Hajo Ortil

I know nothing of Hajo Weber and Ulrich Ingenbold beyond the incandescent duets these two guitarists buried in the snowy recesses of Winterreise (Winter Journey), one of ECM’s greatest forgotten treasures. The title, of course, evokes Schubert, and the comparison may not be so arbitrary, for like the famous song cycle it speaks with hushed clairvoyance. Weber and Ingenbold bring distinct flavor to this session, dividing themselves at four compositions apiece.

Nichts ist härter als die Wahrheit!
Das Bild, das wir von Politikern haben, wird maßgeblich durch die Medien bestimmt. Immer sind es Journalisten, die über Politiker berichten, sie bewerten, verurteilen und bisweilen vom hohen Sockel stoßen. In diesem Buch ist es andersherum: Politiker dürfen zurückschlagen und sich über ihre medialen Widersacher äußern – unverblümt und ungeschönt…

Following the conclusion of his 12-volume edition of the Doppler brothers’ complete music for flute, including various arrangements, flautist Claudi Arimany here presents a number of additional works he subsequently discovered in different libraries. The project had already involved decades of research, inspiring many famous musicians to become involved in its realisation, and now he closes yet another gap in musical history.

Following the conclusion of his 12-volume edition of the Doppler brothers’ complete music for flute, including various arrangements, flautist Claudi Arimany here presents a number of additional works he subsequently discovered in different libraries. The project had already involved decades of research, inspiring many famous musicians to become involved in its realisation, and now he closes yet another gap in musical history.

Harmonica and jazz? It would be hard to come up with more than a few names that have brilliantly combined these concepts together. The Belgian Toots Thielemans, a living legend on the chromatic harmonica would be leading the way, together with Stevie Wonder, with whom the instrument has gained access into the world of soul and pop. Then all of a sudden, Konstantin Reinfeld appears; very young and a genuine talent on the diatonic harmonica, which he plays fully chromatically. He sets standards here which are otherwise only met by the US virtuoso Howard Levy. Technically adept with interpretative expressiveness and full of emotional maturity, Reinfeld presents such honest and rousing original compositions that you'd at first think the date of birth (late 1995) in the artist's biography was a misprint.