Dick Wag is a project of Fred Thomas – known for his imaginative breadth and his ability to take all styles of music into new dimensions. This project is no exception. With Benoit Delbecq (over from Paris), and Ewan Bleach, Fred brought together coherently and cohesively a group of musicians known very differently, Benoit as a contemporary pianist in all styles up as far as working with Evan Parker and Ewan from our East European nights and also in Mediterranean.
For this, he has taken the music of Wagner and reworked it dramatically for just a small trio. We get a good feel for Wagner’s lyricism and he has stripped away all the ‘baggage’ with which Wagner can commonly be associated. The word ‘tribute’ is put into quotation marks with reason, because it is as much as reinterpretation as anything else.
He also allows the music to be reinterpreted. The Shepherd’s Lament from Tristan and Isolde begins to resemble a folk tune from Greece, at other times the group moves towards being a sort of trio playing at a French bal populaire!
The photo here is by Aurelie Freoua, and reflects the diversity of the gig through the background colours.