available as CD and download
1. Part 1 - 13:07
2. Part 2 - 12:44
3. Part 3 - 13:15
4. It Only Took - 6:52
5. Throb - 7:02
Niels Klein Trio:
Niels Klein - Tenor Saxophone, Compositions
Matthias Akeo Nowak - Bass
Fabian Arends - Drums
EOS Kammerorchester:
Susanne Blumenthal - Conductor
Violins: Katharina Vogt, Ségolène de Beaufond, Mayumi Sargent Harada
Terese Pletkute, Volhar Hanchar, Christine Schäfer, Eva Csizmadia
Violas: Lea Strecker, Pauline Buss
Celli: Mateusz Kwiatkowski, Tom Verbeke
Doublebass: Pierre Dekker
Flute: Roland Meschede
Oboe, English Horn: Tamon Yashima
Clarinet, Bass Clarinet: Kristof Dömötör
Bassoon: Eugenie Ricard
Trumpet: Susanne Knoop
French-Horn: Chris Weddle
Trombone: Matthias Schuller
Recorded at Kammermusiksaal, Deutschlandfunk 07.01. – 10.01.2019
by Oliver Bergner and Michael Morawietz
produced by Niels Klein, Susanne Blumenthal and Oliver Bergner
Mix and Master: Oliver Bergner
Radio Producer: Harald Rehmann
Artwork & Graphics: Ulla C. Binder
Since its foundation more than 10 years ago EOS Kammerorchester has realized many exciting and adventurous projects, always thriving to find relevant statements in the middleground between composition and improvisation, bringing together the different approaches of classically trained instrumentalists and improvising jazz musicians beyond terms like „crossover“.
I have been lucky to be part of these endeavors on many occasions over the years, writing pieces for the orchestra, joining them on stage as a soloist or arranging music as I did for my friend Pablo Held and his trio.
In many of my own projects I have experimented constantly with finding the right balance between improvisation and composition, always searching for ways they would enhance each other rather than standing in each other´s way. I have the feeling that with this recording I was able to get one step further in my exploration of this field, so I am very happy to present it to you.
The three part composition „Exploring Objects and Shapes“ is dedicated to the EOS Kammerorchester and especially its wonderful founder and conductor Susanne Blumenthal. For these pieces I chose a quite different compositional approach than I would usually do in searching for the basic material in my improvisational language as a saxophone player, developing improvised cells into thematic material and further on into orchestral shapes with the ultimate goal to create a perfect environment for me as an actual improviser. Next to my great trio partners Matthias Akeo Nowak and Fabian Arends, the orchestra can be seen as a fourth player which is more or less an orchestrated version of myself.
„It Only Took“ and „Throb“ both have a strong personal meaning to me and although I recorded them several times before in the past I had the feeling that this setting was exactly what those pieces had been waiting for all along.
(Niels Klein)