Almost off to Russia

Almost off to Russia with Amstel. I have been in Russia twice: Nizy Novgorod and St. Petersburg. Both were great trips. The concerts were always well visited (full houses!) and the people friendly.

But first tomorrow a concert with Berry van Berkum on the organ. We will play a minimal concert with lots of new stuff and an improvisation.

Terry Riley is one of my personal discoveries of the last years. With the quartet we play his Good Medicin, which is a great work: Video

I will play Riley's Dorian Reeds tomorrow. This is Terry himself playing it: Video

I had a talk with my fellow Splendor member Claron McFadden yesterday and I tried to explain her why Mr. Riley interests me so much: He's free. He's not particularly 'good', but he hits me. I am not sure how. Also his minimal style is not conceptual at all. It is a collection of experiences and music that he together intuitively. Sure, it's repetitive, but not dogmatic. Gotta love it. I sure do.

Here's a Spotify link to Terry's famous Lisbon concert. I was fascinated by this concert for several weeks. https://play.spotify.com/album/1YiDXOCXadDErfdqbMuKtI Let me know what you think!

Then the weekend off and away we are!