’habitude.
Despite Brederode regarding this as an unfinished or evolving piece, it has an effortlessly natural flow. The more abstract and textural pieces such as the four Ruins and Dissolve particularly stand out, though it’s hard not to be affected by the haunting title track or the tender moves of Nothing For Granted. Moods range from the somewhat optimistic (Swallows) to the utterly desolate (Remains), and although some pieces carry a stronger rhythmic impetus than others (Clouds), the ensemble’s dynamic range and sonic balance is remarkably even.
One-off projects such as this can sometimes seem like anomalies in an artist’s discography, though that’s not the case here. Every bit as essential to our understanding of Brederode as its predecessors, Ruins And Remains is a poignantly beautiful piece of work.
Discography
Ruins I; Swallow; Remains; Cloudless; Ruins And Remains; Ka; Ruins II; Duhra; Ruins III; Retrouvailes; Nothing For Granted; Dissolve; March; Ruins IV (47.40)
Brederode (p) with Joost Lijbaart (d, pc); The Matangi Quartet: Maria-Paula Majoor, Daniel Torrico Menacho (vn); Karsten Kleijer (vla); Arno van der Vuurst (clo). August 2021, Sendersaal, Bremen.
ECM Records 6024 4581864
