Michael Wollny

"Maelzel" . . . dedicated to Johann Nepomuk Maelzel, who displayed the famous chess automaton in early 19th century and thereby inspired Edgar Allan Poe to write his essay "Maelzel's Chess Player".Tamar Halperin - harpsichordM.W. - piano"Mesmer" . . . dedicated to Franz Anton Mesmer, whose ideas about magnétisme animal became the foundation of hypnosis.Tamar Halperin - harpsichordM.W. - piano, celesta, harmonium"Kabinett VI" . . . an ancient chamber for scientific research and alchemist experiments. After some time a hidden door is opened. Tamar Halperin - harpsichord, celestaM.W. piano, harmonium, fender rhodes



WUNDERKAMMER



“Perhaps musicophilia is a form of biophilia - the human feeling for living things - since music itself feels almost like a living thing”, writes Oliver Sachs. Watching The Night of the Living Dead the other night and the words of the old, music-loving doctor suddenly got a sinister ring. The protagonist, locked inside a country house surrounded by fleasheating zombies, finds herself in front of an old music box. She presses a button, the mechanism starts turning and small doors on all sides slide open, releasing a steady stream of shimmering, metallic pitches. The melody paralyzes her; it becomes a mirror image of the horror outside, the lack and the simultaneous abundance of life, the impossibility of telling the living from the dead. After the doors have been shut and the mechanism has come to a halt this melody will keep on playing inside of her head, inside of your head.



Musical boxes, player pianos and cuckoo clocks all ask the same question. We can open them up, expose their interior and yet we can’t help suspecting some sort of hidden agency residing in the clockwork. With the insistency of automata they sing to us of the same mystery that lies hidden in the phonograph, the gramophone, the tape recorder and the iPod. The magic and the fear of unknown identities - like shadows of ourselves – walking the world of their own reiterative accords.



When The Gramophone Company produced their first commercial records they put the image of a dog in the middle of the record. The dog sits in front of a gramophone listening to the voice of his master singing to him from the horn and he howls back in dismay. Look closer and you will discover that he is sitting on the coffin of his master. With loyalty of a true friend he refuses to accept the immobility of the body beneath him. His canine instincts tell him what we all know deep inside to be true – the dead may be smelled, touched, seen and even tasted – we were never supposed to hear them sing.

(Erik Bünger)

PRESS:



"Quoi de plus passionnant, excitant et stimulant que de découvrir un disque qui propose une musique nouvelle, une musique qui n’a jamais existée, impossible à identifier, classer ou étiqueter. La « chambre merveilleuse » du pianiste et compositeur allemand Michael Wollny définit en fait son propre univers, intime, mental et artistique. Un univers original et profond, qui provient de recherches personnelles extrêmement poussées, qui font se côtoyer la musique écrite, classique et contemporaine et les musiques improvisées européennes, marquées par le jazz et quelques cousinages avec les expérimentations répétitives de Steve Reich, Terry Riley ou Philip Glass. Il utilise à cet effet une palette où les couleurs du piano, du célesta, du clavecin, de l’harmonium et du Rhodes, sont souvent entremêlées dans une savante orchestration, qui n’oublie jamais d’être lisible et raffinée . . . e sens bien qu’il y aura toujours quelque grincheux pour dire que ça ne swingue pas et que ce n’est pas du jazz, tant pis pour eux, ils passeront à côté d’une œuvre unique, onirique et étrange, à la fois sombre et lumineuse. Un monde imaginaire, merveilleux, fantastique et inconnu, que Wollny explore avec encore plus de certitude et de sensibilité que lors de son précédent opus solo." (Lionel Eskenazi, Les Dernières Nouvelles du Jazz, F)



" 'Wunderkammer’s' blend of ancient and modern, composition and improvisation, early music and jazz sounds like nothing else I’ve ever heard. Wollny has extraordinary musical vision and has created a unique and unified sound world that is an outstanding success on it’s own terms. (.) 'Wunderkammer' is another highly distinctive offering from an outstanding musical talent." (Ian Mann, The Jazz Man Review, UK)



"Despite being studio-dependent, it is continually surprising, interspersing improvised with composed sections, restraint with sudden bursts of energy and fire, and, overall, it will please anyone who is an admirer either of Wollny's solo music, or his work with trio [em]." (Chris Parker, The Vortex Review, UK)



"Irgendwo zwischen Minimal Music (aber nicht so langweilig), elektrischer Musik (aber nicht so steril) und modalem Jazz (aber nicht so klischeehaft) - Schlicht fantastisch. CD des Monats" (Justus Noll, Kulturnews, D)



"Ein großer Schritt weiter in eine völlig neue Richtung." (Hans Jürgen Linke, Frankfurter Rundschau, D)



"Epochal" (Hamburger Abendblatt, D)



"Begrifflichkeiten wie Jazz, Pop, Klassik geraten zur Nebensache. Wollny's neue und bislang radikalste CD. " (Reinhard Köchl, Jazzthing, D)



LATEST NEWS



05/10: WUNDERKAMMER has been awarded with the ECHO Jazz 2010 ! Ceremony will take place on May 5th at Jahrhunderthalle Bochum



02/10: Michael and Nils Landgren will be ARTISTS IN RESIDENCE at Jazz Baltica 2010, which will take place July 2nd till 4th in Salzau ! Program & Tickets at www.jazzbaltica.com

01/10: Heinz Sauer's "If (Blue) Then (Blue)" (ACT 9493-2) feat. Joachim Kühn & Michael Wollny is OUT NOW !

12/09: "Live At Schloss Elmau" has been awarded "Album Of The Year" by the French Jazzman / Jazzmagazine

09/09: Michael Wollny's WUNDERKAMMER (ACT 9487-2) feat. Tamar Halperin OUT NOW !!!!



04/09: [em] have won the BMW WELT JAZZ AWARD 2009 !!! [em] is very proud to also have won the AUDIENCE AWARD in the same competition.



12/08: "[em] 3" (ACT 9660-2) has been awarded RECORD OF THE YEAR by the French "Jazzmagazine".



04/08: Heinz Sauer and Michael have won the "SWR Jazzpreis" 2008 !



12/07: "Hexentanz" (ACT 9756-2) has been awarded RECORD OF THE YEAR by the French "Jazzmagazine". 12/07: "Another Mr Lizard" from "[em] II" (ACT 9655-2) was chosen as one of BBC Radio 3’s Jazz on 3 TRACKS OF THE YEAR.



08/07: Michael has won the "Jazzpreis der Nürnberger Nachrichten 2007". The award ceremony will be held on October 7th at the Tafelhalle, Nürnberg featuring a special concert appearance by [em].

05/07: [em] have won the “ Most Promising International Newcomer of The Year” award at the 2007 Ronnie Scott’s Jazz Awards in London, UK. This award was voted for by readers of "Jazzwise" magazine. A huge THANKS to anyone who voted for us !!!



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