Even before his solo concerts became popular successes,
Keith Jarrett
was clearly getting a free hand from ECM founder
Manfred Eicher
, as this ambitious double album of classical compositions proves. In this compendium of eight works for all kinds of ensembles, the then-28-year old
Jarrett
adamantly refuses to be classified, flitting back and forth through the centuries from the baroque to contemporary dissonance, from exuberant counterpoint for brass quintet to homophonic writing for a string section. Though the content is uneven in quality,
is clearly sincere and skilled enough to exploit his European roots with only a handful of syncopated references to his jazz work. The strongest, most moving individual pieces are the strange, gong-haunted
"In the Cave, In the Light"
(the probable source of the title of
Jarrett's
publishing company, Cavelight); "Metamorphosis," with its rich, flowing string lines, prominent solo flute, and free journeys in and out of tonality; and the
Bartok
-streaked String Quartet.
himself plays formal solo piano in the eclectic "Fughata" and "A Pagan Hymn," and even conducts
the Stuttgart Radio Symphony
strings. All of it is richly recorded in the ECM way, making four strings sound like twelve. ~ Richard S. Ginell