Jazz at Berlin Philharmonic XV: Stefano Bollani & iiro Rantala

Stefano Bollani & iiro Rantala - Jazz at Berlin Philharmonic XV

CD / Vinyl / digital

Stefano Bollani piano
iiro Rantala piano

Some people are naturally, genuinely funny. They make us smile, and sometimes laugh. It might sound simple to do, but it’s a demanding art, and people who can do it this well are to be admired. For musicians operating at the level of Stefano Bollani or Iiro Rantala, humour has nothing to do with getting cheap laughs through failing, it is rather about how they spring sudden surprises on us – and on each other – by showing us something incongruous or wacky in the music. We’re never laughing at them, always with them. They might be showing us a new perspective, a clever detail that has hardly been spotted before, illuminating some unexpected connection or angle. Out of nowhere, an aria might suddenly be accessorized with a stride piano accompaniment, or the pianists might take a motif and transpose it into some way-out key signature, or use their sparkly, fleet-fingered pianism to comment and illuminate a theme. These two musicians venerate the original, but choose to give it to us in a different guise. It might sometimes turn into a game of hide and seek, but these are humourists who respect their sources and make great use of them. For them to do otherwise would not just leave a bad taste, it would also be completely out of character.

Humourists like Stefano Bollani from Milan and Iiro Rantala from Helsinki are masters when it comes to appreciating, valuing, and above all loving the music they play. Each of them also, clearly, holds the artistry of the other in high esteem, venerates the melodic invention of the composers they interpret, and is completely alive to all the possibilities which the instrument can offer. These are musicians with a straightforward love of playing, and, since both are virtuosos, a duo concert by them is an experience of shared creative inspiration. Iiro Rantala says he is happy to celebrate Italian music ‘with the best possible duo partner, il Maestro Bollani.’ And the Italian responds: ‘During a musical career, you meet musicians who are different from you. But how much more fun to share the stage with a guy with a very similar musical taste and approach.’

These are two artists, then, who visibly and audibly chime well with each other. They met on the stage of the Berlin Philharmonie on 1 February 2023 to celebrate a shared passion. The basic idea might seem a surprise, but the fact is that both of them have a reverence for Italian opera. ‘I'll go so far as to say that some of the best melodies in the world come from Italy, and in this particular case, from Italian opera,’ Iiro Rantala explains. ‘There is nothing better in music than a good, simple and catchy melody. You can't teach that stuff; there is no melody class in any music school. Verdi, Donizetti, Rossini and Puccini had a talent, a gift for melody! And how magnificently they used it!’

During the lifetimes of these composers, this way of making music also went hand in hand with having respect for the audience. The opera composers of the 19th century wanted to offer something to listeners. They wanted to tell stories and entertain, sometimes with a message, but always with a feel for the level of enthusiasm and engagement in the hall. Composers who wrote anthemic and catchy tunes could be sure of being played and sung – and also heard. The concept still works today. ‘La Bohème’ and ‘Nabucco’ are fixtures in the programmes of opera houses, even if the plots and libretti might sometimes seem past their sell-by date. These works are full of melodies that have become ingrained in the collective memory of the cultural world, to the extent that all Stefano Bollani and Iiro Rantala have to do is to suggest the first few notes from Musetta’s waltz (from La Bohème) or hum the Prisoner's Chorus (from Nabucco) and the audience in the Philharmonie is already swaying along.

Both players bring a finely-tuned sensitivity to this celebration of Italian opera. And both have such long and deep experience as improvisers, it becomes abundantly clear in this recital that they don’t need to question their first instincts. Their shared enjoyment is palpable: the default mode of communication between them is a smile. They are quite clearly having fun, because on the one hand they are playing repertoire from outside jazz, and yet on the other, there is nothing more 'jazz' than borrowing or stealing a good song. It’s a particularly appealing paradox. Through Italian opera, Bollani and Rantala locate each other's funny-bones. The melodies of Italian opera, may be old, they are certainly important to both musicians, but this album also shows how new and how fresh they can be.

Credits:
Recorded at the Berlin Philharmonie, Germany on 1st February 2023 Recorded, mixed and mastered by Klaus Scheuermann
Cover art by Peter Krüll