Press archive
What was written and broadcast about Harry Pepl: reviews, portraits, interviews and obituaries, with summary and source. The originals are protected by copyright and kept in the archive; we provide them to researchers and the press on request.
Filters active
37 entries filtered · CSV of the filtered entries
Newest first · Oldest first
-
27 September 2025 · Review · DE
RONDO (Online): „Songs From The Treehouse“ (Tim Collins, Martin Gasselsberger)
Werner Stiefele
Review of the duo album by vibraphonist Tim Collins and pianist Martin Gasselsberger on GLM Music.
more
Apart from Billie Eilish's “Everything I Wanted” and “Air, Love & Vitamins” from the repertoire of the Jazzzwio of Harry Pepl and Werner Pirchner, the duo plays its own pieces; the reviewer places the line-up in the tradition of Gary Burton and Chick Corea.
“Air, Love & Vitamins” from the repertoire of the Austrian JazzZwio of Harry Pepl and Werner Pirchner
-
20 November 2024 · Review · DE
NÖN Niederösterreichische Nachrichten (p. 16): „Flip Philipp ließ die Schlägel tanzen“
Short report on the Freiraum concert at the Seidl-Keller in Bruck an der Leitha on Thursday, 14 November 2024: Flip Philipp (vibraphone) played music by Werner Pirchner and Harry Pepl with Bertl Mayer (harmonica), Tobias Faulhammer (guitar), Pista Bartus (bass) and Klemens Marktl (drums).
more
brought along the music of the Tyrolean vibraphonist Werner Pirchner and of the exceptional guitarist Harry Pepl
At times the audience listened in complete silence
-
4 October 2021 · Review · FR
Citizen Jazz: „Les Arches en jazz, une première“
Marie Boisnel
Report by Marie Boisnel in Citizen Jazz (French jazz magazine) on the first “Les Arches en Jazz” festival in Port-Bail-sur-Mer (Cotentin, Normandy, France).
more
At the midday concert in the church of Notre-Dame, the duo Franck Tortiller and Misja Fitzgerald Michel played “Air, Love and Vitamins”, Pepl’s “gentle ballad” written for the same duo of guitar and vibraphone with Werner Pirchner.
Then the gentle ballad by the Austrian guitarist and composer Harry Pepl, written for the same duo with Werner Pirchner, guitar and vibraphone, “Air, love and vitamins”, plunges us into a languorous meditation.
-
6 April 2021 · Review · DE
Wiener Zeitung (p. 18, arts section): „Gegengift zum Corona-Blues“
Christoph Irrgeher
CD review of an album by the Schwarzenberg Trio with piano trios by Beethoven, Mendelssohn Bartholdy and Werner Pirchner.
more
Irrgeher introduces Pirchner as the vibraphonist who shook up the jazz world with Harry Pepl, as far as the Montreux festival, and discusses his trio “Heimat?”. The online version appeared on wienerzeitung.at on 5 April 2021.
As a vibraphonist he shook up the jazz world together with the guitarist Harry Pepl (as far as the Montreux festival)
-
3 September 2015 · Review · DE
Die Furche: „Traditionen kippen - und Neues entsteht“
Anton Thuswaldner
Festival report from Saalfelden 2015: with Franck Tortiller and Jerome Harris, Christian Muthspiel remembers Werner Pirchner, who formed the legendary Jazz-Zwio with Harry Pepl.
more
Together with Harry Pepl he formed the legendary Jazz-Zwio
Together with Harry Pepl he formed the legendary Jazz-Zwio, to which we owe such immortal titles as “Hosentraga”, which takes up the form of the Indian raga.
-
1 September 2015 · Review · DE
Salzburger Nachrichten: „Das Beste? Es kam auch diesmal zum Schluss“
Report from the Jazzfestival Saalfelden 2015: Christian Muthspiel, Franck Tortiller and Jerome Harris delve deep into the work of Werner Pirchner and also of the Viennese guitarist Harry Pepl, with whom Pirchner formed the legendary Jazzzwio.
more
Muthspiel takes the “throaty K” out of this music, but successfully brings out its inner light and its elegance.
-
1 September 2015 · Review · DE
Der Standard: „Im Salon der munteren Katharsis“
Ljubiša Tošić
Report from the final day of the Jazzfestival Saalfelden 2015: Christian Muthspiel remembers Werner Pirchner with his trio and thus also Pirchner's Jazzzwio with Harry Pepl, as chamber music marked by respectful affection for the original.
more
Online as early as 31 August 2015.
Together with the guitarist Harry Pepl he formed the Jazzzwio, and Muthspiel recalls that too
-
1 April 2014 · Review · DE
Der Standard: „Vom verspielten Tiefsinn“
Ljubiša Tošić
Review of “D.U.D.A.!” about Werner Pirchner. The film, the critic regrets, recalls only briefly the international side of his career, the JazzZwio with Harry Pepl; online as early as 31 March 2014.
more
Together with the guitarist Harry Pepl, the vibraphonist Pirchner ran a “JazzZwio” whose subtly burning chamber music attracted attention throughout Europe
-
28 March 2014 · Review · DE
Die Presse: „Werner Pirchner: Genie und Irrsinn“
Christoph Huber
Review of Malte Ludin's documentary “D.U.D.A.!” about Werner Pirchner. Die Presse recalls the Pirchner-Pepl Jazz-Zwio and the duo's collaboration with Jack DeJohnette.
more
With his kindred partner Harry Pepl he also collaborated impressively with great jazz musicians such as Jack DeJohnette.
-
20 June 2013 · Review · DE
Tiroler Tageszeitung: „Im Banne von zwei Legenden“
hau
Report on the first Laurentius concert on the Bergl in Imst (Tyrol): on Thursday, 13 June 2013, Stephan Mathoi (guitar) and Philipp Hager (vibraphone) play pieces by Werner Pirchner and Harry Pepl as well as their own compositions.
more
Preview on 12 June 2013 (“Entgleiste Klassik am Imster Bergl”).
Admittedly, the qualities of the legendary duo of Werner Pirchner & Harry Pepl in the line-up of guitar and vibraphone are and remain unmatched.
-
13 November 2012 · Review
ECM Reviews (Between Sound and Space: ECM Records and Beyond): „A second look: Pirchner/Pepl/DeJohnette (ECM 1237)“
Tyran Grillo
Reassessment of the 1983 ECM (the renowned European jazz label) album, almost a year after his own critical review of 20 December 2011.
more
After readers objected, Grillo writes, he kept returning to the album and had not initially given it the attention it needed. He now highlights the depth of Pepl's talent, the interplay between Pepl and Pirchner as the core of the trio and Pepl's solos, and calls the record “this curious little gem”; only on the processing of the Ovation guitar does he stand by his first opinion.
I simply did not give this date the attention it deserves.
The depth of Pepl’s talent, now that I’m more familiar with it, is immediately evident in the spaciousness of his evocations.
-
20 December 2011 · Review
ECM Reviews (Between Sound and Space: ECM Records and Beyond): „Pirchner/Pepl/DeJohnette: s/t (ECM 1237)“
Tyran Grillo
Mixed review of the 1983 ECM (the renowned European jazz label) album, recorded in June 1982 at Tonstudio Bauer in Ludwigsburg, with Werner Pirchner, Harry Pepl and Jack DeJohnette.
more
The chorus effect of the Ovation guitar and the lack of rapport among the three musicians are criticised; Pepl’s solos and the closing piece “Better Times In Sight” are regarded as strengths. The page shows 10 February 2015 as the date of the update. Almost a year later, on 13 November 2012, Grillo revised his verdict in “A second look”.
When soloing, however, it sounds fantastic
-
11 December 2010 · Review · DE
Süddeutsche Zeitung (Landkreisteil): „Wilder Wind aus Österreich“
Patrizia Steipe
Concert report from the Kulturkeller in Feldafing (Bavaria, Germany): on Wednesday, 8 December 2010, the Christian Muthspiel Trio plays its programme “Against the Wind” with the music of Werner Pirchner and Harry Pepl.
more
The Süddeutsche Zeitung calls the two a cult duo and their Jazzzwio a group that gave European jazz important impulses; the preview appeared on 4 December 2010.
In the seventies and eighties Pirchner and Pepl formed the legendary “Jazz-Zwio”, a group that gave European jazz important impulses.
-
8 July 2010 · Review
ECM Reviews (Between Sound and Space: ECM Records and Beyond): „Adelhard Roidinger: Schattseite (ECM 1221)“
Tyran Grillo
Review of Adelhard Roidinger's only ECM (the renowned European jazz label) album, recorded in November 1981 at Tonstudio Bauer in Ludwigsburg, with Heinz Sauer, Bob Degen, Harry Pepl, Werner Pirchner, Aina Kemanis and Michael DiPasqua.
more
Grillo praises the airy, atmospheric sound, Pepl's soft guitar licks in the opening track and the Metheny-like picking in “Loveland”, and calls urgently for a reissue.
The fantastic sax solo and Metheny-esque picking lend even more elegance to the track’s progressive sound.
-
9 November 2009 · Review · DE
NÖN Niederösterreichische Nachrichten (p. 49, culture): „KRITIK ‚musik aktuell‘“
Gottfried Sengstschmid
Review of a Christian Muthspiel Trio concert at the Stadtmuseum in the “musik aktuell” series: after “Dancing Dowland”, the hour-long encore recalled the Jazzzwio, among other pieces with Pepl’s “Da augschissene Wandersbuasch” and Pirchner’s “Hosent'Raga”.
more
an Alpine ballad (Da augschissene Wandersbuasch) by the Viennese Harry Pepl
-
20 March 2009 · Review · DE
Kronen Zeitung (p. 36, Styria): „Den Namen umweht Magie: JazzZwio hieß ein Duo, das in den 80-ern ...“
initials „MG“
Short review of “Live in Concerts” with DVD: JazzZwio with Pirchner and Pepl in Montreux in 1981, plus a live recording from Innsbruck. The closing sentence appears word for word as the page header on the old website page “Air, Love & Vitamins”.
more
If there are classics of Austrian jazz, here is one!
-
18 March 2009 · Review · DE
Falter (Seite w27, Lexikon: Neue Platten): „Neue Platten“ (JazzZwio: „Live in Concerts“)
initials „KN“
Record review of “Live in Concerts”: the recordings from the early 1980s show the energy of the two, who take turns as grooving accompanists, ranging from almost free passages to the melodious romanticism of “Air, Love & Vitamins”.
more
The DVD contains the Montreux concert, excerpts from a performance at the Szene Wien and interview snippets.
With their JazzZwio, the guitarist Harry Pepl and the vibraphonist Werner Pirchner were internationally sought-after protagonists of Alpine groove.
-
10 March 2009 · Review · DE
Die Presse (p. 27, arts section): „Tränen mit John Dowland“
initials „sam“ (Samir H. Köck)
Review of the presentation of “Dancing Dowland” by the Christian Muthspiel Trio at the Porgy & Bess.
more
In the second set the trio played Pepl and Pirchner; Muthspiel told how Pirchner once announced a still untitled Pepl piece on stage as “Da augschissene Wandersbuasch” (roughly: the poor wretch of a wanderer), whereupon Pepl gave it the title “Air, Love & Vitamins”.
a composition that is now regarded as an Austrian jazz classic
Samir H. Köck (Kürzel „sam“)
-
6 March 2009 · Review · DE
Der Standard (Print 6 March 2009, online 5 March 2009, Rubrik Musikrundschau): „Zwio und Trio“ (Neue Jazz-Alben von Werner Pirchner & Harry Pepl, Pablo Milanes & Chucho Valdes u. a.)
“Musikrundschau” (music roundup) with a short review of “Jazzzwio: Live in Concerts” (Universal): according to the text, Pirchner and Pepl are worth remembering, the duo of guitar and vibraphone having supplied model examples of heated chamber music.
more
The DVD is called a must. The date, 13 February 2009, is derived from the article number.
Harry Pepl, a complex guitarist of truly international stature
The creative fury, the intensity achieved there still seems to set the standard today.
Harry Pepl, a complex guitarist of truly international stature.
-
24 February 2009 · Review · DE
KULTUR, Zeitschrift für Kultur und Gesellschaft (Dornbirn): „JazzZwio: Live in Concerts“ (CD-Tipp)
Peter Füssl
CD recommendation by Peter Füssl in KULTUR, a cultural magazine from Vorarlberg, Austria, for the CD/DVD “Live in Concerts” (Universal, 2009).
more
Füssl recalls the legendary JazzZwio of Pepl and Werner Pirchner between 1977 and 1985 and describes the contents: 43 minutes from the 15th Montreux Jazz Festival (Switzerland) in 1981 and excerpts from concerts at the Szene Wien in Vienna (1983) and the Konservatoriumssaal in Innsbruck, Austria (1984), with pieces such as “The Day We Know Paul Desmond is Gone”, “Against The Wind”, “Hosent’Raga” and “Air Love And Vitamins”. He calls the two “absolute individualists” whose interplay adds up to far more than the sum of its parts, notes that so far mainly the Muthspiel brothers (the Austrian jazz musicians Christian and Wolfgang Muthspiel) have kept their memory alive, and hopes the recordings will bring the Jazzzwio wider recognition, above all among younger musicians.
Great moments of brilliantly offbeat music and gnarled humour
the playful wit of these two strong characters, one Viennese and one Tyrolean to the core, still sounds fresh as morning dew more than 25 years after the recordings were made
On the CD/DVD “Live in Concerts” (2009) with Jazzzwio concerts from 1981 to 1984; Pepl was Viennese, Werner Pirchner Tyrolean, and each brought his own regionally coloured humour into the music
-
13 February 2009 · Review · DE
Die Presse (Online): „Jazzzwio, Live In Concerts“ (Zwio Infernal)
Samir H. Köck
Short review of the reissue of the 1981 Montreux concert (EmArcy/Universal). The text pays tribute to the duo of guitar and vibraphone as unusual chamber music of the 1980s, whose cascades of sound, the text says, have stayed in the memory of contemporaries.
more
The superb guitarist Harry Pepl and his perfectly matched partner
-
18 January 2009 · Review · DE
Kurier (p. 38, culture section): „JAZZZWIO: Harry Pepl & Werner Pirchner (Universal)“
Werner Rosenberger (initials „ros“)
Short review of the reissue “Live in Concerts” with audio and video recordings from Montreux 1981 and Innsbruck 1984.
more
Two original home-grown musicians, both of whom had to go far too soon and are unforgotten
-
3 October 2007 · Review · DE
Kleine Zeitung (p. 63, culture): „Charakterkopf, kunstsinnig geschliffen“
Otmar Klammer
Review of the Christian Muthspiel Trio’s Pirchner/Pepl programme on Monday, 1 October 2007, at the Generalmusikdirektion in Graz: a grand concert of touching chamber-music intimacy, in which Pirchner’s compositions were in the foreground and Pepl was only touched upon.
more
Harry Pepl, Pirchner’s congenial partner in the legendary “Jazzzwio”
-
27 September 2007 · Review · DE
Kronen Zeitung (p. 47): „Den Konventionen ausweichen“ (Gedenken an die Jazzlegenden Pepl & Pirchner)
initials „PB“
Review of the Christian Muthspiel Trio concert at the Posthof in Linz (Upper Austria, Austria) on Tuesday, 25 September 2007, with Pirchner’s film “Der Untergang des Alpenlandes”: the trio renders the scores with spherical lightness yet vital expression.
more
Both are remembered for the illustrious coherence of their compositional and improvisational interplay.
-
11 June 2007 · Review · DE
NÖN Niederösterreichische Nachrichten (p. 50, culture): „KRITIK Schräges Sprach- und Klangspiel“
Gottfried Sengstschmid
Review of Christian Muthspiel’s evening at the Stadttheater in Wiener Neustadt (Lower Austria, Austria) during the “Wiener Neustädter Frühling”: after the Jandl solo performance, the trio with Franck Tortiller and Georg Breinschmid paid homage to Pirchner and Pepl.
more
a cheerful, if wistful, remembrance of the two colourful characters of the former “Jazz-Zwio”
a homage to Werner Pirchner and Harry Pepl, a jaunty if wistful remembrance of the two colourful birds of the former “Jazz-Zwio”
-
18 April 2007 · Review · DE
Falter (p. 66, Kultur: Neue Platten): „Neue Platten“ (Chr. Muthspiel Trio: „Against the Wind“)
initials „K. N.“
Record review: in an only gently ironic, rather romantic way the album combines blues with Alpine elements, for instance in Pepl’s “Die alte Mär und das Mann”, and in the dialogue of trombone, marimba, vibraphone and bass creates a mostly light-footed groove.
more
The album by the elder of the two Muthspiel brothers is dedicated to the work of the twin stars Harry Pepl and Werner Pirchner, who have sadly already left us
-
15 April 2007 · Review · DE
Kleine Zeitung (p. 111, culture): „Schatz“ (CD-Kritik zu „Against The Wind“)
initials „TSC“
Short review of the album “Against The Wind” (Universal): Christian Muthspiel finds an ingenious translation for the music that belongs to his “innermost vocabulary”; Pirchner’s film comes as a DVD bonus.
more
It is a “hats off!” to the most original Jazzzwio from Tyrol to Texas: the late Harry Pepl & Werner Pirchner.
-
15 April 2007 · Review · DE
Neue Vorarlberger Tageszeitung (p. 77, culture): „Pepl und Pirchner in besten Händen“
Martin Juen
Review of the Christian Muthspiel Trio concert at the Spielboden in Dornbirn on Friday, 13 April 2007: the trio refreshes the pieces respectfully, and in every arrangement fresh fruit grows on old ground. Juen dates the Jazzzwio to 1978 to 1985.
more
quite different and yet outstanding personalities of the Austrian jazz scene
Harry Pepl (1945-2005) and Werner Pirchner (1940-2001) were rather different and yet outstanding personalities of the Austrian jazz scene
-
2007 · Review · DE
Concerto (music magazine), issue 2/2007, p. 6 (CD-Tipps): „Born in Austria“ (CD-Tipp zu „Against The Wind“)
Alfred Krondraf
Short review of the album “Against The Wind. The Music Of Pirchner & Pepl” by the Christian Muthspiel Trio with Georg Breinschmid and Franck Tortiller: Muthspiel devotes himself for the second time to the music of the “two musical free spirits”, and Tortiller turns “the Zwio into a more than perfect trio”; the substance of the interpretations only reveals itself on repeated listening.
more
Christian Muthspiel now devotes himself for the second time to the music of the two musical free spirits
-
30 April 2006 · Review · DE
Kleine Zeitung (p. 86, culture): „Der spürbare Geist des Komponisten“ (GrazJazz 2006)
Franz Remmalk (Schreibung laut APA)
Review of the third day of GrazJazz 2006: with his new trio Christian Muthspiel arranged the music of Pirchner and that of his long-time musical companion Pepl; with Franck Tortiller on vibraphone the result was a superbly polished concert with a strikingly transparent sound.
more
a superbly polished concert that lingered on long afterwards, piece by piece
-
29 April 2006 · Review · DE
Kronen Zeitung (p. 25): „Zu einer Hommage an Werner Pirchner und Harry Pepl geriet der …“ (GrazJazz 2006)
initials „TS“
Short review of the third evening of GrazJazz 2006 at the Orpheum in Graz (Austria): Christian Muthspiel, Franck Tortiller and Georg Breinschmid paid homage to the music of Pirchner and Pepl, a demanding and dignified tribute.
more
finally Christian Muthspiel, Franck Tortiller and Breinschmid paid homage to the music of the two recently deceased exceptional talents
-
17 December 2003 · Review · DE
Kurier (p. 30, culture): „Exzellente Musiker und exzellente Musik“ (Österreichische Jazz-Produktionen 2003)
Werner Rosenberger
Review of the year’s Austrian jazz releases with gift tips. From the “Austrian Jazzart” series Rosenberger singles out the concert recording “Live at Miles Smiles” by Pepl, Pirchner and Georg Polansky.
more
Very lively, too, an almost historic live recording, “Live at Miles Smiles”
-
22 November 2003 · Review · DE
Kronen Zeitung (p. 30): „Nostalgische Bruderschaft“ (Muthspiel und Muthspiel im Grazer M59)
initials „ME“
Review of Christian and Wolfgang Muthspiel’s evening at the Graz jazz club M59 in Münzgrabenstraße 59 with compositions by Pirchner, the film “Der Untergang des Alpenlandes” and the programme “Early Music”.
more
At the same venue the brothers had heard the Jazzzwio as young listeners.
25 years ago the Muthspiel brothers themselves sat in the audience at Münzgrabenstraße 59 and marvelled at Werner Pirchner and Harry Pepl.
-
28 November 2002 · Review · DE
Salzburger Nachrichten (p. 14, culture): „Heimweh, Jodler und Zwiefache“
initials „PAC“
Short review of Wolfgang and Christian Muthspiel’s homage to the Jazzzwio on Tuesday, 26 November 2002, at the Ziegelstadel in Hallein (Salzburg, Austria).
more
It starts from the Jazzzwio piece “Homesick”, whose homesickness leaves open whether it is for faraway places or for home itself.
the duo also made audible the timeless aesthetic qualities of a music that has lost nothing of its relevance
-
26 August 2002 · Review · DE
Salzburger Nachrichten (p. 10, culture): „Grooven nach Mitternacht“ (Jazzfestival Saalfelden 2002)
Clemens Panagl
Report from the 24th International Jazzfestival Saalfelden (Salzburg, Austria). On Saturday, 24 August 2002, Christian and Wolfgang Muthspiel paid tribute to Pepl and Pirchner and showed how relevant the Pirchner and Pepl oeuvre still is.
more
Avalanches of sound also characterise the playing of the Austrian guitarist Harry Pepl.
-
19 August 1995 · Review · DE
Salzburger Nachrichten: „Könnte Jazz sein“ (Neues von Österreichern)
Wolfgang Gratzer
CD column on Werner Pirchner, Harry Pepl and Wolfgang Mitterer.
more
Gratzer recalls a Jeunesse evening by the Jazzzwio, which made it as far as the Montreux Jazz Festival, calls the album “Gegenwind” a collector’s item and reviews Pepl’s roughly 20-minute commissioned work “Anspannen, Überspannen, Abspannen” for STUDIO PERCUSSION graz (Extraplatte 242-2), underlaid with a tape Pepl recorded on MIDI guitar.
were, in their day, attuned to one another in the most original improvising manner
Thus five sound pictures open up whose colourful motion exerts a considerable pull
were back then attuned to each other in the most original improvising way. Their “Gegenwind” album now turns out to be a collector’s item.
-
18 May 1985 · Review
The New York Times (Section 1, p. 10): „MUSIC: AUSTRIAN AVANT-GARDE“
John Rockwell
Review of the opening night of the festival “Beyond the Sound of Music: New Austria/New York” at the Ohio Theater in SoHo, at which the Jazzzwio with Harry Pepl and Werner Pirchner performed together with the drummer Don Moye.
more
Rockwell heard the first set, 40 minutes long, and found the music pleasant but not significant enough for the opening of a festival series; the evening began about an hour late. The Wednesday of the festival week was 15 May 1985.
relaxed and cool, in the ECM Records manner