Florian Favre
Idantitâ

The last album release of the Florian Favre Trio, On A Smiling Gust Of Wind, was quite a while ago, and the pause until this new record, Idantitâ, is of course also related to the pandemic. Because so far the pianist from Switzerland has not lacked positive encouragement and motivation. Right from the start, the Swiss and German-speaking press agreed: Favre is original and charming, highly talented and artistically unique. On A Smiling Gust Of Wind was even praised in England, for example by ukvibe.org: “Favre's style is wonderfully expressionistic. He plays with an assured touch, sometimes calm and thoughtful, sometimes lyrical and dynamic.” The Bernese newspaper Bund emphasized “compositional twists, dramaturgical turns or lush groove passages,” while the Austrian magazine Concerto noted “the subtle sounds marked by optimism.”

Born in 1986 and raised in Fribourg (French-speaking Switzerland), Florian Favre first learned classical piano, then studied jazz piano and composition in Bern. In the capital he also founded the first version of his band in 2011. During the last months before the pandemic, he devoted himself primarily to his relatively new project Néology, in which he also performs as a rapper and expands his trio by two horn players and a guitarist. In the summer of 2019, Favre moved back to Fribourg, more specifically to a small suburb about 20 minutes away. Then the sextet was abruptly stalled by Corona, suddenly traveling was out of the question. Unexpectedly, Favre found himself thrown back on himself. “Soon I was faced with the question of who and what I actually am when I can no longer do what I usually do.” Reflecting on his own identity led to some new compositions, but most importantly to a deeper exploration of his own history - and ultimately to his second solo album after 2014.

A spectacular video youtu.be/KmpFxkWPjDY sponsored by Fribourgissima Image Fribourg and shot on Lac de la Gruyère gave Favre the impulse to study the musical heritage of his homeland. And it established the term Idantitâ, which later became the title of a composition and the album. In the video, the pianist improvises on “Adyu mon bi Payi” by the composer Pierre Kaelin (1913-1995), who mainly worked in Fribourg. The song originally tells the story of a farmer who was expelled because he diluted his milk with water.

“After the video shoot, I started looking for more pieces that I used to hear sung by choirs. I come from a big family where there was a lot of singing, but so far I hadn't been particularly interested in this tradition.” That was changing now. Favre researched and found what he was looking for, especially in the work of the composer Joseph Bovet (1879-1951), who as a priest and chapel master is said to have written around 2,000 secular and sacred pieces; among them “Le vieux chalet” from 1911, which spread worldwide and was translated into various languages including Japanese. “For the most part, this 'traditional' music is still relatively young,” Favre explains. “Bovet's pieces are very popular, even though they are not played on TV or radio. They are part of our collective memory and this special choir tradition we have in the canton of Fribourg. Here there is a choir in almost every village where people sing precisely these songs.”

The more Florian Favre became familiar with the songs, the more decisively he adapted them for himself. He varied harmonies and rhythms and added new, self-composed parts. Completely in the spirit of Bovet, Rossini or Berlioz, who themselves adapted the piece “Ranz des vaches”, already published in 1710, according to their personal conceptions and quoted it in their own pieces. Of course Favre kept the original titles, some of which were written in patois, the dialect of the region.

In his own compositions, Favre addresses some aspects of traditional life, sometimes with a critical eye. “Don't Burn The Witch” in 5/8 time reflects on the rural attitude that someone who looks different is not okay. “People are talked about if they are different visually or in their opinions, and they get discriminated pretty quickly. When I was writing, I thought of a person dancing like crazy, and for that I wanted to celebrate the person musically.” “The Cowboy”, on the other hand, is an appreciation of the traditional way of life. “The cliché cowboy in American Westerns almost never actually works with cows. My piece is a tribute to Swiss cowherds, who modestly and quietly do their important job. In keeping with their quiet demeanor, I play rather sparingly here.” A clear case of self-irony characterizes “The dzodzet”. “That’s what they call people from this region here, and it's not meant in a derogatory way at all. However, I had a person in mind who walks down the street all dressed up, taking himself much too seriously.”

For some years now Florian Favre has been exploring possibilities of preparing the grand piano in a way that creates abstract-atypical sounds. For the at least partly more rhythmic pieces “Nouthra Dona di Maortsè” and “The dzodzet”, he creates the slightly clattering, snare drum-like sound using a box of nails and a dictionary. In the jauntily dancing “Don't burn...” Favre uses dampers from the piano tuner's toolbox to stop the notes. In this way he creates dry, staccato, repetitive patterns and a hint of kick drum.

And how does Cole Porter's “I've Got You Under My Skin” fit into the repertoire as the album' s final track? “The traditionally sung songs are part of my identity, I wear them under my skin,” Favre explains. “Ultimately, they were what accompanied me growing up, more than Classical music and Jazz. In the beginning I felt that seriously engaging myself in them was kind of a challenge, because I didn't appreciate the pieces that much at first, so I had to be willing to give them a chance. But then it became a love affair, especially because I interpret them differently, in a contemporary way, and don't just play them the way they were 50 or more years ago.” In that respect, Favre also understands his personal approach to the repertoire in a somewhat more fundamental way. “It's never about worshipping the ashes, but about passing on the embers: developing new perspectives and points of view is always an essential part of an evolution.”

There is nothing to add to that. With his album Idantità Florian Favre presents atmospheric, lyrical and powerful piano music that defies clear categorization and at the same time offers easy access points. Its unobtrusive beauty is characteristic of the Swiss pianist, whose humor and lightness never seem frivolous.