There’s not one quartet among the four albums released on Friday 13th this September. Instead, a juxtaposition of two very different duos, free threeway interaction on the basis of folk idioms and the embrace of a large brass section around a piano […]
Read more
The Danish String Quartet’s new album is a “retracing of musical pathways across the North Sea, a journey through the sounds of traditional music from Northern Europe, taking us from Denmark and Norway to the Faroe Islands, and to Ireland and England.” It follows on from "Last Leaf", the Danish String Quartet’s much-loved 2017 release, which was Classical Album of the Year at NPR and a best of the year selection at publications from the New York Times to Gramophone. "Keel Road" underlines the group’s statement that “folk tunes are not just a part of our repertoire, but an important element of our identity as musicians.” Subtly integrated into the flow of the recording, alongside the traditional material, are original compositions by Rune Tonsgaard Sørensen and Fredrik Schøyen Sjölin, eloquently expressive in a folk idiom.
Keel Road
Rekindling the familiarly flowing interplay with fellow travellers Thomas Morgan and João Lobo – the trio’s musical partnership goes back over a decade at this point –, on A New Day Italian pianist Giovanni Guidi moreover expands the group’s instrumental grasp with the introduction of American saxophonist James Brandon Lewis, who makes his ECM debut here. Not only is the ensemble scope widened; with Brandon Lewis in tow, new dialects and fresh perspectives are broached, and different instrumental paths taken, inspired by an overall heightened sense of communication and Lewis’s unmistakable, confident tone. Recorded at Studios La Buissonne, Southern France, in August 2023, the album was produced by Manfred Eicher.
A New Day
The independent record label ECM – Edition of Contemporary Music – was founded by producer Manfred Eicher in 1969, and to date has issued more than 1800 albums spanning many idioms.
Read more
