Mike Herting - beloved (Doppel-CD, Digipack)

Beloved

For decades, it was a unique interplay of passion, empathy and dedication: the work of Mike and Sabine Herting, so different and yet so similar. While Mike Herting, as a musical ambassador and bridge builder, brought together musical cultures from India to West Africa and fused genres in many innovative projects, Sabine Herting surprised exhibition visitors with her colorful collages, sculptures and large-format paintings on plaster fleece. Just like her art, which always felt warm and approachable, it was a matter close to her heart to experience her husband's music down to the finest detail, to feel it and to communicate it. Sabine Herting's sudden death was a deeply saddening shock. 

Carried and supported by family, friends and companions, Mike Herting received advice from a Buddhist friend to transform his grief into gratitude. This advice ultimately gave him new creative strength and inspired him to commemorate and thank Sabine in a musical way – with a series of new piano compositions and the improvisations that developed from them. “I wanted to put the memory and gratitude for my wife at the forefront and express this in a flow of emotions, without taking myself too seriously as a pianist. Sabine's smile and her vision of ‘art for all who have a big heart’ inspired me to improvise,” says the pianist and composer. 

Mike Herting’s eleven personal piano works for Sabine, framed by improvisations in the opening track “Blessed” and in the final part “One Life Together”, are at the same time an imaginary suite of varied character pieces and improvisations, reflecting moods and emotions in a wide melodic cosmos. The live recordings for the CD “Beloved” document the memorial concerts in November 2024 at River Studios Cologne and Klavierhaus Klavins in Bonn. Please enjoy them.

Michael Brüning, author of the book “Der KühnFaktor: Frei+Unabhängig: No Limits im Jazz“, Alfred Music, 2024

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Tracklist:

CD 1

1. Blessed (15:37)
2. One Life Together (12:38)
3. Lively, With a Smile (8:10)
4. Armour Eternel (8:23)
5. My Baby Blue (6:29)

CD2

1. This One is for All of You (5:42)
2. Journey Ever Onward (8:25)
3. The Goodness of Your Heart (11:02)
4. Generosity (7:50)
5. Oceanic (7:08)
6. Schlafe Sanft (7:17)