François Couturier & Dominique Pifarély

They have known each other for 45 years: Pianist François Couturier and violinist Dominique Pifarély. Their first duo album "Poros" was released 27 years ago and is now followed by their second, "Preludes and Songs". Slowing down would be a euphemism in view of this release frequency. The result is correspondingly highly developed and filtered through time in many ways. "What we have retained," summarizes Pifarély, "is the attraction of form. Not in terms of the structure of the pieces, but in terms of the vocabulary we use." It is also because of this meticulousness that both artists are regarded as formative figures on the European improvisation scene. Couturier has created an artistic monument to himself with the Tarkovsky Quartet, among others, which last played a celebrated concert at Enjoy Jazz in the Heiliggeistkirche in 2017. And the proven duo specialist Pifarély has worked with Joachim Kühn, Michel Godard and Rabih Abou-Khalil, among others. The new duo album combines standards with original compositions - so logically brought together that something like a new format is actually created here. Deutschlandfunk summarized it as follows: "The familiar melodies emerge as if from the mists of time, like faces behind a pane of frosted glass." A familiarity that retains its last secret.