Music for Piano and Strings

Available on CD and as hi-res (96kHz, 24 Bit) downloads.
Seven Compositions by Stephan Thelen and Fabio Anile

CD Tracklisting:

1 Eleven Tails (05:19) written by Fabio Anile for string quartet
2 Metric Modulation (08:02) written by Stephan Thelen for piano quintet
3 The Crying Universe (05:10) written by Stephan Thelen for string quartet
4 Polymetric Counterpoint (07:36) written by Fabio Anile for piano sextet
5 Tunnel Drive (07:26) written by Stephan Thelen for piano quintet
6 Ascension (05:21) written by Stephan Thelen for string quartet
7 Foglie Morte (05:24) written by Fabio Anile for piano quintet (*)


Al Pari Quartet:

Marta Lucjan violin
Alicja Miruk-Mirska violin
Magdalena Maier-Borowska viola
Elżbieta Rychwalska-Dobrowolska cello

Anna Krzyżak-Siarkowska viola (on 4)

Fabio Anile piano (on 4 and 7)

Ulrich Koella piano (on 2 and 5)


(*) in loving memory of Roberto “Johnny” Nicosanti.
Recorded by Reto Muggli at Powerplay Studio A near Zürich, Switzerland, September 2021.
1, 4 and 7 edited by Fabio Anile; 2, 3, 5 and 6 edited by Stephan Thelen.
Mixed by Stephan Thelen.
Mastered by Alexandr Vatagin.

www.stephanthelen.bandcamp.com
ww.fabioanile.bandcamp.com

In October 2020, RareNoise Records released ‘World Dialogue,’ an album of four propulsive
string quartets written by Stephan. While one of the quartets was commisioned and played
by the acclaimed Kronos Quartet, critics did not fail to notice the amazing qualities of the
‘other’ quartet, the Al Pari Quartet from Poland, who confidently performed the three
remaining pieces of the album.

Enthusiastic about ‘World Dialogue,’ Fabio sent his freshly composed string quartet ‘Eleven
Tails’ to Stephan, asking for his opinion. Stephan, who at the time had just finished writing
his first piano quintet ‘Metric Modulation,‘ a piece commisioned by Swiss pianist Ulrich Koella,
loved the piece. He immediately felt inspired to ask Fabio if he would be onboard to make an
album of piano quintets and string quartets together, feeling that their styles – while being
similar and different at the same time - complement each other very well. Fabio didn’t
hesitate and immediately, the ideas for ‘Music For Piano and Strings’ began to crystallize.

Although they grew up in different parts of the world, the two composers have a very similar
musical background in classical and in progressive rock music. Both belong to the second
generation of minimalists in which the original ideas of minimalism are combined with other
types of music, in their case especially polyrhythmic groove music in odd meters. For
Stephan, minimalism had always been about making the most out of a minimum amount
of ideas. So that, in the ideal case, a piece is based on one single idea that has the potential
to organically grow into something much larger. For Fabio, it was important to push the
boundaries of ‘classic’ minimalism, integrating harmonic changes and melodies into the
usual rhythmic textures of the musical genre, perpetually in search of horizontal and
vertical movement inside the music.

Both composers are very happy with the reslts of this inspiring collaboration. They would like
to thank the wonderful Al Pari Quartet (including its ‘fifth’ member Anna), Ulrich for asking
Stephan to write a piano quintet (little did he know at the time that he would get two...) and
Reto at Powerplay for an unforgetable recording session.

Stephan and Fabio, June 2022