Congratulations to our man in Berlin, Michael Griener for his playing on the soundtrack for The Brutalist, which just got an Oscar for best score— among numerous other awards and nominations. It’s exceedingly cool because he got to actually play; there was no score, the playing is improvised. He’s not reading a triangle part. Getting to make an actual creative contribution to an Oscar award winning soundtrack is a big effing deal, as they say.
And since he has been using Cymbal & Gong almost exclusively since 2018 (it took a few years to build his collection), we get to hear some of our cymbals there:
Also hear Michael on the tracks Building Site, Library, Bicycle, Steel, Ribbon Cutting, Gordon’s Dinner, and Construction. You can listen on YouTube, but buy the record.
Here is his set up on the recording session— including a 22“ Extra Special Janavar (a custom design of mine that Cymbal & Gong has now put into regular production), 22“ Custom China Dizzy Gillespie cymbal, an 18“ Leon Collection crash cymbal, and 14“ Holy Grail hihats.
Michael has been extremely supportive of this site, and of my Cymbalistic business since the beginning, helping us reach a lot of drummers in Germany, and orchestrating and hosting meets in Berlin and Dresden. We’re hoping to pay an other visit later in the spring.
A big congratulations for this exciting project, and recognition— thank you Michael!
Get the album from Milan Records.