CD – Opa Loka

Bart van Dongen & Richard van Kruysdijk go beyond the specific tradition of the prepared piano. In this coherent and very musical partnership they use the most classical instrument, but they hybridize the piano with several electronic and acoustic manipulations, samples and live effects. The overlappings are never radical and dissonant: being the piano perverted in the repudiation of its virtuous classic genesis is just a remote memory. We actually think there is here the attempt to enlarge the range of the instrument, searching for comparisons with ethereal processing, in between acoustic and digital, and for a special syntony, with the use of effects which are not particularly complicated (Omnichord, Kaoss Pad, elemental samples). There are five tracks. Some are very short, such as “Three”, just 2’26” long; or extended, such as “Two”, at 14’12”. But they could be considered as a continuum of refined and elegant suggestions, whose rhythmic patterns are carefully detailed, close to an improvisational mood. Van Dongen uses the piano, sometimes prepared, sometimes not, to make pliable melodies and, at a shorter extent, also beating tunes. The general mood is melancholic and dreamy, with many emotional passages and thin arias and resonances. The result is a creation of a gentle mutual relationship between all the elements. But there are also dramatic and instinctive moments, or dry noises, small amplified audio micro-emergencies (for example, the noise of the piano keys) and some fluid, enveloping and adventurous developments. The main thing for the duo seems to refer to some harmony of style and substance, where the piano’s classical tradition joins the sound and the multi-instrumentalism of Richard van Kruysdijk, with a cultured and respectful character that will probably be present in their future live appointments. The accuracy, the balance and the elegance of One Two Three Four Five will, for sure, be appreciated by an audience larger than niche and not confined to the often-complicated chamber music productions. The conceptualism here is limited to the essentials, just to the use of electronics. Some might find it limiting, but for many others this will be a novelty and a reason to enlarge the influences a large audience does not still take for granted.

 

Bart van Dongen & Richard van Kruysdijk – One Two Three Four Five