Tranquillo Iv

Description

PianoBasso's hallmark--their own quiet, stripped-down arrangements of classical pieces--has brought them international success with a large number of listeners around the world. Now they follow up with the album Tranquillo IV, featuring pieces by, among others, Satie, Bach, Giacomo Puccini, and Chopin. PianoBasso is a duo consisting of pianist and arranger Thomas Gustavsson and double bassist Andreas Gustafson. From the very start, their goal has been to perform classical music in their own personal way, which has meant that they do not always follow the conventional norms of the genre. "--I've always enjoyed playing music from the classical piano repertoire, but at the same time, of course, there has been other music I've wanted to play that lacked arrangements for piano. On one occasion, I was asked to play the 'Lacrimosa' movement from Mozart's Requiem at a memorial service. The only piano arrangement I could find was written by the piano virtuoso Franz Liszt, and I felt it was too bombastic for that occasion. So instead, I made my own arrangement, focusing on preserving the melody and letting the harmony retain the sorrowful purity that the piece needed. That became the first seed of PianoBasso." PianoBasso also works purposefully with classical improvisation--something that, before roughly 1850, was a major and strong element of the classical concert. For example, their concerts include timbral and thematic improvisations between pieces--in short, it sounds like classical music, but it is created in the moment. Nor do they shy away from choosing iconic pieces. "--It might seem daunting to take on overly famous titles. But we like all the pieces we've chosen and really want to play them, and we haven't let ourselves be deterred by how well-known they are--we just play our version of how we perceive the music," says Andreas Gustafson.