“Songs and Poems” is a title that promises quite a lot: there are neither songs nor poems in the usual sense among these five instrumental compositions for the Trio Accanto: there is no singing in Hans Thomalla’s Lied, Aldo Clementi celebrates the art of instrumental counterpoint, and if Wolfgang Rihm’s Gegenstück were a song, it would be a manifesto against vocality. At least the title of Walter Zimmermann’s trio is based on a poem by Robert Creeley, but the words are not heard in the piece. Also, the audience does not need to be aware of the Baroque verse structures upon which Andreas Dohmen based his work commissioned by the group. The title “Songs and Poems” nevertheless points in a certain direction. It reflects an underlying longing in these instrumental pieces for language, voice, and song, for the authenticity of singing, the simplicity of song, and the hidden meanings of poetry. Perhaps “Songs and Poems” is a song collection that only dreams of songs, just as the Trio Accanto – with its unusual instrumentation of saxophone, percussion, and piano – is a jazz trio that does not play jazz.
