by Andrey Henkin

German pianist George Gräwe said nary a word before or after his 50-minute solo recital at Roulette (Feb. 1st), the first half of the first concert in the spring Interpretations series. Rather than think he was uncomfortable speaking English, it is better to assume he had said all he needed at the keyboard. Gräwe, whose recordings on FMP, Music & Arts, Nuscope and his own Random Acoustics mark him as one of the more effective marriers of classical and free improvisation methodologies, was giving the U.S. premiere of three pieces and the world premiere of a fourth. “Afternoon in Coloured Frames”, “AusFaltungen” and “Rhyme and Discourse” were presented as a suite, broken up with micropauses by the composer and taking up almost three-fourths of the performance. “Behauptung und Nachtrag III”, in contrast, stood apart. What distinguishes Gräwe is his remarkable control, a focused urgency making his compositions/improvisations feel twice as dense. The way his hands tumble across the keys and over each other should make it inevitable that his fingers would get twisted up like Bugs Bunny playing Liszt, yet there is never a moment of anything other than perfect articulation. This is complemented/contrasted by an unusual rhythmic sense in some sections, almost a drunken lurch approaching proto-stride. And when he plays slow passages, the loveliness is highlighted by his seeming to wait until the absolute last possible millisecond to play a note. (AH)