Spring String Quartet - this string quartet grooves! (rock, jazz, classical crossover, modern string music) - informationen

PROJECTS

Mass Transformation

by Ohad Talmor
Adaptation of Anton Bruckner's third mass in f minor for nonet (commissioned work of the music festival "Brucknertage St. Florian 2008")

Line up:
Ohad Talmor - composer, leader, tenor saxophone

Judith Berkson - vocals, keyboard
Shane Endsley - trumpet
Pete McCann - guitar
Mark Ferber - drums

SPRING STRING QUARTET
Christian Wirth - 1st violin, electric violin
Marcus Wall - 2nd violin
Julian Gillesberger - viola
Stephan Punderlitschek - violoncello

Description:
Ohad Talmor's "Mass Transformation" will attempt a completely new "reading" of Bruckner's 3rd Mass. It is written for world class performers; all great improvisers, all classically trained and all embodying a new generation of multi-cultural conscious musicians. The transformed music will allow an iconoclastic exploration of sounds, textures, grooves or melodies, yet always respectful of the composer's spirit.

Lyrics:
Parts of the original latin texts of the Mass have been replaced by other texts. For example the Sanctus is based on a beautiful ode to hope and goodness in mankind from Charlie Chaplin's film "The Dictator".
Agnus Dei: The lyrics are a poem from Ohad's father called "Hevel" (Vanity)

Detailed info + biographies (.pdf - 110kb)
Lyrics (.pdf - 130kb)

Look at: Video

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Bruckner V. improvised

Thomas Mandel & The Temporary Jazz Orchestra, feat. the SPRING STRING QUARTET

Bruckner can be seen as a Miles Davis of the 19th century, an accomplished organist who was invited to improvise whenever a new organ was inaugurated. He travelled from Dresden to London, from Vienna to Milan to demonstrate his improvisatory skills. At such concerts he used to experiment with new themes and new forms that appeared in his symphonies later on.

By studying Bruckner's symphonies for many years, Thomas Mandel, the composer and saxophonist from Linz, has learned to approach the Master with respect and openness at the same time and to reveal how up-to-date his works still are. In cooperation with the Temporary Jazz Orchestra - eleven virtuosos with a background between classical music and jazz - he translates Bruckner's Fifth Symphony into the musical language of the 21st century.

Thomas Mandel studied various musical fields at the Anton-Bruckner-University in Linz and at the Musikhochschule in Vienna, among others he studied composition with Professor G. Waldek. As a composer he is mainly interested in writing orchestral works that bridge the gap between different genres, as a saxophonist naturally his main interest is improvisation. As an Upper Austrian he felt automatically drawn to Bruckner's symphonies. And now we can hear Bruckner grooving.

Thomas Mandel - conception, leader, soprano saxophone
Christian Wirth - 1st violin
Marcus Wall - 2nd violin
Julian Gillesberger - viola
Stephan Punderlitschek - violoncello
Wolfram Derschmidt - double bass
Gerd Rahstorfer - cornet, trumpet
Wolfgang Bründlinger - electr. guitar
Marco Palewicz - piano, keys, effects
Engelbert Gagl - timpani, percussion
Erwin Drescher - drums

CD (live recording) available on request.

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Lee Konitz & S.S.Q.

Photos. J. Knaepen

Lee Konitz (alto saxophone), Ohad Talmor (arranger, clarinet, bass clarinet)

The Lee Konitz/Ohad Talmor String Project combines one of the most lyrical and imaginative improvisers of jazz, the Cool jazz legend Lee Konitz, with the SPRING STRING QUARTET.
The project consists of two parts:
On the one hand adaptations of works by French impressionists like Claude Debussy, Maurice Ravel and Erik Satie are interpreted. In contrast to similar experiments with blending classical interpretation with improvised jazz, this project honors both traditions in the same proportion and extent .
On the other hand this project comprises new compositions by Lee Konitz, written and arranged for this formation. The arranger of the whole project is Ohad Talmor, an Israeli musician and composer living in New York.
The CD with Lee Konitz and Ohad Talmor (with new pieces by Lee and Ohad) will be released in spring 2006.

LEE KONITZ,
alto saxophonist, born in 1927, "one of the greatest stylists in Jazz" (Gerry Mulligan), may look back to one of the most creative and prolific carreers in modern jazz. After first experiences with the Stan Kenton Orchestra, the little innovative ensembles of pianist Lennie Tristano or the Miles Davis "Birth of Cool" Nonett, Lee Konitz decided to work as a freelancer. Projects with Gerry Mulligan, Warne Marsh and once again with Miles Davis (Ezz-thetic) and Tristano (Live Album Lines) followed, and also another trio with Elvin Jones and contemporary avant-garde projects with Andrew Hill and Derek Bailey. There also exists a very remarkable solo album (Lone Lee) and a number of duo projects with musicians like guitarist Jim Hall, the tenor player Richie Kamuca and Joe Henderson or trombone player Marshall Brown. The "Lee Konitz String Project" ranks as one of the most innovative specialties in modern jazz music.

OHAD TALMOR,
born in 1970, he grew up in Geneva Switzerland. Upon moving to Florida in 1997as an exchange student , Ohad took up the saxophone after falling in love with little jazz he had heard before leaving Switzerland. Following his return to Europe, he moved along a musical path which led him first to study musicology at the University in parallel to gigging around town. Eventually, performing took over studying as Ohad immersed himself into the European jazz scene. Parallel to his activities as a performer on the saxophones/clarinet, Ohad took on a growing passion for composing and arranging which eventually led him in 1995 to the Manhattan School of Music on a full scholarship. He received his Diploma in Composition in 1997 and since then is continuing to live in Brooklyn, NY, performing, composing, arranging - and sometimes acting - in a wealth of different projects.

Since moving to New York in 1995, Ohad Talmor has put together Five different groups for which he has written distinctive repertoire.
These groups are: The Other Quartet (co-leads with trumpeter Russ Johnson), the MOB Trio, the Ohad Talmor 7tet (a/ka/ 7 Déjà Vus), the Ohad Talmor 4tet and Scent of the Morning Dew. Ohad Talmor has performed and/or recorded, among others, with Steve Swallow, Dave Douglas, Chris Potter, Billy Hart, Carla Bley Big Band, Ray Anderson, Curtis Fowlkes, Jim Black, Bob Dorough, Joachim Khun and Matthieu Michel.
Ohad also plays regularly with the Christophe Schweizer Organ 4tet feat. Billy Hart "Full Circle Rainbow", Sunna Gunnlaugs 4tet, Yannick Barman 5tet and 7tet, Blue Seven-a 7tet based in Brazil feat. four local musicians + the MOB trio.

As an arranger/composer, his writing includes pieces for the Brecker Brothers, Lee Konitz, Steve Swallow as well as music written for leading classical musicians such as Martha Argerich, the Spring String Quartet in Austria and the Axis String Quartet in New York.

Ohad is actively involved in writing for new media, including music for NPR and the SciFi channel, part of their radio-drama series, and for Penguin-Putnam audio books series.

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Konstantin Wecker & S.S.Q

"Stormy Times, my dear" is the title of the new program of Konstantin Wecker, his congenial longterm partner Jo Barnikel and the furioso Spring String Quartet..

Two grand pianos, four string instruments

This ensemble of world-class musicians surrounding Konstantin Wecker guarantees that the message of love cannot be ignored.
Jo Barnikel who has been performing together with Wecker for as long as 18 years, doubtlessly ranks among the top pianists. Therefore we can look forward with great expectation to listening to the accomplished musical couple Wecker-Barnikel performing on two Bösendorfer grand pianos in their new programme, in which the two masters will be joined on stage by the Spring String Quartet another first-rate ensemble consisting of Christian Wirth (violin), Marcus Wall (violin), Julian Gillesberger (viola) and Stephan Punderlitschek (cello), who has been trying to bridge the gap between classical music, jazz, genius and madness. The four musicians are going to contribute their share to this stormy program revolving around the topic of love in the form of new interpretations of Wecker?s songs, classical works and free improvisation.

Photo: Angele Shat

Trio Mondautos & S.S.Q.

What does a jazz piano trio have in common with a string quartet? In their biotopes both of them are seen as the most esthetic form of playing music.

In their compositions Christian Mühlbacher and Christoph Cech unite those two bodies of sound into one, thereby expressing their desire for a specifically densified and interwoven form of chamber music. At the same time they make sure that the final product breathes the fine air of jazz. In this context you have to bear in mind that from the stylistic point of view the Trio Mondautos has ventured onto the ground of contemporary music to the same extent as the SPRING STRING QUARTET into the field of rock and groove.

Trio Mondautos:
Christoph Cech (piano)
Tibor Kövesdi (bass)
Christian Mühlbacher (drums)

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No Mercy For Strings

"NO MERCY FOR STRINGS"

S.S.Q. infected by Michael Langer (guitar) & Norbert Girlinger (flute)

Four un-classical string musicians, a fingerstyle expert and the professor of wooden recorders. New sounds, jazzy rhythms, singing strings, an arranger who explores the boundaries feasible. All this, combined with the joy of playing of six friends, results in the most electrifying stage performance.

No Mercy for Strings - Pop music, blues, funk, jazz, ballads...

The partners of the S.S.Q.:

Michael Langer: He won the "American Fingerstyle Guitar Festival" and was given the title of the "best Acoustic Fingerstyle Guitarist" by the American "Guitar Player". Michael is the professor of a guitar class at the Anton Bruckner Privatuniversität Linz.

Norbert Girlinger: Internationally sought after soloist and chamber musician, who uses the whole range of wooden flutes, from the piccolo to the octobass. In search for new sounds he experimented with different materials and eventually found the rarely used cylindric wooden flute. Presumably he is the only flutist worldwide, who exclusively plays on wooden instruments, from the piccolo to the bass flute. Since 1989 he leads a flute class at the Anton Bruckner Privatuniversität Linz.

Look at: Video

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200 years after

Spring String Quartet & Hannes Raffaseder

The string quartet has been the most important form and genre of chamber music since the Viennese Classicism, it is regarded as the "supreme discipline" among the various forms of chamber music. One of the main creators of this genre was Joseph Haydn. Now, 200 years after Haydn's death, we can witness an encounter between the classical sound of string music and the experimental sounds of modern live electronics.

A string quartet by Joseph Haydn forms the basis, which is then recorded digitally and modified in real-time. While at the beginning there are still clear dividing lines between the Quartet and live electronics, between acoustic and electronic sounds, between composition and improvisation, those dividing lines gradually dissolve in the course of the performance...

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Past Projects:

2006:

S.S.Q. as very special guest at the JMX Blues Project with Jeff Maxian (vocals), Goran Mikulec (guitar), Willi Langer (bass), Oliver Gattringer (drums)

2005:

Linz (A): Festival Ars Electronica: S.S.Q. with electronic music duo PAN SONIC from Finland
Burgthann (D): Jazz festival: Blue Chamber Orchestra (S.S.Q.+ Jazz band Finest Blend)

2004:

Linz, Festival4020: S.S.Q. and Julia Stemberger (with pieces by Philip Glass, Steve Reich, Kevin Volans)
Linz, Brucknerhaus: S.S.Q. with Christoph Cech's Trio Mondauto (with Tibor Kövesdi & Christian Mühlbacher)
Wien, Porgy&Bess: S.S.Q. with Adriane Muttenthaler's CrissCross
Linz, Brucknerhaus: "Das sogenannte falsche Kammerorchester" (S.S.Q. + Finest blend)

2002:

Ansfelden, Anton Bruckner Centrum: Commissioned compositions of the A.B.C. (premiers) for septet (string quintet, electric guitar, percussion) by Michael Hazod and Matthias Schinagl

2001:

Linz/Donau, Brucknerhaus: Project "Nordlicht" with Thomas Mandel, Monika Stadler, Hubert Schnauer (with CD recording)

2001/2000:

Vienna, Ronacher & Metropol: Dennis Jale & The Jam Gang ("Rocking Christmas")

1998:

Ansfelden, Anton Bruckner Centrum: Commissioned compositions of the A.B.C. (premiers) for a big ensemble by Thomas Mandel and Stephan Bauernfeind
Live-film music to "Rudi" (feat. Andreas Schreiber, violin) at Freistadt and Perg (Upper Austria)