Press archive
What was written and broadcast about Harry Pepl: reviews, portraits, interviews and obituaries, with summary and source. The originals are protected by copyright and kept in the archive; we provide them to researchers and the press on request.
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25 August 1999 · Portrait · DE
Falter (p. 53): „Wenn Gitarren schreien“
Klaus Taschwer (Mitarbeit: Carsten Fastner)
Portrait of Martin Siewert, one of the outstanding musicians of the young Austrian improvisation scene. After laborious years of study, it was his encounter with Pepl, with whom he then studied in Graz, that brought the turning point.
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No idea what would have become of me if I hadn’t met Harry.
Martin Siewert
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30 July 1999 · Portrait · DE
Wiener Zeitung (p. 915, Ressort Extra): „Die Kraft der Statik“
Christian Rösner
Portrait of the guitarist Martin Siewert (born 1972 in Saarbrücken) before his appearance at the Saalfelden jazz festival.
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According to the article, Siewert was taught by Harry Pepl at the jazz department of the Graz music academy (today the University of Music and Performing Arts Graz) from 1992 to 1997.
from 1992 to 1997 he was taught by Harry Pepl in the jazz department of the Graz University of Music
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December 1998 · Report · DE
Das Waldviertel, Jahrgang 47, Heft 4 (p. 408): Kulturpreise des Landes Niederösterreich 1998 (nach NÖ Landeskorrespondenz, 22.10.1998)
List of the prizewinners of the 1998 culture prizes of the state of Lower Austria (award of the State of Lower Austria for the arts and culture), based on a release from the NÖ Landeskorrespondenz of 22 October 1998. In the music category Harry Pepl receives the prize of honour, while Friedrich Keil and Elisabeth Schimana receive recognition prizes.
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Music: Harry Pepl (prize of honour), Friedrich Keil and Elisabeth Schimana (recognition prizes)
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3 November 1998 · Report · DE
Kurier (p. 10, local news section, column „Landsleute“): „Auszeichnung für den musikalischen Jazz-Grenzgänger Harry Pepl“
initials „flo“
Brief news item about the 53-year-old guitarist and pianist from Hernstein, listing companions such as Toni Stricker, André Heller and the ORF Big Band (ORF: Austria's public broadcaster).
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It also mentions the Le Monde phrase about the „Giganten der Improvisation“ [“giants of improvisation”] and the German Record Critics’ Awards. The text does not say which award the headline refers to.
What matters is finding your own individual line, and for that it is practise, practise, practise
Harry Pepl
The 53-year-old guitarist and pianist of world renown from Hernstein captivates jazz lovers with extraordinary, spontaneous and innovative sounds.
I feel committed to musical truthfulness
In 1998, on receiving the culture prize of the province of Lower Austria
Harry Pepl
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21 October 1998 · Report · DE
APA-Basisdienst (Austria Presse Agentur): „Niederösterreichische Kulturpreise 1998 verliehen“
initials „we/wea“
Report on the presentation of the 1998 Lower Austrian culture prizes in the Shedhalle in St. Pölten on Wednesday, 21 October 1998, with the speech by Governor Erwin Pröll and the complete list of prizewinners; in the music category Harry Pepl receives the Würdigungspreis (prize of honour).
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30 September 1998 · Press release · DE
OTS (Originaltext-Service der APA), Niederösterreichische Landeskorrespondenz: „NÖ Kulturpreisüberreichung 1998 in St.Pölten“
Announcement of the prize presentation by Governor Erwin Pröll on Wednesday, 21 October 1998, at 2 pm in the Shedhalle in St. Pölten’s cultural district, with an exhibition of the prizewinners until 22 November.
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In the musical programme Pepl plays “Tintenfishinky”.
The music prizewinners are represented by Harry Pepl, who performs “Tintenfishinky”
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8 September 1998 · Press release · DE
OTS (Originaltext-Service der APA), Niederösterreichische Landeskorrespondenz: „NÖ Landesregierung beschloß Kulturpreise 1998“
On Tuesday, 8 September 1998, the Lower Austrian state government decides the state’s culture prizes.
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In the music category Harry Pepl receives the Würdigungspreis (prize of honour, 150,000 schillings); recognition prizes go to Friedrich Keil and Elisabeth Schimana. The presentation is planned for 21 October at the Shedhalle in St. Pölten.
Music: Harry Pepl (Würdigungspreis, prize of honour)
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April 1998 · Interview · DE
Concerto (music magazine), issue 2/1998: „Man könnte Klavierspielen müssen“
Martin Schuster
Interview in the Café Museum in Vienna, conducted in connection with the solo piano CD “Flow”.
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Pepl talks about his beginnings, the Jazzzwio, the brief engagement with Benny Goodman, Real-time Composing and MIDI technology, and announces reissues of “Gegenwind” and “Montreux 81”.
I wanted you to be able to hear the room on the CD as well.
Harry Pepl
My main problem is my high blood pressure. Another contradiction: on the outside I may seem calm, but inside it races around in me like mad.
Talking to Martin Schuster of the Austrian music magazine Concerto in 1998, at the Café Museum in Vienna, around the time of his piano album “Flow”. Pepl speaks openly and with self-irony about the blood pressure that kept him off the stage from 1994/95, and about the contrast between outward calm and inner high voltage
Harry Pepl
I am a man of contrasts, often very funny or ironic and then very sad again. You can probably hear that in my playing too
Talking to Martin Schuster (Concerto, an Austrian music magazine) at the Café Museum in Vienna in 1998; the interviewer describes how Pepl speaks in a deep, gentle voice, giggles at a bon mot and turns serious again the next moment
Harry Pepl
For me music means emotions and memories. And even when I play something I don’t much like, my blood pressure goes up, because then it gets on my nerves.
In Concerto in 1998, about the guitar, which he did not touch for a long time after 1994 because he feared the excitement; „auf den Wecker gehen“ (literally “to get on one’s alarm clock”) is colloquial German for “to get on one’s nerves”, and the remark is self-ironic. At the piano he then found a new freedom
Harry Pepl
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10 February 1998 · Interview · DE
Wiener Zeitung (p. 4, column „Jazzignal“): „Echtzeitkompositionen“
Christian Rösner
Portrait with interview on the piano album “Flow” (PAO Records).
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After his second brain haemorrhage and a break, Pepl has made the piano his instrument and developed his real-time composing further. He tells how for the recording he sat down in a Vienna concert hall (the article names the Bösendorfer hall), played a note and let himself be guided by the acoustics, and recalls an unprepared festival concert with Jack DeJohnette.
The guitarist and composer Harry Pepl may well be called Austria’s most independent and at the same time most uncompromising jazz voice.
What mattered to me was to play music that really comes from within and that happens in the moment
In 1998, on Real-time Composing at the piano
Harry Pepl
I played one note, then the second, and by the third at the latest Jack knew exactly where I was, and we were together.
On a festival concert with Jack DeJohnette without any joint preparation, in conversation in 1998
Harry Pepl
Pepl’s flowing real-time compositions on “Flow” are in any case full of energy and honesty; understandable in expression and eloquent.
Music is my life, and I cannot not play
Talking to the Wiener Zeitung, a Vienna daily, in 1998 about the time after his second brain haemorrhage in 1994: playing the guitar was out of the question at first, so he turned to the piano, which led to the album “Flow”; the double negative is deliberate
Harry Pepl
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1998 · Encyclopaedia · DE
Kulturpreis Niederösterreich (Preisträgerdatenbank des Landes): „Bewusster Grenzgänger“ (Harry Pepl, Würdigungspreis 1998 Musik)
Tribute text for the 1998 prize of honour for music. It traces Pepl as a boundary-crosser between jazz and New Music, from the Austrian Evergreens via the Fledermaus bar and the ORF Big Band (ORF: Austria's public broadcaster) and the professorship in Graz to composing in real time.
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Exploring the limits was obviously always his endeavour.
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10 December 1997 · Review · DE
Oberösterreichisches Volksblatt (p. 28): „World Groove Music mitten im Innviertel“
Harald Liehmann
Report from the INNtöne weekend: on the first evening Pepl plays first piano, then drums with the trumpeter Franz Hackl; on the second evening he joins the session of Michel Portal and Stephen Kent with Wolfgang Reisinger and Steve Shehan on piano and guitar.
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After that Harry Pepl played, first on piano, then on drums, while Franz Hackl stayed with his trumpet.
Their joy in playing carried over seamlessly to the audience.
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10 December 1997 · Review · DE
Kronen Zeitung (p. 28): „Gemeinsame Jazzsprache“
Chris Thommark
Review of INNtöne in the baroque hall of Zell an der Pram Castle: Alvin Batiste as the integrating figure, Michel Portal as mediator, Franz Hackl accompanying Pepl’s piano impressions on trumpet.
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Trumpeter Franz Hackl soulfully accentuated Harry Pepl’s piano impressions
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9 December 1997 · Review · DE
OÖ Nachrichten (culture section): „Wiederholt wechselnde Bündnisse“
Robert Urmann
Review of the INNtöne festival weekend at Zell an der Pram Castle with some 26 musicians in around 14 changing line-ups.
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Urmann misses a concept but praises the Motus string quartet, the Gospel Harmoniers and Pepl’s playing on piano and drums. According to Urmann, Pepl also created outstanding moments with Michel Portal “as a string player”, that is, on guitar. This is Urmann’s account: the preview in the Wiener Zeitung of Tuesday, 11 November 1997, had written in connection with Pepl’s new CD that he was “not playing guitar but piano”; whether he played guitar at the festival remains open.
The piano and drum playing of the guitarist Harry Pepl attracted attention.
As a string player he created fabulous special moments with Michel Portal, who phrased with a keen sense of sound on bass clarinet and soprano.
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11 November 1997 · Report · DE
Wiener Zeitung (p. 4, column „Jazzignal“): „Musikleckerbissen bei Inntönen“
Christian Rösner
Preview of Paul Zauner’s INNtöne festival at Zell an der Pram Castle (November and December 1997).
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The highlight on 5 and 6 December brings together Michel Portal, Alvin Batiste, Steve Shehan, Woody Schabata, Jon Christensen, David Gilmore and Harry Pepl, who has just released a CD on PAO Records on which he plays piano instead of guitar.
let it be said straight away, Pepl does not play guitar but piano
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24 December 1996 · Report · DE
Wiener Zeitung (p. 4, column „Jazzignal“): „Swinging Christmas!“
Christian Rösner
Christmas survey among Austrian jazz musicians about their music for Christmas Eve, among them Peter Legat, Andy Manndorff, Harry Sokal, Art Farmer and Christian Muthspiel.
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The „Supergitarrero“ [“super guitarist”] Pepl spontaneously answers “Silent Night” and also names Sting, Jack DeJohnette, Weather Report and classical music.
What do I listen to at Christmas? Well, Silent Night!
His spontaneous answer to a Christmas survey of jazz musicians by the Wiener Zeitung, a Vienna daily, in 1996; he also named Sting, Jack DeJohnette, Weather Report and classical music
Harry Pepl
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18 October 1996 · Report · DE
Der Standard (p. 706): Veranstaltungstipp „Ballett“ (steirischer herbst: 13. Jugendmusikfest Deutschlandsberg)
initials „knei“
Listings note: at the 13th Jugendmusikfest Deutschlandsberg, part of the steirischer herbst (festival of contemporary art in Styria), Pepl’s “Exzentrik Egometrik” is premiered at the Laßnitzhaus on Saturday, 19 October 1996, and repeated on Sunday, 20 October, played by the Altenberg Trio. Afterwards the Österreichisches Ballett Theater presents Ernst Widmer’s “Die letzte Blume”.
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Harry Pepl’s “Exzentrik - Egometrik” will receive its premiere.
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25 April 1996 · Interview · DE
Tiroler Tageszeitung (culture section): „Den Musikern vorsingen, mit ihnen atmen“ (Werner Pirchner feiert in Kufstein sein Debüt als Konzertdirigent)
Rainer Lepuschitz
Interview with Werner Pirchner before his debut as a concert conductor with the Camerata academica in Kufstein.
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The article recalls that exactly 20 years earlier Pirchner had given his first concert as a vibraphonist in Kufstein, with the Jazzzwio together with Harry Pepl.
For it was in Kufstein, exactly 20 years ago, that he also gave his first concert as a vibraphonist with the JazzZwio, together with Harry Pepl.
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26 February 1996 · Review · DE
Kronen Zeitung (p. 16): „Mythos und Zielpunkte“
Review of two CDs by Günter Meinhart’s STUDIO PERCUSSION graz.
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Extraplatte 242, with pieces by Pepl, Wolfgang Muthspiel and Armin Pokorn, offers in the reviewer’s words colourful, electronically supported expression; Pepl wrote „albträumerische Filmmusik“ [“nightmarish film music”].
Richly coloured, electronically supported expression with an enormous range
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1996 · Other · DE
PAO Records (CD-Booklet, CD 10140-2): Booklettext zu „Flow“
Georg Pepl
Liner notes by Georg Pepl, musicologist and Harry Pepl’s elder son, for the solo piano album “Flow” (recorded on Sunday, 10 March 1996, in the Brahms Hall of the Vienna Musikverein), printed in the booklet also in Stephen Ferguson’s English translation.
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The text presents the improviser at the piano as an image of isolation and of freedom and draws a line from Carl Philipp Emanuel Bach’s free fantasias via Mozart and Beethoven to jazz, which built dams against the “flood of improvisation”. He reads the flowing that gives the album its name through Rousseau’s “Reveries of the Solitary Walker”, Goethe’s “Werther”, Freud’s “oceanic feeling” and Herbert Marcuse. At the piano Pepl enjoys losing himself in the moment, the notes stream out “all by themselves, as silent water or as a flow”; in “Grace & Gary” and “2 Klavierpianos” he improvised a second piano track over the first. On the titles: “Man könnte Klavierspielen müssen” as a reminiscence of Glenn Gould, “Improv 2” of Schubert’s impromptus, “Grace & Gary” of the film “High Noon”; on “3 Mo” he quotes Pepl himself (“mothy, momenty, minory”). The German text is freely available as a text PDF, Ferguson’s English version for signed-in users.
While playing the piano Harry Pepl enjoys being able to elevate himself to the mood of the moment, or to plunge into a different sense of being. The notes are independent, streaming out all by themselves, as silent water or as a flow.
Just looking at the titles of his pieces one recognises that Pepl is a deeply musical and romantic artist. Musically his playing is related to language itself, he has listened to its rhythms and double meanings.
The improvising pianist flows out into the world of tones, the piano player melts into oneness with the piano, desists in his identity as a subjective entity.
3 Mo stands for mothy, momenty, minory. Mothy because the music sounds as if the moths are waiting to pounce.
Word play on his piano piece “3 Mo” from the album “Flow” (1996): three German adjectives beginning with “mo”, echoing Motten (moths), Moll (minor key) and Moment
Harry Pepl
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1996 · Other
PAO Records (CD-Booklet, CD 10140-2): Booklettext zu „Flow“
Stephen Ferguson
English liner notes by the pianist and composer Stephen Ferguson for Harry Pepl’s solo piano album “Flow”, recorded digitally in a single take on Sunday, 10 March 1996, in the Brahms Hall of the Vienna Musikverein.
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Ferguson calls Pepl “a musician who hears”, who immediately translates what he hears into music from his own fingers and his own voice; on the guitar he is “one of Europe’s undisputed jazz masters”, on the piano a virtual stranger, which is exactly what gives the music its magic. He hears “a dream played awake”, a pure music played without technique, only with musicality and flow, a response to the big black Steinway in the acoustics of the Musikverein, and in it the pianistic heroes Gould, Jarrett, Debussy, Cecil Taylor, Bach, Schoenberg and Schubert. Pepl has the jazz man’s joy of real-time composition; the titles are chosen for personal reasons (childhood, “High Noon”, Gould). It closes with the master of the strings as “a masterly novice full of music”. The booklet also names Ferguson as editor (with Daniel Pepl) and as translator of Georg Pepl’s text. The text is available as a text PDF for signed-in users.
his very own instrument–the guitar–where he is one of Europe’s undisputed jazz masters
Harry Pepl is a musician who hears. He has that seldom gift–to immediately translate what he hears into music coming from his own fingers, into music coming from his own voice.
It is a dream played awake, full of snatches of music, gestures, spaces.
he is simply unafraid of any musical task, and has the jazz man’s joy of real time composition.
Let us simply enjoy the novelty and richness of this master of the strings becoming a novice at the keyboard, a masterly novice full of music, in a fast stream of rhythms and thematic lines, flowing.
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1996 · Press release · DE
information sheet (press kit, 5 pages): Infos Harry PEPL
Undated biographical information sheet, produced in 1996 at the earliest.
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It contains a short biography, collaborations, festivals and a discography, the method of Real-time Composing and a list of works with premieres for Ensemble Wien, Ensemble Kontrapunkte, Kronos Quartet, STUDIO PERCUSSION and Artis-Quartett.
has come to the fore since 1984 as a composer of European contemporary art music
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5 November 1995 · Review · DE
Kronen Zeitung (p. 26): Plattenkritik zu „Abstract Truth - Beginnings“
initials „CT“ (vermutlich Chris Thommark)
Review of the CD “Beginnings” by Abstract Truth (PAO Records, Taufkirchen an der Pram, supported by the state of Upper Austria): music for quiet hours, in which Pepl shapes the two-part melody group and electronically steers his instrument from vibraphone to organ registers.
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In the two-part melody group, guitarist Harry Pepl is the defining creative force.
Kürzel CT (vermutlich Chris Thommark)
He controls his instrument electronically, from the vibraphone to the organ register.
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19 August 1995 · Review · DE
Salzburger Nachrichten: „Könnte Jazz sein“ (Neues von Österreichern)
Wolfgang Gratzer
CD column on Werner Pirchner, Harry Pepl and Wolfgang Mitterer.
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Gratzer recalls a Jeunesse evening by the Jazzzwio, which made it as far as the Montreux Jazz Festival, calls the album “Gegenwind” a collector’s item and reviews Pepl’s roughly 20-minute commissioned work “Anspannen, Überspannen, Abspannen” for STUDIO PERCUSSION graz (Extraplatte 242-2), underlaid with a tape Pepl recorded on MIDI guitar.
were, in their day, attuned to one another in the most original improvising manner
Thus five sound pictures open up whose colourful motion exerts a considerable pull
were back then attuned to each other in the most original improvising way. Their “Gegenwind” album now turns out to be a collector’s item.
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28 December 1994 · Report · DE
APA-Basisdienst (Austria Presse Agentur), Rubrik APA JAZZ NEWS: „Jazz-Splitter“
initials „hmf/gg“
Short report: for his band Abstract Truth the trombonist Paul Zauner has recruited John Purcell, Kenny Davis, Ronnie Burrage and Harry Pepl; the album “Beginnings” ranges from fusion to avant-garde.
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The result, from fusion to avant-garde: “Beginnings”.
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24 December 1994 · Report · DE
Salzburger Nachrichten (p. 7): „Österreichs Jazz hält seine Freunde auf Trab“
Wolfgang Lamprecht
Annual review of Austrian jazz in 1994, covering Porgy & Bess (Vienna jazz club), labels and CD productions. Pepl appears only in a subordinate clause: the author names “N.Y.C. impressure” his jazz album of the year.
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the (for the author of these lines) Austrian jazz album of the year, “N.Y.C. impressure”, by and with Harry Pepl
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28 July 1994 · Portrait · DE
Neue Kronen-Zeitung (Styria edition, p. 22): „Rastloser Grenzgänger“
Bernd Schmidt
Short portrait on the CD “N.Y.C. Im-Pressure” with Claus Stötter, Paul Nowinski and Jojo Mayer. Pepl explains his Real-time Composing, mentions projects with Günter Meinhart and STUDIO PERCUSSION and talks about his studio in Hernstein.
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Versatility is as much a part of Pepl as his turn to different (compositional) techniques.
In doing so, while playing the instrument, I record what is present in my consciousness during the creative process.
In 1994, on his Real-time Composing, in a portrait in the Kronen Zeitung, Austria’s largest-circulation daily
Harry Pepl
He remains a crosser of borders, this Harry Pepl.
only influenced by the New York street noises, by the loud life in this gigantic city.
On how his album “N.Y.C. Impressure” came about, 1994
Harry Pepl
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26 July 1994 · Report · DE
Kronen Zeitung (p. 18): „Musikalischer Grenzgänger lehrt an ‚NÖ Jazzakademie‘“
initials „D. S.“
Preview of the sixth Lower Austrian Jazz Academy at Zeillern Castle (31 July to 6 August 1994), a further-training seminar for aspiring professional musicians.
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Pepl is introduced as the most prominent teacher; with his quartet he plays the opening concert on Sunday, 31 July, at 9 pm.
Guitarist and composer Harry Pepl is regarded as a musical border-crosser and has played with jazz greats such as Benny Goodman, Dave Holland, Dave Liebman and Jack DeJohnette.
The top-class musician will also play the opening concert with his quartet on 31 July from 9 p.m.
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8 June 1994 · Other · SK
Hudobný život (Slovak music magazine): Nr. 11: „Infojazz č. 2/94“, Abschnitt „Súťaže, dielne a festivaly v zahraničí“ (Wettbewerbe, Workshops und Festivals im Ausland)
Yvetta Lábska (Slovak Jazz Society)
The jazz page of the Slovak Jazz Society reports on the jazz festival in Raab, Upper Austria, Austria, from 20 to 23 May 1994 (Whitsun), with the Brecker Brothers, the quintet of Archie Shepp and Arthur Blythe, Jack DeJohnette, the Ray Anderson Quartet, the Dave Holland Quartet, David Murray, Randy Weston and others, including Harry Pepl in a duo with Jack DeJohnette.
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Jazz Festival Raab, 20 to 23 May 1994 (Whitsun). At the festival in Austria, the performers included […] Harry Pepl in a duo with Jack de Johnette
Short news item from the Slovak Jazz Society on the jazz page of the Slovak music magazine “Hudobný život” of June 1994 about the jazz festival in Raab, Upper Austria, Austria (today INNtöne), at Whitsun 1994; “Jack de Johnette” as printed
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27 May 1994 · Review · DE
Der Standard: „Der Groove-Professor gibt sich recht unberechenbar“
Ljubiša Tošić
Record review of “N.Y.C. Impressure”: the funky rhythm section plays flat out, and after years dominated by play with sound, Pepl’s guitar is again recognisable as a guitar sound, with the MIDI guitar serving only as an atmospheric addition.
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Tošić hears a groovy affair with a rock-style distorted tone and highly individual phrasing; sound quality very good.
On N.Y.C. Impressure his guitar sound is once again recognisable as such.
Of course his phrasing is once again highly individual, which means: appealing and pleasantly unpredictable.
And so it may well happen that the guitar professor shines with a rock-distorted sound.
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26 May 1994 · Review · DE
Salzburger Nachrichten (p. 8): „Neue Symptome einer Krankheit“ (Das Jazzfestival in Raab ist als „Innviertler Jazzfestival“ wiederauferstanden)
Wolfgang Lamprecht
Review of the first Innviertel jazz festival, which Paul Zauner continued with his own association after the end of the association Kunst und Kultur Raab.
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Lamprecht highlights Jack DeJohnette, who appeared above all as a pianist and played an intimate duo with Pepl on drums.
as a kindred-spirited improviser on drums in a thrillingly intimate dialogue with the string electronics player and creative sound colourist Harry Pepl
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24 May 1994 · Review · DE
Der Standard (p. 10): „Zwischen Räucherstäbchen-Blues und festlicher Marching-Band-Tarnung“
Ljubiša Tošić
Festival review from Raab with Dr. John, Ray Anderson and the Dirty Dozen Brass Band. Beyond the nostalgic acts, Tošić singles out the live session of Jack DeJohnette (drums and piano) and Harry Pepl.
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Drummer and pianist Jack DeJohnette and guitarist Harry Pepl, for instance, gave a live session there.
after all, there were moments of intensity that one would not have wanted to miss on any account
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24 May 1994 · Review · DE
Kronen Zeitung (p. 17): Kurzkritik vom Innviertler Jazzfestival in Raab
initials „CT“ (vermutlich Chris Thommark)
Report from the third day (Sunday, 22 May 1994) of the Innviertel jazz festival in the Rothuberhalle in Raab: Jack DeJohnette spontaneously joins Idris Muhammad’s Afro Beat and later plays a duo with Pepl, who holds dialogues on guitar synthesizer with DeJohnette on piano and drums.
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Alternating between piano and drums, he engaged in dialogues with Harry Pepl on guitar synthesizer.
These were sound meditations between expansive and concentrated, in lyrical solitude and orchestral fullness of sound.
Kürzel CT (vermutlich Chris Thommark)
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7 May 1994 · Review · DE
Salzburger Nachrichten: „Verständigungen über den Gartenzaun“ (Jazz-Gitarristen: Harry Pepls Comeback, Ray Cooder, Doctor Blocher, Bill Frisell)
Wolfgang Gratzer
Short review of the new album: the reviewer writes that Pepl, one of the continent’s most individual guitarists, is stepping out of his seclusion with his quartet recorded in New York (Claus Stöttner, Paul Nowinski, Jojo Mayer).
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Thanks to cleverly pre-planned pieces and compelling solos, the author counts the record among the most exciting things produced in Austria in recent years.
The Viennese Harry Pepl, who counts among the most distinctive guitarists on the continent
is among the most exciting things produced in this country in recent years.
recorded an album which, thanks to its so cleverly conceived tracks, ploughed through with compelling solos, ranks among the most exciting things produced in this country in recent years.
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20 April 1994 · Other · DE
Österreichische Mediathek, Katalog (online): „Harry Pepl Quartet 20.04.1994 (1)“ (unveröffentlichte Aufnahme)
The Österreichische Mediathek (Austrian Mediathek), Austria’s archive of sound and video recordings at the Technisches Museum Wien, lists an unreleased recording of the Harry Pepl Quartet of Wednesday, 20 April 1994, recorded at the Orpheum in Graz, Austria, that is, at the concert of the Graz Meeting “Strings”. It is on compact cassette (shelf mark 6-69528) and can only be heard on site at the Mediathek in Vienna. The catalogue names only Harry Pepl (guitar); according to the Austrian news agency APA, the quartet played with Wolfgang Puschnig.
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16 February 1994 · Report · DE
APA-Basisdienst (Austria Presse Agentur): „‚Strings‘ - Ein Jazzfestival der Saiten“
initials „hmf/gg“
Programme presentation of the Graz jazz festival “Graz Meeting ’94” (19 to 21 April 1994, Orpheum) on the theme of string instruments, with Joe Pass, John Abercrombie, Bill Frisell, Derek Bailey, the String Trio of New York, Wolfgang Muthspiel and the trio Kühn, Jenny-Clark, Humair. Pepl plays in a quartet with Wolfgang Puschnig.
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Nor must one of the most experimental and versatile Austrian jazz guitarists be missing: Harry Pepl
Austria Presse Agentur
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1994 · Radio · DE
Ö1, „Aus dem Konzertsaal“ (live recording, in der Österreichischen Mediathek): „Aus dem Konzertsaal: Graz Meeting 1994 (2)“
Jörg-Martin Willnauer (presenting)
Jazz broadcast by Ö1, ORF’s cultural radio station, from the Graz Meeting 1994, featuring among others the Harry Pepl Quartet according to the catalogue of the Österreichische Mediathek (Austrian Mediathek), and presented by Jörg-Martin Willnauer.
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The recording is on compact cassette (shelf mark 6-69955) and can only be heard on site at the Mediathek in Vienna; the catalogue does not give the broadcast date. The quartet played at the Graz Meeting on Wednesday, 20 April 1994, at the Orpheum in Graz, Austria.
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1994 · Review · DE
Buchkultur (Vienna): Musiktipp „Harry Pepl Quartet: N. Y. C. imPressure“
The Viennese magazine Buchkultur recommends the album “N.Y.C.
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Impressure” by the Harry Pepl Quartet: recorded after a concert in New York City, it conveys the impressions of the four musicians. The tip appears next to new releases by the Austrian singer-songwriter Hans Söllner and the band Hole.
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1994 · Other
Amadeo, Vienna (CD-Booklet, 523 570-2): Abstract Truth: „Beginnings“ (Booklet)
Booklet of the CD “Beginnings” with all eight tracks, timings, composers and line-ups: Harry Pepl (guitar, guitar synthesiser), John Purcell (tenor saxophone, flute, saxello), Kenny Davis (bass), Ronnie Burrage (drums, synthesiser), Paul Zauner (trombone).
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It also contains Colette Oswald’s band photo on the Bow Bridge in Central Park, New York, a cover painting by Margit Taus, design by Andreas Ortag, a long list of thanks (state of Upper Austria, Ministries of Education and Foreign Affairs, American Music Project, musicians such as George Lewis and Harry Sokal), a remembrance of George Adams and Carter Jefferson and the note “Harry Pepl plays PRS guitars and Tomastik strings”. No recording date is given.
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1994 · Review · DE
magazine (title not preserved), record review: Harry Pepl Quartet: „N.Y.C. Impressure“
Record review of “N.Y.C. Impressure” (Extraplatte (Vienna independent label) EX 203-2, recorded 6/92 at the Active Recording Studio, New York): according to the review, Pepl, a native of Lower Austria, has been experimenting with the MIDI guitar for years, and his new hobbyhorse is real-time composing. The album is said to reflect the mood, colours and rhythmic density of New York, realised with Claus Stötter, Paul Nowinski and Jojo Mayer. Rating (8).
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The Lower Austrian Harry Pepl loves the battle with “Bits and Bytes”.
His latest hobby-horse goes by the name of “real-time-composing”.
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17 September 1993 · Report · DE
Der Standard (p. 10): „Schwarz & hart, erdig & kantig“ (Komponist Paul Zauner erkundet „Die Innviertler Seele“ musikalisch)
Christian Schachinger
Preview of the project “Die Innviertler Seele” at the Festival der Regionen: Paul Zauner brings American and Viennese jazz musicians, among them George Lewis, Gene Jackson, Harry Pepl and Christian Radovan, together with Innviertel zither music and a traditional brass band. Dates: 23 September 1993 at the Gasthof Zwink in Aspach, 24 September at the multi-purpose hall in Obernberg and 25 September at Zell an der Pram Castle.
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Among others, the US trombonist George Lewis, Gene Jackson, who works with Herbie Hancock, as well as the guitarist Harry Pepl and the trombonist Christian Radovan will be exposed to a very special kind of culture clash.
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30 May 1993 · Review · DE
Kurier (p. 21): „Raab-mood - eine Suche“
Peter Klimitsch
Mood report from the first day of the Whitsun jazz festival in Raab (Friday, 28, to Sunday, 30 May 1993) with the Gary Bartz Quartet and Horace Parlan.
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Air Mail played with Jean-Paul Celea (called “Jean-Pierre” in the text) instead of Palle Danielsson on double bass; Pepl is described as „Gitarren-Mastermind“ [“guitar mastermind”].
Airmail, with Jean-Pierre Celea instead of Palle Danielsson on double bass, was devoted to guitar mastermind Harry Pepl.
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19 May 1993 · Report · DE
Der Standard (Seite S5, column „Veranstaltungen zum Vorausplanen“): „Frische Luftpost“
Ljubiša Tošić (initials „tos“)
Listings tip: Air Mail, one of the most successful Austrian bands, has re-formed after a long break, with Wolfgang Puschnig, Harry Pepl, Wolfgang Reisinger and Palle Danielsson on double bass. Concert at the Vienna jazz venue Reigen.
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“Air Mail” was one of the most successful Austrian bands.
Almost everything this country has to offer in jazz of international quality is gathered here.
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9 May 1993 · Review · DE
Kurier (p. 22): „Pepl-Uraufführung beim Artis-Quartett-Zyklus“
Werner Schuster
Concert review of the Artis-Quartett evening in the Brahms Hall, with Brahms’s Piano Quintet and the world premiere of Pepl’s string quartet between Beethoven and Brahms.
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The critic praises the Artis-Quartett and considers the fragile work too good to serve as an interlude between the great pieces.
his work, hesitantly starting again and again, fragile, conveying grief, is too good for use as a sandwich filler
his hesitant, ever re-beginning, fragile work conveying grief is too good to be a sandwich filling.
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6 May 1993 · Programme booklet · DE
Gesellschaft der Musikfreunde in Wien, programme booklet, Brahms-Saal (Vienna Spring Festival 1993, Artis Quartet, concert 3): Artis-Quartett mit Stefan Vladar, Donnerstag, 6. Mai 1993, 19.30 Uhr
editor: Joachim Reiber
Programme booklet for the evening with Beethoven (Op. 18/4), the world premiere of Pepl’s string quartet “Über kurz oder lang, von der Weite und der Enge” and Brahms’s Piano Quintet.
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The discussion of the work lists commissions, festivals and awards and describes the quartet, written in February 1993, in three parts. The ORF (Austria's public broadcaster) broadcast the concert on Ö1 (the ORF's cultural radio channel) on 12 May.
from Pepl one may only expect the unexpected
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December 1992 · Report · DE
Jazzlive (vol. 10, no. 99/1992): Titelbild Harry Pepl; „Soundknitting. Die farbenfrohen Klangmuster der New Yorker Knitting Factory“
Hannes Schweiger (article); Rainer Rygalyk (cover photo)
The Viennese jazz magazine shows Harry Pepl on its cover, photographed by the publisher Rainer Rygalyk.
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In the issue, Hannes Schweiger describes the history and programme of the New York club Knitting Factory (New York music club for jazz and the avant-garde) and reports that in summer 1992 Pepl played there for an evening with his quartet (Klaus Stötter, Paul Nowinski, JoJo Mayer). Pepl describes how the pace of New York changed the way he plays.
I noticed myself that I play completely differently there than at home.
On his performance at the Knitting Factory, New York’s avant-garde club, in summer 1992
Harry Pepl
The ambience of the club is rather plain. Playing there was really an experience.
On the Knitting Factory, New York’s avant-garde club, where he played in summer 1992
Harry Pepl
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13 November 1992 · Report · DE
Der Standard (Seite A9): „Bauernbub spielt im Sweet Basil“
Johann Skocek
Record column on the trombonist Paul Zauner and his Blue Brass Connection. In passing, Skocek reports that a few weeks earlier Zauner had recorded two albums in New York with a new, more contemporary band including Harry Pepl and Harry Sokal.
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That is yet another new band, in which the Austrians Harry Pepl and Harry Sokal, among others, are fiddling along.
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12 August 1992 · Report · DE
Kurier (p. 6): „Jazzakademie im Schloß lockt internationale Stars“
Manfred L. Fritscher
Report on the Lower Austrian Jazz Academy at Zeillern Castle, with students mainly from Austria, Switzerland, Germany and Italy.
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Among the teachers, the Kurier names Pepl first, alongside Martin Fuss, Michael Starch, Ines Reiger, Claus Stötter, Joris Dudli, Bobby Dodge and Albert Kreuzer; on Wednesday, 12 August 1992, the teachers play a concert in the castle.
Old master Harry Pepl, guitar guru of the Austrian jazz scene
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17 July 1992 · Other
Pori Jazz, festival archive (online): Festival years 1992: John Purcell´s Blue Brass Connection
The online archive of Pori Jazz (jazz festival in Pori, Finland, held every year since 1966 and one of the oldest jazz festivals in Europe) lists, for the 27th festival from Saturday, 11 to Sunday, 19 July 1992, the band “John Purcell´s Blue Brass Connection” with Harry Pepl (guitar), John Purcell (saxophone), Graham Haynes (trumpet), Ron Burton (piano), Kenny Davis (bass), Ronnie Burrage (drums) and Paul Zauner (trombone). Three performances are listed: Friday, 17 July 1992, on the main stage at Kirjurinluoto in the programme starting at 5 pm, the same evening at the Village Gate, and Saturday, 18 July 1992, at the Nuorisokeskus (youth centre). For the same Kirjurinluoto programme the daily schedule also lists Ringo Starr and His All Starr Band and the Hammond line-up of Jimmy Smith and Jimmy McGriff. Pepl appears in the archive only in this year.
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2 April 1992 · Other
Knitting Factory Works, New York (letter): Einladung an das Harry Pepl Quartet für den 2. Juni 1992
Michael Dorf, Director
Letter from the Knitting Factory to Harry Pepl in Hernstein: on behalf of the club management, Michael Dorf invites the Harry Pepl Quartet to perform on 2 June 1992 at 11 p.m. at the club, which he describes as the first venue for avant-garde jazz in New York.
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Shortly afterwards the album “N.Y.C. Impressure” was made in New York.
We think this will be an invaluable opportunity to expose your music to a New York audience.
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6 December 1991 · Report · DE
Der Standard (p. 11): „NÖ. Herbst: Erfolge mit Neuer Musik“
initials „ws“
Short review of the 1991 ZeitgeNÖssischer Herbst (77 concerts, around 11,000 listeners). Der Standard names as highlights the premiere of Horst Ebenhöh’s “Pfaffenberger Nacht” and the closing concert with Harry Pepl.
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The highlights were the premiere of Horst Ebenhöh’s scenic humoresque “Pfaffenberger Nacht” and the closing concert with Harry Pepl.
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2 December 1991 · Press release · DE
OTS (Originaltext-Service der APA), Niederösterreichische Landeskorrespondenz: „Außergewöhnlicheskonzert zum Abschluß“ (ZeitgeNÖssischer Herbst wurde Publikumserfolg)
Results of the third concert series “ZeitgeNÖssischer Herbst” of the state of Lower Austria (20 September to 28 November 1991, around 11,000 visitors, some 40 premieres).
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The series ended with a highly successful concert by the 1991 Lower Austrian culture prize winner Harry Pepl, whom the release calls a jazz pianist.
It came to a close with a hugely successful concert by this year’s winner of the Lower Austrian Culture Prize, the jazz pianist Harry Pepl.
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25 September 1991 · Press release · DE
OTS (Originaltext-Service der APA), Aussendung des Landes Niederösterreich: „noe kulturpreise 1991 beschlossen: preisueberreichung im stadtsaal zwettl“
The Lower Austrian state government confirmed the state’s culture prizes for 1991 the day before.
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Harry Pepl is listed in the music category among the Förderungspreise (promotion prizes, 25,000 schillings each); the presentation was scheduled at the Stadtsaal in Zwettl.
The following Förderungspreise (encouragement prizes, 25,000 schillings each) were awarded: music: Harry Pepl
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3 August 1991 · Interview · DE
Der Standard (p. 13): „Harrys Schloß der Töne“
Ljubiša Tošić
Preview of the opening concert of the Lower Austrian Jazz Academy at Zeillern Castle on Sunday, 4 August 1991, in which Pepl appears with a quartet.
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Pepl says the programme is still open, perhaps it will be an entirely free affair, and enthuses about the seminar, where music is made all day long in the castle.
I like it when things stay open until the very last moment
In conversation before the opening concert of the jazz academy in Zeillern, Lower Austria, 1991
Harry Pepl
What did I want to avoid? Simply playing any old standards.
Harry Pepl
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1991 · Portrait · DE
Kulturpreis des Landes Niederösterreich (Broschüre 1991, Preisträgerdatenbank): „Spontane Klangerlebnisse“ (Anerkennungspreis 1991, Sparte Musik)
Tribute text from the 1991 culture prize brochure on the Lower Austrian Recognition Prize in the music category, now online in the state's database of prizewinners.
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It presents Pepl as a professor in Graz and a composer in demand: a piece for the internationally renowned Kronos Quartet is about to be premiered in Graz in the autumn of 1991, another for the Artis Quartet is planned. For two years he has been composing with his “instant” or “real-time composing”. Pepl admires Mozart, Schoenberg's piano works and Giacinto Scelsi, and has analysed the rhythmic precision of a Bach recording by Glenn Gould on his computer. The text also mentions his two years at Gerhard Bronner's “Fledermaus” bar, the ORF Big Band (ORF: Austria's public broadcaster), several wins in the Jazz Live readers' poll and Le Monde calling him a “giant of improvisation”.
It is hard to place Harry Pepl anywhere musically, and strictly speaking it is not even necessary.
Pepl, and he leaves no doubt about this in this conversation either, is a musician of the moment.
the leading French newspaper Le Monde crowned him, without further ado, a “giant of improvisation”
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27 February 1990 · Programme booklet · DE
Gesellschaft der Musikfreunde in Wien, programme booklet, Brahms-Saal (special society concert): Komponistenportrait Harry Pepl, Dienstag, 27. Februar 1990, 19.30 Uhr
editor: Teresa Hrdlicka
Programme booklet for the composer portrait with the Ensemble Kontrapunkte under Peter Keuschnig, with Christine Whittlesey, Pepl on guitar and guitar-to-MIDI system, Josef Pitzek and Rainer Keuschnig; the piano sound comes from the Bösendorfer (Vienna piano maker) computer grand piano. Fifteen pieces were played. The note on the work explains “Instant composing” and names “Grogos” as a commission from the Gesellschaft der Musikfreunde (the Vienna Musikverein, historic concert hall of the Society of Friends of Music).
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free process of composition, in which the work is already fixed in writing at the very moment in which it is invented
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February 1990 · Report · DE
Tschin Bumm (music magazine, technology column, p. 52): „Harry Pepl im Studio: Das Bösendorfer-Projekt“
Studio report on the recordings for “Schönberg Improvations” (PolyGram) at the SingSang studio in Vienna: six studio days, pieces averaging 15 minutes with borrowings from Arnold Schoenberg, entirely without guitar tone, on the Bösendorfer (Vienna piano maker) computer grand piano, with David Liebman, Mino Cinelu and Wolfgang Reisinger. Pepl had played in the parts at home on the Roland MIDI guitar; the studio head Richie Österreicher jr. explains the technology. Only page 52 has survived; the continuation is missing from the scan.
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Harry Pepl is a man like Albert Einstein, a genius whom probably only a handful of people can still follow in his work.
Richie Österreicher jr.
The latest LP by the guitarist, acclaimed worldwide, is: a piano record.
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30 January 1990 · Report · DE
APA-Basisdienst (Austria Presse Agentur), Rubrik APA JAZZ NEWS: „Harry Pepl mit Schönberg-Improvisationen“
initials „hmf/fwi“
Report on a record project in progress: on a guitar equipped with MIDI computers and synthesizers, Pepl plays Schoenberg improvisations which after recording are given the sound quality of a concert grand.
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Hardly any difference from piano acoustics can be heard.
Although it is played on the guitar, there is hardly any difference from the acoustic sound of a piano.
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1990 · Other
Amadeo (CD-Booklet): Liner Notes und Credits zu „Schönberg Improvations“
Harry Lachner
Harry Lachner's English booklet text for the CD “Schönberg Improvations” (Amadeo 843 086-2, PolyGram Vienna, 1990).
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Lachner describes the record's paradox: Pepl, once recognisable by a modified Ovation guitar, later worked with samples on the MIDI guitar; here, however, he plays a real Bösendorfer grand piano from the guitar, and only “The Last Bars Of Mankind” sounds different. He calls this “a most radical use of technology” and quotes Dave Liebman on the urge to go beyond the limits of the instrument. The piano track is completely improvised, inspired by recordings of Arnold Schoenberg's piano works; the lyricism of “Alone Is A Golden Stone” and the trance-like 4/4 groove of “Magnet Resonance” stand amid highly abstract, atonal pieces. It closes with Glenn Gould as another source of inspiration. Plus the credits: recorded in November 1989 at the Sing Sang studio, Vienna, recording engineer Richard Österreicher jun., digital editing “Ton Eichinger”, produced by Harry Pepl, executive producer Wulf Müller, published by Antenna Music; thanks to Peter Lemell and the technicians of Bösendorfer and to AKG; front cover concept Marie-Luise Rausch, photography and design Wolfgang Plenk, booklet photos Fischnaller. The scan lacks one page of text between “(hence” and “deconstruction of old and worn-out musical patterns”.
a most radical use of technology: to play on a midi guitar connected to a computer just to return to a natural, acoustic sound
The simulation is complete, the circle is fullfilled and we should not be puzzled by the technical method but by the musical result.
Austrian guitarist Harry Pepl has gone a long and imperturbable way.
And yet, it is not a sampled sound, it's a Bösendorfer grand piano - played on the guitar.
the lyricism of "Alone Is A Golden Stone", the trance like 4/4 groove of "Magnet Resonance" are organically embedded into a context of highly abstract, atonal pieces.
If you're a great instrumentalist, you want to be able to express anything of the instrument, even beyond the instrument. It's not an instrument any more but an expression.
Dave Liebman