In 2022, T.S. Eliot’s poem "The Waste Land" celebrated its 100th anniversary. Its central themes—solitude, estrangement and a wounded world with an alarmingly uncertain future—are even more pressing today than they were 100 years ago. Boris Rogowski’s soundscapes embody the mood perfectly: The fear and darkness as much as the faint, yet stubborn hope for the light of a new day. 

Irina Borissova
2nd Violin

Anna Krimm
Viola

David Menke
Solo Piano, Musical Direction

Roland Münchow
Flute, Tenor Saxophone

Michael Preuss
Cello

Boris Rogowski
Piano, Harmonium, Electric Guitars, Mandolin, Programming, Vocals

Alexander Sachs
1st Violin

Claus Schulte
Drums 

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Marie Marie

If There Were Water

In Rats' Alley

Sweet Thames Run Softly Till I End My Song

A Waste Land Companion is, as its title implies, an addendum to Boris Rogowski‘s
album The Waste Land which was released in February 2023 on Piano and Coffee
Records. A meditation on the infamous eponymous 1922 poem by T.S. Eliot, The
Waste Land traces its psychological journey through a barren world in search of lifegiving
water as well as its physical journey through London on the zenith of
Modernism.

During the recording sessions for the album—whose sound is characterised by the
interplay between a string quartet, flute and a collection of specifically created,
deeply warped and tape-weathered samples—over 20 pieces were recorded.
Rogowski had originally intended to use all of them in chronological order, beginning
with the famous part about April being the „cruellest month“. However, it turned out
that a shorter playlist and a strictly musical order worked better for the album.
Rogowski decided to focus on the string-centred pieces to give the album a dreamlike,
hypnotic pull. However, as he valued the shorter, piano-based pieces just as
much, the idea for a companion (mini) album was born almost immediately.

It was a most sensible decision: Chamber gems like „The Hyacinth Girl“ and „A
Wicked Pack of Cards“, mixing English folklore with nods to Richard Wagner’s Tristan
and Isolde, might have gotten lost between the dark, monolithic soundscapes of the
album. Here, however, framed by works for solo piano and harmonium, they are
allowed to shine. A Waste Land Companion begins and ends with two piano pieces
only loosely connected to T.S. Eliot’s poem: „Dear Jessie (to Jessie Laidlay Weston)“ is
an ethereal miniature in reverence of the brilliant English medievalist whose book
From Ritual to Romance, a historical examination of the King Arthur legend, greatly
influenced Eliot while working on The Waste Land. „Universe on a shoestring“ is even
serener, a kind of exhalation after a long and arduous journey. It was the last piece
Rogowski composed during his concluding writing session in the mountains of the
island of La Palma. Here, close to the GTC, the world’s largest optical telescope, the
universe seemed closer than anywhere else on earth—and the grim world of The
Waste Land already a distant memory.

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