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BASELER ZEITUNG:
- Bernhard Arndt ist der einzige von fünfen, der sich nicht mit den akustischen Ressourcen des Flügels
bescheidet. Durch wohl- beherrschten Einsatz von Live-Elektronik potenziert der Berliner Pianist das Klang-Alphabet. Mal wird das Klavier zum Tasten- Orchester multipliziert, mal wird der Ton durch selektive Filterung wie unter einem Mikroskop seziert. Digitale Pitchbend- und Delay-Programme, angewandt auf ein Klangmaterial, das über weite Strecken im Innern des (vielfach präparierten) Flügels erzeugt wird: "Inside Insight" offenbart eine surreale Klavierwelt von unbestreitbarem Reiz...
Peter Niklas Wilson
CADENCE (USA):
- Bernhard Arndt's piano improvisations combine conventional keyboard playing, prepared piano, interior play and
live electronics in unusual, even stunning, ways. The background to his work is defenitliy not "Jazz", though Cecils Taylor's name might occur to you and he's mentioned as an associate in the liner essay. Arndt's work grows out of the century's piano and/or keyboard exploration, and it includes elements of Henry Cowells's early work using piano strings, the glass on string glissandi of Harry Partch, John Cage's keyboard work from the early sonatas for prepared piano to the electric harpsichords of "HPSCHD",
Karlheinz Stockhausen's electronic manipulation of pianos in "Mantra", and Terry Riley's use of tape delay in his electronic organ improvisations. Arndt has managed to pull
all those techniques into the act of performance. The most recent improvised work that it's at all reminiscent of, and then primarily on the scale of surprise, is Marilyn Crispell and
Georg Graewe's duets for detuned pianos.
- Arndt is both an engineer of remarkable sonic shifts and an architect of well developed pieces, but more than that, he's something of a magician. These pieces often
seamlessly combine the capacity of the piano strings for altered timbres and changing pitch with a variety of electronic techniques for repetition, magnification and change. The results can be
as beautiful as they are mysterious, a sound world that exists between the instrument's interior and exterior and the accoustic and the electronic. "FROG'S" , with its swamp choir and submerged conversation added, "PRAEP-DELAY1" , with its overlaid oscillating chords, and "METROPOLIS", with its foreboding, are outstanding, but there is interest and surprise on every track. Highly recommended. Stuart Broomer
Penguin Guide to Jazz on CD: 3 Stars
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