23 Jan Trans Aronez
Michael Renkel: acoustic guitar, zither, preparations
released on “Berlin Strings” © AbsinthRecords (sold out)
Meine Damen und Herren, wir kommen zum Höhepunkt des Abends. Michael Renkel. Der sparsame Antipode zum Ruppschen Dickicht. Der englische Garten. Der japanische Garten. Oder zumindest der Gedanke daran. Jeder Ton, JEDER TON, genau dort, wo er hin soll. Keine Redundanz. Und als dann die Mundharmonika uns ihr trauriges Lied spielt, kann man sich diese mehrfach gebrochene Quasi-Romantik fast schon als nicht verabredeter roter Faden dieser Veröffentlichung denken. Groß. (Björn Gottstein)
“The best stuff on Berlin Strings though is the acoustic guitar work. Michael Renkel’s “Tranz Aronez” starts out as a sequence of hushed, graceful miniatures, separated by bands of silence. Renkel patiently refines his materials until there’s little more than two or three intervals left.. then there’s just one.. Meanwhile other sounds come to the fore and retire – a held organ tone, some harmonica; at the end there’s the eerie sound of what sounds like bowed guitar (or zither? the sleeve notes don’t say much).
… Strings are clearly identifiable on Michael Renkel’s “Tranz Aronez”, a distinctly lyrical offering for prepared guitar and zither (and uncredited harmonica), which uses silence judiciously to frame its exquisite harmonic work and delicate flurries. Renkel is also fond of the odd crisp chord and sporadic crunches from his preparations.
(Review of Berlin Strings by Dan Warburton, The Wire, Issue 238, December 2003, page 60)
Michael Renkel appare molto più moderato, nel suo giocare con suono, silenzio e risonanze, la sua è un’esposizione delicata e nel finale, quando la sua mano impugna l’archetto, si tinge con quei colori mattutini che hanno sempre avuto odor di Levante
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