Breinology CD

Georg Breinschmid opens a new chapter in his extensive and multifaceted oeuvre: the new album Breinology presents Breinschmid's virtuosic compositional and instrumental skills in a dazzling manner. And as always, humor is not shortchanged either.Four of the new recordings presented here were written by Breinschmid for the trio called Brein, Schmid & Gansch with his longtime companions Benjamin Schmid and Thomas Gansch-both of whom, like Breinschmid himself, have strong backgrounds in both classical and improvised music. The strong roots in jazz are brilliantly revealed in Neni's Tune or more funkily in Don't ask; things get more classical in the Rossini-Medley arranged by Breinschmid, which makes well-known melodies sound with blues inflections and in odd meters.In any case, in recent years Breinschmid has also been allowing his classical past (as an orchestral musician with the Vienna Philharmonic, among others) to flow more consciously into his work, which is increasingly reflected in compositions for classical ensembles. The Zwiefacher Suite, written as a commissioned work for the ensemble La Philharmonica, is a good example of this-a work that demands highly virtuosic and rhythmically complex playing from the musicians, brilliantly mastered by the ensemble. Musically entirely different is the elegiac-melancholic Fantasie for violin and piano, sensitively and beautifully interpreted by violinist Lara Kusztrich and pianist Mitra Kotte. Two other pieces, meanwhile, were recorded by Georg Breinschmid alone using the overdub process and above all also whistled-the rousing and groovy Guatdassdassogst, including a Dada rap, and the solemn, piano-accompanied Unknown. And in Boid is' goa, a commissioned work for voice, cello, and loops, magnificently realized by the duo CelloXang, another song text by Breinschmid can be heard-a satirical commentary on the emotional state of modern humans, delivered in the Austrian idiom.A special jewel rounds off the recordings-a version of my old composition 5/4 that came about rather by chance during a recording session with former Weather Report drummer Peter Erskine, a wonderful version created without any prior rehearsal and sensitively and masterfully accompanied by Peter Erskine.Of course, things aren't over after ten tracks either-two highly amusing bonus tracks are still to come: an arrangement of the 47er Regimentsmarsch actually recorded as a private birthday gift, and to close, a rapid-fire track with the trio The Flying Schnortzenbrekkers. Science can be this much fun!