THE SWIMMERS QUARTET
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Alzek Misheff- Lightning II
Maurizio Barbetti- viola
Rocco Parisi- bass clarinet
Riccardo Sinigaglia - piano

"The swimmers quartet" does not give en encore because it has not a repertoire. For someone who chooses improvisation, it may be a condemnation and a privilege at the same time.

To listen. A sound, a second sound. Suddenly a melody, a dissonance or a long chord. To make others listen what happens. Far from jazz intonations, nothing is known before, how to begin, nobody knows when it shall be ended.

And it ends, just like a love act ends. The logic of an unrepeatable "truth of sentiment" has been accomplished. Of that particular time, of that way.

To put souls and instruments together we need a story. A title is not enough. The story has to be told behind the scenes, before going out. It can also be told to the public in the hall. It is like fog or vapour, a fiction to know where to stay and to begin very slowly to reveal the progression shape.

Like expert swimmers, the virtuous musicians relax to increase their speed with an infinite and timeless resistance. Oceans can be crossed and in this metaphor what is improbable becomes reality. Music not written but lived.

Perhaps there is something from John Cage's thought but there is also a strong desire to look back. I like thinking about my native Thrace, ancient mountains where the great musician found and lost his Echo. In the oscillating before and after /never going back/ music, time, the first sound, the answer express themselves and everything disappear. But an emotional event has happened, through which we all may recognize ourselves.

Playing listen to others playing too. They listen to you.

Alzek Misheff

Acqui Terme, August 21, 2001