Praha

Jakub Jan Ryba's Czech Christmas Mass, the composer's most famous work, has a kind of local cultural significance analogous to the importance of Handel's Messiah in English-speaking countries. Ryba, born between Mozart and Beethoven, uses the language of the late Classical era, and his Mass has an entirely unpretentious folk-like quality and directness. Ryba's music and his orchestrations in particular, are full of wit and fresh inventiveness, but he seems innocent of melodic or harmonic complexity. The effect, though, is not predictably simplistic, but charmingly rustic and emotionally transparent. The performers here, while clearly artists of the utmost sophistication, have just the right unmannered approach for the music, and it comes off beautifully.

The Félix Zurstrassen Quartet brings together the brilliantly rhythmic Zurstrassen / Pierre (BEL) and the incomparable Nelson Veras (BRA) on the acoustic guitar and the prodigious Ben van Gelder (NLD) on alto saxophone. This high-flying quartet is presenting its new album NOVA, which is at the crossroads of modern and contemporary jazz. While the melodic and harmonic universe of Félix Zurstrassen’s compositions is inspired by musicians such as Brad Mehldau and Pat Metheny, the (poly-) rhythmic universe is influenced by the conceptual music of Steve Coleman and Aka Moon. This sophisticated, contemporary music really focuses on the acoustic sounds of the instruments.