ANAKLASIS / katalog / Revisions / ANA 007

High Definition Quartet is an ensemble well-tested in musical explorations, and its pianist-leader Piotr Orzechowski has adopted, not without reason, the nickname of Pianohooligan – one who with roguish impudence jumps across the fences that separate various musical worlds. On the CD Forefathers’ Eve we traverse the rarely visited borderline between jazz, broadly understood improvised music, and electronics – viewed by some still as ambient, and by others already as home-made contemporary classical music.

The otherworldly phantoms conjured up here, and inspired by Adam Mickiewicz’s Forefathers’ Eve, Part Two, are all eminent figures of the world’s experimental music – William Basinski the ambient magus, Christian Fennesz the master of prepared guitar and Robert Rich, an expert on sombre oneiric soundscapes. The other participants of this fascinating ritual are Krzysztof Knittel, playing an infrared-operated monochord, and Igor Boxx of Skalpel duo. Together they strive to open, at least partly and for a moment, the door between the material and spiritual worlds. Is music not the best vehicle for this difficult task?