Music Nominations

Last night Ginger and I went to see + hear Makiko Hirabayashi and Marilyn Mazur play some of their newest pieces of music (some of which have not yet been recorded). The trio was rounded out by Marilyn’s husband, Klavs Hovman.

Several things about the trio reminded me of E.S.T. — though the music is of course quite different. First of all, their level of play was of course very high, but not only that: each of the three seem to be very good at listening to each other and playing together very well. This results in a “group” style of music, rather than one in which the members are simply pieced together individual talents.

There was a great deal of variation in the pieces — even though (as I said to Makiko after the show) not only Marilyn but also Makiko herself had a very percussive style of playing… and she herself admitted that when playing with Marilyn, there is almost no choice but to feel the percussion! The two also sort of reminded me at times of Steve Reich split into two parts: one drumming, the other playing the piano. However, I have this notion of sentence-length in the expression of music… — and whereas Esbjörn Svensson used to play long run-on sentences and Steve Reich might play many repetitions of very similar, very short sentences, both Marilyn and Makiko would play short sentences, but with much variation into wandering, almost rambling paragraphs — yet always with an underlying theme (and Klavs would always remind all of this underlying and recurring theme with very reliable yet also very nuanced bass playing).

All three are very approachable and have very friendly personalities. They have wonderful stories to tell, many stories… and without any need for words.

The concert was recorded live and will be broadcast via SR2.de on the 25th of January 2012.

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