DESCRIPTION:
DIE REDUKTION AUF DAS WESENTLICHE --
DAS DUO LAIA GENC UND STEPHAN MATTNER
`Focus`

Wenn Stephan Mattners kraftvoller und zugleich lyrischer Ton auf dem Saxofon mit Laia Gencs fesselndem Spiel auf dem Piano zusammentrifft, entstehen Berührungspunkte, die über eine Verflechtung der Stimmen im klassischen Sinne hinausgehen.

Die kreative Erweiterung ihrer Instrumente, die sowohl konventionelle als auch verfremdete Spielweisen aufnehmen, sind genauso charakteristisch für die beiden Musiker wie die flexiblen Phrasierungen, die zwischen kraftvoller Expression und subtilem Laidback-Spiel changieren.

So wird aus wechselseitigen Einwürfen eine Stimmung geschaffen, deren Homogenität überzeugt und die vor allem durch die Gleichwertigkeit der Stimmen getragen wird.


REDUCTION TO THE ESSENTIALS
DUO LAIA GENC AND STEPHAN MATTNER
"Focus"

When Stephan Mattner's powerful but lyrical saxophone tone meets Laia Genc's captivating piano style, common ground that goes well beyond a classical interweaving of two voices is created.
Creative use of their instruments, using both conventional and extended techniques (unorthodox tone creation/modification methods) are just as characteristic of their sound as is their inflective phrasing that oscillates between very powerful expression and subtle laid-back playing.
Through their mutual musical interjections a mood is created whose homogeneity is unmistakeable, due primarily to the equality of the two voices.


Two sleepwalkers | Duo Laia Genc & Stephan Mattner

Oh boy, was that concert a musical gem! Two world-class musicians were performing on stage. The audience will surely remember the concert.

Both musicians were highly concentrated whilst performing their own modern compositions in the domicil. Listening to each other, responding to each other, capturing the mood, dipping into each other's souls. Creating sound images that could be felt in the stomach. It was fantastic. Neither of them stood out over the other. Both performed as equals but their forceful playing was always driving the music forward.

Laia Genc and Stephan Mattner performed with absolute confidence and their playing was virtuosic. Their compositions were full of a sense of beauty, the musical phrases full of depth, the melodic movement had a richness of colour and much rhythmic variety; always moving on, working towards culmination.

The audience were so spellbound that, despite the music, silence could be felt. Nobody even thought about taking photos because the room was filled with three-dimensional musical structures.

This duo is a discovery, and hopefully there will be many more concerts like this.


Live Domicil/Dortmund 2012

www.stephan-mattner.de