John Roos’ Blog

Chants, Hymns and Dances is an not album about dance music. And, not in the classic sense, really not about chants or hymns. It is a recording for cello and piano, played superbly by Anja Lechner (cello) and Vassilis Tsabropoulous (piano). But what an album! What an experience! And, no matter what I have been listening to, this music completes arrests my attention. And takes me to another place. A place I long to visit.

I love ECM recordings for many reasons but one is the extraordinary quality, and the care with which the product is package. This album is no exception. Like so many booklets for ECM recordings, this booklet is a work of art. I love the photos, and the atmosphere they create. I love just holding the booklet. While I do download a great deal of my music these days, listening to this CD and holding its booklet, reminds me why a tangible product, like this, can take us places that cannot really be approximated or replicated by downloads.

I am so grateful for Manfred Eicher, the man behind ECM. It is his passion, his commitment, his relentless pursuit that has brought to light relatively unknown music like this.

Outside of this recording, I know little about these performers, these composers, these compositions. In brief, Tsabropoulos is one of today’s leading Greek pianists and composers. He has recorded several albums, including five for ECM. But Chants, Hymns, and Dances is my only experice with him and his music. Or with cellist Anja Lechner, for that matter. Much more about Tsabropoulos can be found at his web site, http://www.tsabropoulos.gr/english/index.html.

This also is my first exposure to the music of Georges Gurdjieff, a Greek-Armenian composer who lived from 1877-1949. As is described on the “official” Gurdjieff web site site (http://www.gurdjieff.org/), “During his lifetime, Gurdjieff was almost unknown outside his circle of followers. From the 1950s onward, however, his ideas began to spread both through the publication of his own writings and through the testimonies of his pupils.” From this recording alone, I confess that I want to know more. To hear more.

For those interested in categories, this might be described as “New Age” music. The kind of “new simplicity” for which ECM has become noted. But none of these labels or descriptions do it justice.

It is music that is atmospheric. Eerie and ethereal. Serene and otherworldly. Eastern, Oriental yet still with Western roots. Colorful and idiosyncratic. Listening, it washes over me, making me feel elevated. Purified. At peace.

In short, tecommended highly for anyone wanted to spend an hour…transported.

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