Track Listing

1. La Scala, Part I
2. La Scala, Part II
3. Over The Rainbow

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #18130 in Music
• Released on: 2000-01-25
• Number of discs: 1
• Format: Live

Customer Reviews

My Favorite Live Jarrett
Ok, shoot me---Koln Concert isn't my favorite solo concert. To me, this just shoots Koln in the foot! Why?

Koln Concert is a masterpiece, full of development and extreme detail to development. However, La Scala is romance in his language. To me, the first 7 minutes musically define love--and God, "....for God is Love (Christian theology)". IMHO, this is the best music to make, hands down!

However, this was recorded right before he got sick; not very easy to find and many do not know about it. Sad--this is what started me listening to Keith Jarrett.

Overall, this is awesome. Just listen--and open yourself. Take it in completely--as a Wagner or Verdi Opera. It will probably break your emotions--let it. At that point, you now have heard KJ.

Astoundingly gorgeous piano music
This is, I believe, one of keith jarrett's final released recordings of his longer form improvisations. Since then on Radiance, etc. he has been giving concerts with a stream of shorter pieces.

Anyway, with the exception of some rather long repetitive sections such as in the middle 20 minutes or so of part 1, and the atonal stuff on part 2 (which is interesting but perhaps not all that listenable), this has some of Jarrett's most gorgeous improvised piano music.

If you're like me, your favorite Jarrett material sounds almost like Romantic era piano music, such as the latter half of Koln: Part II B, or Radiance Part XV as examples. The first bit of Part 1 of La Scala and the last bit of Part 1 are incredibly melodic, gorgeous passages in this style as well.

If you're patient with Part 2, you're also in for a treat as he plays one of his best tremolo style improvs in the latter half or so. I think I enjoy this tremolo style improv more than Vienna: Part 2, it seems to move around more and have more lyrical melodies.

In short, this is Jarrett at his most melodic and his most lyrical. Just be patient with the repetitive sections...fast forward if you need to..that's what I do, lol! Sometimes its great to just let him take you for a ride though. Anyway, definitely buy this album, highly reccommended for any true lover of complex, beautiful piano music.

Ticklish Ivories, Indeed!
Twenty years after his famed KOLN CONCERT, pianist Keith Jarrett delivered another outstanding solo fantasia onstage in Milan. While I can't quite agree with the numerous earlier reviews favoring LA SCALA over its legendary predecessor, neither can I offer any evidence in support of my own preference aside from pure personal taste - which, in the realm of true music, is of course the only limitation which can or should apply.
The album-length "La Scala, Part I" seems to have scored top points with most prior reviewers, and it is indeed a phenomenal musical and - at three nonstop quarters of an hour - physical achievement. I myself, however, prefer the comparatively brief (at twenty-six minutes) "Part II," which showcases the full range of Jarrett's playing from extreme abstraction to sublime classicism and back again and suffers only from a louder and more substantial than usual dose of the master keyboardist's trademark grunting and gasping. He certainly hasn't lost his touch!
For those not particularly into Keith Jarrett, a single solo album may well suffice. I'd still recommend KOLN for such listeners, but not without mentioning this similarly thrilling performance from one of modern music's truly unique talents. A fine show, to say the very least.