TAKEMITSU: All in Twilight: Von KOCH: Utanmyra-variationer: KLAVERDAL: Thin Places: DYENS: Fuoco: KNUDSEN: Depaysement : ELLINGTON: In a Sentimental Mood.
David Harenstam (guitar) and Peter Knudsen (Piano), (with Stefan Klaverdal on live electronics, and Svante Soderqvist , Double Bass)
Daphne Records: DAPHNE1081
This enterprising CD combines what is essentially contemporary classical, with jazz elements from the piano, an interesting idea! When discussing their potential repertoire, they both discovered a liking for the Japanese composer Toru Takemitsu, whose solo guitar work All In Twilight, set in four movements, and lasting 17 minutes in total, gets the duet approach here and in order to combine the two instruments they decided to keep all the original music but added extra parts, often improvised to enhance the mood and feeling of the original. The result is something that will catch most listeners by surprise, but in a nice way. Providing you like the Takemitsu style of the original, this will give you many moments of delight. Erland Von Koch’s guitar piece based on a Swedish Folk Tune Visa Fran Utanmyra again is treated to a duet arrangement. Not previously knowing the original at all, I had nothing to go on, except the liner notes that state that they added certain parts, with the result that a portion of the original was removed to make room for their new version. A very pleasant piece, it is probably only the people who know the original who may not agree with parts of it being removed to create their new version. Stefan Klaverdal’s Thin Places has the addition of the composer on live electronics, which are immediately very atmospheric and really add to the overall effect. This new piece is partly improvised but, everything sounds so right and beautifully done, that only the people, who know the score, will realise where they are. Then we are in more familiar territory with Roland Dyen’s Famous solo piece Fuoco, here given a fast and furious performance, which is one of the highlights of this CD. Then pianist Peter Knudsen comes into the light as a composer with his Depaysement, referring to the feeling of disorientation, when in a different place to your usual surroundings. This is a lovely work and one again in which the original score has been added to and adapted by the two players. The final work is by way of an encore in that it’s a well-known work by Duke Ellington, with double bass played by Svante Soderqvist, that really combines classical and jazz in the most effective way, and is a wonderful close to what is a most interesting and effective album of music that you wither won’t know, or you won’t have heard it played as it is here on the CD before. Therefore as such I can recommend this as a quite different but effective album of some very listenable music.
Chris Dumigan
Chris Dumigan
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