The intimate Auditoriet stage, located within Moderna Museet, was packed out this afternoon for the Lars Jansson trio. Every seat was taken and there was a large queue waiting to hear the band who are based in Ljungskile, and rarely perform in Stockholm.
The band’s charming rhythms soothed the audience with their subtlety, making it easy to understand why their are so popular. Anders Kjellberg (drums) and Christian Spering (bass) played with a great degree of smoothness and gentleness, which went down well with the relatively elderly crowd, for which they were rewarded with liberal applause.
Lars Jansson (piano) is an interesting and humorous guy, who regularly had his audience chuckling as he talked during the interludes between pieces. He maintained an easy and relaxed atmosphere in the hall which complemented his musical style, and helped to generate an air of playfulness to the music.
As well as being a keen performer, Jansson composes his own pieces, and he explained that this helps him to communicate with his audience. Being an original artist allows him to be consistent and authentic in his performances, which goes some way to explaining his popularity.
Nowadays, Jansson finds himself spending an increasing amount of time composing, but this is not possible without the ’energy and flow that comes from playing.’ For him, there is a valuable intellectal process behind compositions, but that you can become too introverted without the outlet of performing, which he clearly loves.
Jansson describes himself as being as influenced by Stravinsky and Bartoch as by the jazz greats, and he uses a wide array of music to help shape his own style. The contrast between ’One Hand Clapping’, an eerie atmospheric piece that was a personal favourite, and ’Just Being’, which had the audience in raptures, was stark, and served to demonstrate the breadty of Jansson’s musical vision.
His goal is to ’become a better player, develop music and bevelop his musical language.’ Judging by his popularity, his musical journey has been a successful one.
For more information:
http://www.lars.jp/e/
www.myspace.com/larsjanssontrio
Christian Paul
ct280@hotmail.co.uk