Budapest Concert

キース・ジャレットの2016年ヨーロッパ・ツアーからの2作目となるコンプリート・ショーの録音盤で、昨年リリースされた『ミュンヘン2016』のコンサートよりも2週間前に録音されたもの。この新しい2枚組のアルバムは、ブダペストのベラ・バルトーク国立コンサート・ホールでのソロ・ピアノ演奏を記録。

家族のルーツがハンガリーにあるジャレットは、このコンサートを故郷への帰郷のようなものと捉えており、聴衆にも説明している通りバルトークへの生涯の愛着という意味においても、多くの創造的な即興演奏にインスピレーションを与えたようだ。

最近、キース・ジャレットは、この『ブダペスト・コンサート』を、他のソロ・レコーディングの基準となる「ゴールド・スタンダード」と捉えていると語っている。前例のない音楽の旅の後半の最高点として聴くにしても、それだけで楽しむにしても、この作品は驚くべき成果をあげている。

ハンガリーのニュースサイト「Nepsava」でガーボル・ボータは、「聴衆を魅了する彼の魅力は、彼の多ジャンルにわたる態度にあるに違いない」と書いています。「ジャレットは、ライトなものからシリアスなものまで、あらゆるジャンルを消費して自分のものにしている。演奏はすべて即興で行われるため、私たちは音楽が目の前で生まれてくるのを目の当たりにする...彼は空気を嗅ぎ、一瞬の感情をキャッチし、指を鳴らし、目を細めて、そこには正しい音、正しいメロディ、完全にユニークな演奏があるのだ」。

アンコールで演奏される、より身近な曲にも創造的なエネルギーが注がれており、「イッツ・ア・ロンサム・オールド・タウン」と特にラプソディックな「アンサー・ミー、マイ・ラヴ」はブダペストで見事な変貌を遂げている。

上記作品の180g重量晩LP

On October 21, 2020, the New York Times printed a feature article entitled Keith Jarrett Confronts a Future Without the Piano. Inside, the artist disclosed that he had suffered two strokes in 2018 that left him unable to use his left hand, effectively ending his performing career: I dont know what my future is supposed to be. I dont feel right now like Im a pianist. The Budapest Concert is the second release from his 2016 tour, and was recorded two weeks before Munich 2016. Structurally there are similarities between the two. Each contains a dozen numbered suite-like movements, and encores. Performed at the Bela Bartok National Concert Hall, Keith Jarrett, whose familial roots lie in Hungary, considered this show as a kind of homecoming. Its two discs are divided by contrasting thematic resonances in his improvising and playing. The nearly 15-minute opening movement amounts to a somewhat intense, dark-toned overture that careens through various classical notions and motifs reflecting his lifelong appreciation of Hungarian composer Bela Bartok, without developing them -- a long established hallmark in Jarretts improvised concerts. Its a seemingly unending inquiry of extrapolated right-hand figures while his left punctuates them with fat bass chords and counterpoint. He releases the tension somewhat on II with slowly developing tonal and chromatic inventions that feed into and off of one another, posing questions answered by more questions. IV follows a dramatic, minor-key blues progression as the left hand dialogues with the pianos lower and middle register. The mood on the second disc is lighter if not necessarily brighter. Jarretts love of American songbook pop is softly articulated as a lullaby on V. Though less than four minutes long, VI is a set highlight as the pianist moves across ragtime, stride, bop, and blues, and swings like mad with warmth and humor. He commences VII with softly played upper-register triads that expand into songlike developments evoking folk and gospel themes; he momentarily quotes from Danny Boy, Shenandoah, and the Beatles Hey Jude. The open-ended VIII offers incandescent, nearly impressionist balladry, while IX and X reprise the moodier, denser classical motifs on disc one. The final movement is aptly subtitled Blues, as Jarrett joyously evokes everyone from James P. Johnson and Albert Ammons to Meade Lux Lewis, Champion Jack Dupree, and Ray Charles, and brings the house down. Both encore covers were also performed in Munich, but these versions are more immediate, less considered. Its a Lonesome Old Town is spectral, nearly spiritual, evoking traces from the Duke Ellington and Lena Horne readings. Answer Me, My Love develops from the middle register and briefly considers Etta Jones iconic 1962 version in its tenderness and quiet desperation. The first half of The Budapest Concert is challenging, as its knotty improvisations sometimes require rigorous attention. That said, the more melodically redolent back half welcomes even casual listeners. Jarrett regards this as his current gold standard for live improvisation, and given its reach and focus, its difficult to argue with him -- especially now. ~ Thom Jurek