Cada Fuego Es El Primero cs330

Argentinian pianist (by way of Amsterdam) Nicolás Chientaroli delivers a solo performance that demonstrates the piano's architectural sound beyond the usual demarcation points of its 88 keys. Cada Fuego Es El Primero opens with plucked strings, then a massage of the prepared insides of the instrument. "Fuego Hipnótico" reminds listeners the corpus of the piano is made up of wood, a soundboard, metal strings and is, in fact, a percussion instrument. Chientaroli demonstrates this with tappings, piano hammer blows and manipulation of his instrument's bowels. Just as drummer Han Bennink can perform a drum solo sans drums, Chientaroli conveys a piano performance without a keyboard.

Like fellow adventurer Agusti Fernandez, once he is seated on a stool, at the keyboard, his touch is somehow magnified by way of his extracurricular activities. "Orígenes" and "Fuego Nativo" deliver a rousing journey through varied sentiments. Chientaroli draws out the melancholy, or makes the piece into child's play. "Fuego Nativo" opens with the artist playing both flute and piano before turning heavy-hearted and ultimately (and fittingly) unresolved.

"Historias De Otras Dimensiones" is an exorcism of strings, his prepared piano becomes a noise generator not unlike that of Masami Akita, aka Merzbow. Where Merzbow uses electronics, Chientaroli wrestles sound from his acoustic environment. His explorations seem to have no limitations. The hypnotic piece "Fuego En El Espacio" which ends the disc opens with the echo of notes struck, before the piano's insides morph into first the sound of a steel guitar, then bells ringing in a square. What a magnificent and extraordinary journey of sound. Mark Corroto (All About Jazz)

Argentinian, Amsterdam-based pianist Nicolás Chientaroli began his career as a leader of his own jazz trio, releasing two albums with his Argentinian trio and active in many other jazz outfits in the Buenos Aires scene. The  relocation to the more experimental Amsterdam scene led him to record his debut solo piano, the free improvised album «Cada Fuego Es El Primero», where he offers a highly personal approach for playing the piano.
The piano now is not a keyboard instrument but a complex machine of hammered strings, wooden-shaped boards, resonating box, pedals and some keys. Chientaroli improvisations attempt to offer new orchestrations and manipulations of these assembled elements, distilled into sound-based textures. Some of these improvisations  follow the innovative work of Catalan pianist Agustí Fernández. These improvised textures are experimental, searching for new game-like, inventive sounds as the volcanic, opening piece «Fuego Hipnótico», the percussive «Chispas Verdes» or creating the disturbing, cinematic atmosphere of «Historias De Otras Dimensiones».
Still, despite the challenging method of rethinking anew his own method of playing and consciously forcing himself to explore and expand his sonic palette, some improvisations enable beautifully structured and impressively melodic textures to surface. The emotional and stormy «Orígenes» or the fractured, moving folk melody of «Fuego Nativo» suggest a similar architecture to the improvised melodies of Brazilian Egberto Gismonti in his earlier ECM releases. The last piece, «Fuego En El Espacio», bridges the experimental and the more structured approaches and offers an intriguing sound universe, engaging and frightening at the same time. Eyal Hareuveni (Salt Peanuts)