Trio records concert at Kerry

Sting once sang of "the sacred geometry of chance" in reference to a gambling addict who found meaning in the probabilities of the random. Tonight, when the performance of an international trio (German pianist Georg Graewe, Dutch cellist Ernst Reijseger and American percussionist Gerry Hemingway are on their first tour in several years) is recorded at Kerrytown Concert House, a similar anticipation of unexpected outcomes will play a pivotal role in shaping the group's performance.

"The music you're hearing in the trio is entirely improvised," Hemingway said in a recent interview. "There's no written music whatsoever in this ensemble; there never has been."

Not only does the force of chance guide the music that the trio produces, but it has helped configure the group itself. Originally a quartet, an absent musician forced the ensemble to reimagine itself for a performance date. "We did it as a trio and

Courtesy of Graewe-Reijseger-Hemingway Ernst Reijseger and Gerry Hemingway will perform at Kerrytown Concert House.

something just clicked," said Hemingway. "Sometimes that's how groups find themselves, through a series of happenstances."

Likewise, as the trio's performance is to be professionally recorded, the possibility of the event becoming a complete, produced compact disc is uncertain. "It depends," said Hemingway, "Maybe we'll have a terrible night, just play awful; the recording will have a buzz all the way through it; there's anything that could happen."

Graewe is a little more optimistic. "I'm excited," he said from a Vancouver hotel. "That's about it."

Indeed, Graewe seems to place less stock in the power fortune holds over the ensemble. When asked about the trio's creation, he answered, "Well, I just called 'em up. I had seen them play with other people and I thought they would fit perfectly well with what I wanted... after one or two minutes (of playing), it was happening."

Even the completely impromptu music the group creates carries a sense of predictablility to Graewe. The pianist, who has composed works for solo piano, chamber ensembles and symphonic orchestras, feels that improvisation is simply the art of composing spontaneously. "Improvisation is a discipline of composition, he said. "There's no pre-arranged structure, but basically it's all about structure."

This balance between organization and complete freedom of expression is at the heart of improvisation. At first, the music of this trio can sound dissonant or even aimless. But a serious listen will reveal dynamic contrasts and themes emerging over the course of many minutes of abstract sonic experimentation. Moreover, there are specific moments when the group sounds as if it is thinking in unison: Reijseger's slide from pointilistic cello plucks to a walking bassline compliments Graewe's piano phrase shift like socks on linoleum; the group often simultaneously executes abrupt stops and starts.

"I'm involved in looking at music in a certain kind of way, through the eyes of a composer," said Hemingway, who, like Graewe, writes for numerous contexts. "When I look at this music and I look at the results, I'm envious. It's very hard to fashion something like this, as a composer, that's so organic."

Aside from years of musical training, practice and performance, the sophistication of the trio's work is perhaps most possible because of something Hemingway mentioned about the improvising world. "You could maybe generalize that the Europeans have some stance that is uniquely theirs, that differs, to some degree, from the Brooklyn crowd and the New York crowd," he said, "but all these things feed each other ultimately, because we're all interracting and playing with each other all the time."

There exists a level of familiarity between almost all improvising musicians that can allow these three, who've not played together in years, to produce some beautiful music.

11-09-99