During the BBC Proms 2011 Bergström performs with great success at the Royal Albert Hall with Electric Counterpoint by Steve Reich. The following year, the recording of the same score is released on CD and Blu-ray in a luxurious gray box set, limited edition maybe, which contains music by Steve Reich and Edda Magnason and that seems to continue the work begun with SubString Bridge ten years ago…
Mats Bergström & friends, Electric Counterpoint, Mats Bergström Musik AB, (2012)
Mats Bergström returns to play and homage Steve Reich’s music ten after years with a work that it’s the ideal continuation of Electric Counterpoint’s previous version played in the cd Substring Bridge. This box set is entirely focused on the figure of the American composer, in fact, in addition to the piece that gives its the title we can also find Nagoya Guitars and 2×5 where Bergström is accompanied by his friends Johan Liljedahl (electric and acoustic guitars), Svante Henryson (electric bass guitar), Jonas Östholm (piano), Magnus Persson (drums and mallet instruments). While the same composer Edda Magnason (piano and vocals) joins Bergström and Johan Liljedahl in the final passage So Many Layers of Colour Become a Deep Purple Heart, dedicated to the same Reich and clearly inspired by his musical themes.
Here we find again the remixes. As Bergström had highlighted in Substring Bridge (“I would like to recommend the disc ‘Reich Remixed’, a whole CD of remixes of Reich’s music, to anyone who – I like – has a weakness for this kind of music.”) remixes continue to interest him enough to call Jay Jay Johanson (Swedish singer-songwriter, known for its melancholic and sad voice that loves to soak in dense trip hop ballads ) and Magnus Frykberg (already listened to Substring Bridge) to create an Under the Weather MIX (Remix of Electric Counterpoint), with its atmospheric, dark and immersive atmospheres. The Swedish singer Cornelia (http://www.iamcornelia.com/) is called instead to reread Nagoya Guitars, hacked concentrating herself more on the rhythmic aspects of the Reich piece and integrating them with her own voice,than to the guitar sounds.
A truly remarkable record as remarkable is also the blue-ray dvd included in the box. Bergström, and the musicians accompanying him, signed an authentic act of devotion to Reich’s music with remarkable interpretations and remixes, remarkable for cleverness, intelligence and musical ability. A perfect listenable job for contemporary music lovers and for those coming from other musical areas, that can be comfortably used as a gateway to a new and fascinating musical world.
NeuGuitars 