The composer and pianist Ingrid Schmoliner writes and plays music the allure of which cannot be resisted. Her pieces are ecstatic cascades of sound which unite formal strictness and psychoactive effects. Schmoliner plays them with absolute precision. Her perfect technique allows her to create dramatic arcs with subtle variations. This creates hunting rides through tunnels of sound, whose sonic characteristics due to a carefully prepared piano remind one of Gamelan music. Sometimes percussive and noisy, and in the next moment clear and open with shimmering overtones. Schmoliners music is compelling and at the same time aethereal and fleeting. It sounds like soulful mechanics, sprawling organically into boundlessness. Its essence is the process.
Schmoliners new work MNEEM is a breathtaking one hour plus tour de force through complex uptempo pattern, played on the prepared grand piano. A unique musical experience that unfolds its magic instantly after a few minutes. For the player MNEEM is a very exhausting piece; it demands full concentration and technical skills of the highest level. For the audience it is a euphoric trancelike journey of 62 minutes that will leave the listeners thunderstruck. MNEEM will be released by Ventil Records in February 2024 (DL/LP).