NO STYLE. ALL STYLES. AND EVERYTHING NATURAL.

Hardly anyone-I am not excluding myself-could have guessed what an extraordinary event the performance of the group 'Triology' in the 'Scheune', was going to be... the extremely perfect ensemble playing seems to stem not just from a musical accordance, but as well from human closeness.
... what could be heard surpasses the category of jazz chamber music by far. The three of them play everything, are not restricted to one single style, but are audibly comfortable in all ... Whatever is played is of an unbelievable intensity and often enough with a touch of lovable self-irony. All the 'finesse' of the classical string technique is there, without the technique becoming a thing of its own and only serving its own purpose.
...A dreamlike rhythmic stability is always audible...The borders of Jazz as well as the conventionality of the classical trio literature are left behind. The depth of Gaelic folk song stands next to the somewhat gruff happiness of a square dance and a 'Jewish intonation', serious and deliberate, unserious at the same time, seems just as real and uncopied ... In every aspect, therefore, a concert of a very special kind.

(English translation of the critic by Peter Zacher)

The trio that was founded in Vienna, has come out with a second CD that proves to be a masterwork. Aleksey Igudesman´s, Daisy Jopling´s and Tristan Schulze´s interpretations of Wagner, Piazzolla and Al Di Meola are so refreshing that it brings real pleasure. One needs a special way of listening to works that have been performed thousands of times to bring out such new sides in them as they have. The bubbly arrangements of Tristan Schulze give the songs a new meaning. The own compositions too, are full of energy, creative fervor and humour.
This trio is beginning to make a name in the whole world. With their interpretations of Morricone they have built up a musical base. Triology´s "Who Killed the Viola Player" is definately going to be voted the CD of the year by many magazines around the world that deal with crossover. You can read interviews with the three vituosos in the next "Jazz Zeit". Triology will explain how the ideas to "Who Killed the Viola Player" came about and made it to what it is: an album in a league of its own. Austria can be proud to be the home of Daisy Jopling, Aleksey Igudesman and Tristan Schulze.

(English translation of the review of "Who killed the Violaplayer" CD)

The musical home of WOLFGANG MUTHSPIEL consists of limitless space. Because limitless space has no borders, he cannot be described as a border-breaking musician. One needs only a few chords on his electric guitar to hear that he goes far beyond this worn out cliche. Wolfgang Muthspiel demonstrated this last Friday in a concert with the ensemble TRIOLOGY. The Austrian jazz guitarist and the string trio are linked by their unconventionality. Daisy Jopling (Violine), Aleksey Igudesman (Violine) und Tristan Schulze (Cello) celebrated their success outside the field of classical chamber music. From folk to minimal, jazz to film music, their large repertoire and arrangements are always full of creative humour and musical finesse. Wolfgang Muthspiel is a musical chameleon on stage. He takes on the TRIOLOGY sound while superimposing subtle accents and counterpoint. The contrasting ideas of Muthspiel and Igudesman are charming and most unique. One of their best arrangements is the jazz standard "Ornithology" by Charlie Parker, which, played in slow motion, sounds like a compostion from baroque times. Bebop greets Bach!. The concert was full of treats. Flirting with quiet notes between the cello and the electric guitar ("Thats all Daisy needs") to earworms of rhythmical virtuosity ("Giora Feidman lost in Dublin") Wolfgang and Triology play a fascinating program on a high technical level. Entertaining string magic, exciting and versetile. MICHAEL STADLER

MUSIC CLOWNS WITHOUT RED NOSES-FUN WITH TRIOLOGY

...From a smoky jazz club to a meadow in the mountains, from Strauss to Schönberg, stylistic borders are foreign to them. They play with virtuosity and a convention-breaking steadfastness.They even know how to prevent the annoying clapping at the end of the new years concert (Radetzky march): with constant unheard of rythmical changes
And that they don't get red noses, doing all those musical summersaults, shows real mastery. They don't need either electric violins or go-go-girls, nor amplification- two violins and one cello are enough. Creativity alone counts.

(translation into English)

A good and talented friend of mine put this surprising and exceptional disc into my hands the other day - three friends of his from Austria, all notable string players, formed a completely unconventional and interesting trio by the name of "Triology". In some ways part of the chamber music movement created by the Kronos Quartet, these two violinists and cellist have come up with a version of string chamber music not often associated with the concert hall.
"Triology Plays Ennio Morricone" is a brilliant anthology of the most memorable cinematographic themes by this prolific composer re-expressed geniously (rather than arranged) by Tristan Schulze, the cellist of the ensemble. Dodecaphony, jazz, extremely elaborate structures, a profound knowledge of all the chamber music styles of this century, humour (in fact a lot of humour!), and a beautiful selection, are the distintive elements of the musical vehicles in which they let us ride through the legendary theme of films like For Love One can Die, The Mission, Svegliati e Uccidi, Once Upon a Time in America, and Legami.
A brilliant decision of the label BMG to bring out a disc so original, well written and notably performed.

(Gerardo Kleinburg, Director of the Mexican City Opera Company)

The string trio "Triology" in the Passauer Redoute

Building bridges between styles and epochs, a wonderful string trio enchanted its public. The three musicians of "Triology"... gave a world class performance.
... It is extraordinary how their technical brilliance molds together with the emotional impact of their playing.
... It was only optically noticeable that one voice took over from the other, the violins and the cello molded together acoustically, Jopling and Schulze took over the melody without any change of nuance and then one would see Aleksey Igudesman introspective and visibly moved by his own soulful improvisation.
During this improvisation borders between epochs seem to disappear, stiles to go into each other. Without any harmonic discrepancies Aleksey Igudesman is suddenly in the middle of improvising on blues and jazz harmonies, which mainly can be found in Tristan Schulzes compositions. And in between, Alekseys deliciously humorous verbal intros so full of self irony.
Strict rules of a classical string concert disappeared, the musicians enchanted through their unconventional, relaxed introductions to the pieces bringing a smile to the faces of the audience.

(English translation of the critic by Roman Pletter)

....The reason for their success is because of what they embody: virtuoso expressivity and playfullness, their pieces are interpreted in melting harmony on the one hand, and on the other hand you have the elaborate arrangements of Schultze, which give the trio its special flair. Artful kontrapunctuality, funky rhythems, jazzy-dissonant harmonys, abandonately sung out melodic lines, all of that has its strong effect on you. In its successful debut CD "Triology Plays Ennio Morricone" like in the new production "Who Killed The Viola Player?" Triology takes on a popular repetoire without losing substance and quality of the music: tangoesque music (Astor Piazzolla) stands beside a transkription of harp music from kamerun, flamenco inspired pieces (Paco de Lucia) stand next to Irish jigs and Jewish songs. The emotional direktness of their expression lets the music of Triology shine at times, like the post-modern movement never took place.

(English Translation of the critic by Andreas Felber)

Triology... are all noticably accomplished players who are not afraid of mixing beauty with shtick...they should take their rightful place in the emerging ranks of new chamber music makers...It´s exiting, as well as reassuring, to witness young, gifted musicians in the happy throes of genre-splicing, witty, creative fervor.

(JOSEF WOODARD)

Playing almost nose to nose and eyeing each other as if trying to provoke ever more daring feats of fiddling bravado, Triology romped their way through an evening of their off-beat specialities...The three carried all this off with enormous good humor and a contagious engagement with the music. That they play without scores may help account for their amazingly coordinated ensemble, so intricate that whole cascades of arpeggios were apportioned seamlessly between the violins. Above all, they play with amazingly athletic virtuosity and seem to have fun doing it.

(JOAN REINTHALER)

Triology made Friday nights U.S. deput at the Kitchen
(New York) an exiting one. The trio play an unconventional chamber repertoire with an edgy, audacious style that recalls the Kronos Quartet at their most inspired.....Throughout, Igudesman and Jopling dueled with their fiddles, interwining high-speed runs with virtuoso lyric playing, generating tremendous personal electricity that added to the excitment of the music.

(BY PAUL J. PELKONEN, CLASSICAL EDITOR)

Triology Plays Ennio Morricone

One of Italys great composers of the past half centuary has devoted most of his career not to the concert hall or opera house but, gloriously, to the screen. His name is Ennio Morricone, and there is no one alive who can write a more heartrending melody. His music is hardly neglected, but it does have a tough time being taken seriously. This is a mistake.
Morricone´s own orchestrations for projects as varied as Roland Josephs "The Mission", Segio Leones "Once upon a time in America", and Pedro Almodovars "Tie me Up - tie me Down", place him among todays masters of orchetstral possibilities. Now comes Triology, a funky Vianese trio, specialising in new music, with astounding chamber arrangements of scores from these plus eight other movies.
Film buffs should rejoice, but chamber music lovers, too, simply must not do without discovering the violin virtuosity of Daisy Jopling and Aleksey Igudesman and the persuasive cello playing of Tristan Schulze in Morricones treasures. Here is music that is fluid- yet misterious, played with simplicity and utter perfection. "Triology plays Morricone", is one of the most original and enjoyable chamber recordings to come around in a long time.

"Triology...form an unconventional chamber music string unity... the 69 year old compser of more than 300 films (Ennio Morricone), says contently,"finally a group of real professionals""

- Oberösterreichische Nachrichten 8. Okt. 98 -

"Triology ... has enriched the music with their personal and undefinable style. Soundtracks known worldwide ... were arranged very individually by Tristan Schulze and very passionately produced."

- Sound and Media 1. Okt. 98 -

"Ensemble Triology ... have deeply impressed Ennio Morricone with their rendition of his music"

- APA 281 9. Sept. 98 -

" Seldomly there are Cds where you can apply the term of "they knock you off your chair". This Cd is a "off the chair knocker" par excellence. "Triology plays Ennio Morricone" is the name of this wonderful Ouvre."

- Kleine Zeitung 4. Okt.98 -

" A very succesful project. The string instruments underline the dramatic filmsongs perfectly. They have transfered the world famous music of Morricone with a lot of sensetivity into classic Chambermusic. Impressive!" (rating : five stars)

- Bazar -

" The exellent trio "Triology" ... enterprid legendery soundtracks from "Once upon a time in America", "Ata Me" and "A fistfull of dollars" (rating : five stars)

- News -

Movie Scores Played Persuasively
Film buffs should rejoice, but chamber music lovers, too, simply must not do without discovering the violin virtuosity of Daisy Jopling and Aleksey Igudesman and the persuasive cello playing of Tristan Schulze in Morricones treasures. Here is music that is fluid- yet misterious, played with simplicity and utter perfection. "Triology plays Morricone", is one of the most original and enjoyable chamber recordings to come around in a long time.

- San Franzisco chronicle January, 31. 1999 | ***** (Five Stars)

It isnt hard to share Morricones admiring view of Triologys work. After all, the arrangements are not only unusually resourceful and imaginative, they´re often quite witty... Yet for all liberties they take Triology doesn´t play his music just for laughs. "Cockey´s Song" and "Romanza" are but two examples of how the ensemble preserves the dark beauty and simple elegance of his music.

- The Washington Post Friday January 8 1999 (Mike Joyce)

...Triology recasts a dozen of Morricone´s themes with the ideal mix of respect and insouciance...They are in tune with their hometown´s grand chamber music tradition, although they put a very conteporary imagination to their work in giving this music vibrant life beyond the cinema.

- Billboard Reviews Dec.19.1998

...Triology does an excellent job massaging these pieces for all their cinematic dynamism, but they go further...Their nod to the master of film music is graceful and talented and full of adventurous fun.

- www.amazon.com

...Triology leap with idiomatic fervor, stylish verocity, and one thousand percent conviction... "Triology Plays Morricone" is an unusual and engaging disc.

- EPulse! Nov.23 1998

Das Trio, das in der Nähe von Wien zueinandergefunden hat, legt mit seiner zweiten CD ein Meisterwerk vor. Wagner, Piazzolla und Al Di Meola werden von Aleksey Igudesman und Daisy Jopling, Violine, und Tristan Schulze, Cello, so frisch dargeboten, dass es eine Freude ist. Es bedarf einer eigenen Art zu hören, um aus einem Stück , welches bereits tausende Male zur Aufführung gekommen ist, noch solch neue Seiten hervorzuholen. Die spritzigen Arrangements von Tristan Schulze geben den Liedern einen neuen Sinn. Auch die Eigenkompositionen sprühen vor Energie, Einfallsreichtum und Witz.
Dieses Trio schickt sich an, in der ganzen Welt bekannt und zum Begriff zu werden. Mit ihren Morricone Interpretationen hatten sie dazu den Grundstein bereits gelegt. Triologys " Who Killed The Viola Player " wird, und das steht fest, in vielen Magazinen der Welt, die sich auch mit Crossover beschäftigen, zur CD des Jahres gekürt werden. Interviews mit den drei Virtuosen können sie in der nächsten Jazz Zeit lesen. Dort wird uns Triology erklären, wie es zu den Ideen kam, die " Who Killed The Viola Player" zu dem machen, was es ist: Ein Album der Extraklasse. Österreich darf stolz sein, Daisy Jopling, Aleksey Igudesman und Tristan Schulze zu beheimaten.

(Benotung: Fünf Sterne)

Nicht nur Tristan war Montagabend von den Socken, auch das (überwiegend junge) Juenesse-Publikum: Nein, nicht ob "falscher" Töne (die waren durchaus bewusst gesetzt), sondern aus scheinber purer begeisterung-der Fanclub des jungen klassisch geschulten Streichtrios hörbar zahlreich versammelt.
Bach, Schumann haben Daisy (Jopling), Aleksey (Igudesman) und Tristan (Schulze, barfuß spielend) jedoch hinter sich gelassen, auf eine "gemeinsame Interpretation" konntensie sich dabei sowieso nie einigen-wie sie mit kühnem Augenzwinkern anmerkten. Dass sie es doch (ganz?) ernst können, bewies Barockmusik-Marke Eigenbau. Sie hatten Spaß an Variationen über "Fuchs du hast die Ganz gestohlen", und wenn Phillip Glass´Minimalmusic unter dem Motto "Volksmusik" in die Steiermark verschleppten, entlarven sie im Grunde eine ganze Musikrichtung.
Vom verrauchten Jazzkeller auf die Alm, von Strauß zu Schönberg-Stilgrenzen sind ihnen fremd. Und droht es, einmal gar zu kitschig zu werden (wie in Morricone Bearbeitungen), finden sie schnell den Weg in die Überzeichnung. Mit Virtuosität und einer jeglichen Konvention wegfegenden Selbstverständlichkeit. Ja, sie wissen sogar, wie beim Finale des Neujahrkonzerts das störende Klatschen zu unterbringen wäre: Mit stetem, mehr als unerhörtem Taktwechsel.
Dass sie sich bei all den Purzelbäumen nie eine rote Nase holten, zeugt von Können. Sie brauchen weder E-Violinen noch Go-Go-Girls oder Verstärker-zwei Violinen, ein Cello genügten. Kreativität allein zählte.

Nein, "Triology" ist kein künstlich hochgezüchtetes Gimmick, wie man als misstrauischer Musikindustrie-Agure mutmaßen könnte. Drei klassisch ausgebildete Jungmusiker, die sich dem populären Repetoire zwischen Folk und Jazz widmen und gleich mit einem sechs Produktionen umfassenden CD-Vertrag ausgestattet werden, das riecht doch stark nach Crossover-Hype. Und wenn "Triology" diesem Fraglos einiges zu verdanken haben, die Ursache ihres Erfolges liegt bei ihnen selbst: Zum einen in der virtuosen Expressivität, im Spielwitz, mit dem Daisy Jopling (Violine), Aleksey Igudesman (Violine) und Tristan Schulze (Cello) ihre Piecen wie aus einem Guss darbieten; zum anderen an den elaboraten Arrangements Schulzes, die das Repetoire des 1995 in Wien gegründeten Trios prägen. Kunstvolle Kontrapunktik, spritzige Rhythmen, jazzig-dissonant geschärfte Harmonik, mit Hingabe ausgesungene Melodiebögen, das alles verfehlt seine Wirkung nicht. Im Filmmusik-Klassikern gewidmeten Erfolgsdebüt von 1998 ("Triology plays Ennio Morricone") wie in der neuen Produktion "Who Killed The Viola Player?" bringt Triology ein Populäres Repertoire, ohne dass dies der Substanz und dem Niveau der Musik abträglich wäre: Tangoesques (Astor Piazzolla) wird neben eine Transkription von Harfenmusik aus Kamerun gestellt, Flamenco-inspirierte Stücke (Paco de Lucia) stehen neben irischen Jigs und Jüdischen Liederen. Die emotionäle Direktheit des Ausdrucks lässt die Musik von "Triology" momentweise leuchten, als hätte die Poatmoderne nie stattgefunden.

(Andreas Felber)

...Die Arrangements bewahren Klima und Klangbild der Filmszenen trotz der neuen Klangstruktur für Triobesetzung. Und die alle instrumentalen Möglichkeiten extensiv nutzende, perfekte Wiedergabe ist aufregend wie gutes Kino. Ich erwarte von Triology noch andere spannende musikalische Grenzgänge.

(Karl Löbl)

...Sie bezirzen ihr Publikum sofort mit ihrer vitalen Leichtigkeit, die sich nicht nur über Genregrenzen hinwegsetzt, sondern auch mit den Stimmungen und den Bedeutungsebenen von Musik spielt...Dabei setzen die drei nicht auf plumpe Effekte, sondern auf subtiles Spiel mit der Phantasie. Eine Entdeckung.

...Höhepunkt des Konzerts sind freilich die kammermusikalisch verdichteten Arrangements von Morricone Themen. Das Trio interpretiert sie mit furioser Technik und gestenreichem, hingebungsvollem Spiel, virtuos und vital...Sie fahren mit der Dynamik ihres Zusammenspiels nach Belieben rauf und runter, jede Steigerung wirkt reif und organisch, Emphase nie aufgesetzt. Zudem erschliessen Triology dem Streichtrio wiederum neue Möglichkeiten. Respekt!

...Diese Kompositorische brillanten Bearbeitungen und vor allem die Leidenschaft und Frische ihrer Interpretation fegen wie ein Frühlingssturm alle Bedenken selbst eingefleischter Puristen hinweg. Da sind drei hochkarätige Könner am Werk...selbst wenn die drei für eine der halsbrecherisch schwierigen Kompositionen mal die Noten bemühen müssen, hat der Zuhörer das Gefühl, Zeuge einer spontanen Session zu sein. Entsprechend nahtlos geht auch der Klang der Instrumente ineinander über. Ihnen beim Musizieren zuzusehen, ist mindestens so vergnüglich wie das Zuhören. Selten erlebt man Musiker, die ihr Publikum an ihrer eigenen Freude derart sinnlich teilhaben lassen. Drei Zugaben hat sich das Publikum erklatscht. Und nach dem Konzert mit Komplimenten überhäuft. Es war ein grandioser Abend.