exystence club

…Johanna Summer’s collaboration with producer Andreas Brandis has been steadily building traction. Their first venture was a highly acclaimed solo album, “Resonanzen”; that was followed by “Cameo”, a duo album with saxophonist Jakob Manz, and the concert in Lucerne became the catalyst for the new album “Dialoge” (dialogues). The context here is four duos. Each of them features Summer on one of two grand pianos, with another pianist – Claire Huangci, Kit Armstrong, Danae Dörken and Igor Levit – on the other. The objective is to create an open-ended conversation between tradition and the present, between composition and improvisation. As for the repertoire, Summer’s studio guests were encouraged to take as much liberty…

It’s been clear since she first emerged that German pianist Johanna Summer is an extraordinary soloist and virtuoso. But none of her work to date has really resonated beyond the ”wow what an incredible classical technique” dimension until this latest. Perhaps the classical strictness of her style took time to get used to. Her jazz affinity is clearest here. Perhaps she is more of a classical player than a jazz one. Perhaps, perhaps, a lot of these perhapses are still valid.
However there are fewer maybes about this well curated selection on a very still and gathered solo piano album that revels in simplicity.
…‘Giant Steps’ is done more as an étude and you could say that about a lot of what’s here. Its extreme slowness is in a way a statement.