Johannes Berauer operates at the exciting junction between classical compositional forms and jazz-influenced improvisational music. A string quartet is just as familiar and second-nature to him as a pulsating band with jazz soloists. 8232; 8232;Within this zone of music lurk great opportunities, as well as risks - if you are striving to create work in which both types of musictruly find their full expression. 8232; 8232;Johannes Berauer somehow effortlessly succeeds in building this bridge by immersing himself in both genres early on and internalizing them. Through top-notch craftsmanship, he creates music that is honest through and through, that is unpretentious and direct with complete originality. This type of melding used to be called "Third Stream" music. I think it is now a contemporary form of music-making in which the virtues of composition and improvisation are organically and fluidly fused. I wish for the greatest possible amount of regard and attention to be directed towards his latest recording Vienna Chamber Diaries Vol.3, in which I was allowed to participate: not only because I believe that this music simply deserves many listeners, but also because it takes us further along the continually fascinating artistic path that Johannes Berauer has been on for quite some time now. Wolfgang Muthspiel, September 2021 "I consider myself an ambassador between classical and jazz musicians, between composed and improvised music", says Austrian composer Johannes Berauer. His Vienna Chamber Diaries project has, until now, been characterised by intimate settings. Celebrating the tenth anniversary of the project in 2022, Berauer's latest instalment finds him thinking big, integrating contemporary classical composition with jazz interaction and improvisation with full focus. This is his most expansive work in the series to date, featuring a string orchestra assembled in Vienna by cellist Florian Eggner alongside the core Vienna Chamber Diaries Ensemble. The core ensemble functions as a jazz group and includes Gwilym Simcock on piano, Wolfgang Muthspiel on guitar and Yuri Goloubev on bass. It is Berauer's second release for Basho, following the acclaimed Hourglass (SRCD55-2, 2018). Berauer describes Wolfgang Muthspiel as the 'patron' of the Vienna Chamber Diaries project. Muthspiel played on the first album as well as launching it on his record label. Pianist Gwilym Simcock also featured in the Hourglass ensemble, and Berauer has built an ongoing working relationship with both Simcock and saxophonist Klaus Gesing. Berauer describes bassist Yuri Goloubev as the musician who most links the two musical worlds, given his breadth of experience both as a jazz musician and bandleader and as a classical bassist. The string section is drawn from the major orchestras and ensembles of Vienna and features two musicians who are also members of the core Vienna Chamber Diaries ensemble - violinist Johannes Dickbauer, also a 'hybrid' musician with experience as an improviser, and Florian Eggner. The music on the album is divided into two parts, but these parts are interwoven to create contrast in texture, density and mood. There are five pieces with the full Vienna Chamber Diaries ensemble and string section interspersed with four small band pieces with varying instrumentation (Valse Bleue features the violin, Florentin features bass clarinet and accordion, the remaining two are performed by a trio of Simcock, Gesing and Goloubev). Berauer emphasises the importance of the recent birth of his son. The piece Florentin is directly inspired by this, but Berauer also suggests that this context informs the entire work, and imbues it with a sense of looking forward - of hope and anticipation for the future. Berauer describes the piece Home as having a 'warm and cosy atmosphere', suggestive of 'settling in'. The album is rich in contrasts. Just Another Pop Song represents an attempt to balance the harmonic language and depth of jazz composition with the melody and flow of a pop song. The two part Divertimento In Blue draws more directly from classical form, with the light-hearted second part influenced by Bartok's String Divertimento, following a darker, blues oriented first part. Vienna Chamber Diaries plus Strings is Johannes Berauer's most ambitious and successful integration of the classical and jazz worlds to date. It is a detailed and absorbing work that repays close attention.