On March 20th, 2014, Jason Kao Hwang (violin, viola) travelled to Sertso Studio, Woodstock, New York to meet up with Karl Berger (piano, vibraphone) to record some music together. Hwang had previously played in Karl’s Creative Music Orchestra, so they knew each other and how they were likely to react, but the idea that afternoon was to go in with no preconceived ideas or scores and instead see where the music took them. Both musicians have built very strong reputations as soloists and musicians, and are both in demand, yet here they are in the most unforgiving of settings playing against and with each other and not knowing what is going to happen in the next bar, the next note, but instead has to let the music take control.

There is definitely a third instrument very strongly at play here, and that is the use of space. While Hwang tends to be more fluid and layered, and often playing very high on the neck indeed, Berger is often more staccato in approach yet also more melodic. The two have very different styles, yet neither feels the need to fill the sound if it isn’t right, and both musicians will sit back and take a moment as they try to understand where the music is guiding them. At times it feels they are both leading and at others neither, as if they are waiting for a sign as to what direction they are being pulled in and then they are off again. Hwang provides far more of the avant garde, while Berger pulls the music back into more recognised forms and they keep bouncing off each other and meeting somewhere in the middle. The result is both electric and mystifying, and certainly compelling.

Rating: 8/10

Links:
https://jasonkaohwang.com/
https://www.karlbergermusic.com/