Harri Sjöström's SoundScapes Festival #4

Last week, saxophonist Harri Sjöström released a 3-CD set of his 4th SoundScapes Festival held in Berlin in fall of 2022. The two nights featured a set of 19 musicians performing instant compositions in the tranquil marbled Kuppelhalle of the Silent Green art space. I was lucky to be there and wrote the liner notes to the release, which I excerpt a bit of below. More important, though, is the music and here is a snippet that was uploaded by cellist Guilherme Rodrigues who performs here with Elisabeth Harnik (piano), Sebastiano Tramontana (trombone), Giancarlo Schiaffini (trombone), Sergio Armaroli (vibraphone) and Andrea Centazzo (drums and electronics).

 

LINER NOTES by Paul Acquaro (excerpt)

SoundScapes #4 

Finnish saxophonist Harri Sjöström has been calling Berlin home for nearly 40 years, and for over 10 of them, he has been organizing concerts at venues around the city, featuring a who-is-who of the city's rich improvisation scene and beyond, under the title "SoundScapes." Starting in 2016, he extended the concept and held the first two SoundScapes Festivals in Helsinki, followed by one in Munich, and then, finally, in his adopted hometown.

SoundScapes #4 was held over two mid-autumn nights in the restrained elegance of the Kuppelhalle in Berlin's Silent Green arts complex. The hall was originally a chapel for the 19th century crematorium that is now a park-like arts space tucked into the vibrant density of the city's Wedding district. Arrive at the complex from the tree-lined pedestrian street and one is struck by the solemn refinement. After entering through the arched entrance house, the Kuppelhalle is a straight shot over a well-manicured lawn. From there, one would typically proceed up a set of stairs and through large wooden doors into the stately octagonal chamber. However, if one veers to the left on the approach towards the hall, separated partially from view by a row of trees and shrubbery, is a modern glass box entrance to a bar with its own egress into the chamber. This is where it begins. 

... 

I recall walking out into the mild mid-autumn night with - as best I can describe - a generally "warm" feeling about the whole event. While I have had the chance to attend other SoundScapes events from time to time since, they have always somehow still carried a bit of an afterglow from these memories. Hearing the festival's music again - the audio tracks in their mastered form - exactly one year later, has revealed to me, I think, why these feelings have lingered. One can hear the deep respect that the musicians have for each other, their thoughtful, tacit negotiations, and the musical chance taking that they took, making each of the 18 short sets over the course of the two evenings uniquely enjoyable. 

Read more (fill in that large blank!) and hear more, here: https://harrisjostrom.bandcamp.com/album/soundscapes-4-berlin-2023-silent-green