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Ketil Bjornstad
Ketil Bjornstad: A Passion for John Donne
by Neri Pollastri
Il poeta inglese del Cinquecento John Donne è una costante fonte di ispirazione per Ketil Bjørnstad, che già aveva fatto riferimento a lui in altri lavori. Stavolta, però, gli dedica l'intero progetto del CD, con una scelta stilistica di frontiera che permette al pianista norvegese di affiancare le proprie musiche alle liriche di Donne e di valorizzarle attraverso l'impiego di un coro classico. L'esito, come spesso accade in questi casi, è un po' spiazzante e lascia spazio a ...
Continue ReadingKetil Bjornstad: Ketil Bjornstad: Sunrise (A cantata on texts by Edvard Munch)
by John Kelman
For a country with such a small population, Norway has much to be proud of when it comes to the arts...and not just music, though it remains a country whose support has certainly resulted in a disproportionate number of creative musicians across the broadest musical spectrum. Looking at the violin and its variants alone, there is the traditional Hardanger fiddle work of Nils Okland, already known to fans of the ECM label for albums including Lysoen: Hommage a Ole Bull ...
Continue ReadingKetil Bjornstad: La Notte
by Hrayr Attarian
Recorded live on July 21st 2010 at the Molde International Jazz Festival, Norwegian pianist Ketil Bjørnstad's La Notte is an eight piece suite inspired by the 1961 drama of the same name by the great Italian director Michelangelo Antonioni. It is not, however, a mere Antonioni tribute, but an homage to innovative filmmakers in general and in a way to the art of cinema itself. Opening with haunting strings and Danish percussionist Marilyn Mazur's rumbling beats the first ...
Continue ReadingKetil Bjornstad: Early Piano Music
by John Kelman
For a label that's been instrumental in reinventing the concept of solo piano performance, it's surprising that ECM has never released a recital from Ketil Bjørnstad. Instead, they've provided a forum for the Norwegian neo-classicist to experiment in contexts ranging from the duos of Life in Leipzig Night Song to the trio of Remembrance, and the expansive sextet on the forthcoming Antonioni Project, recorded in performance at Molde Jazz 2010. But long before he began achieving international prominence with ECM, ...
Continue ReadingKetil Bjornstad / Svante Henryson: Night Song
by John Kelman
The relative merits of technical aptitude, when it comes to music, are often hotly debated. Surely possessing more comprehensive and masterful control over the vocabulary of music would be a plus; how, then, can a raw, unschooled bluesman like Robert Johnson resonate in ways that more schooled artists sometimes cannot? Proficiency, then, is really only an acquired tool, a means, a vernacular; and while it's true that there are those musicians who struggle and accomplish much, equally, there are those ...
Continue ReadingKetil Bjornstad: Remembrance
by Dan McClenaghan
The disc is called Remembrance, but it could just as well have been tagged “Prayers" or “Hymns," or “The Search for Peace and Tranquility," words that seems a fit with the music of Norwegian pianist Ketil Bjørnstad.Bjørnstad began his sojourn at ECM Records with Water Stories in 1993. In his eight recordings for the label since then, he has played often with string men, including cellist David Darling and guitarist Terje Rypdal, but this time out he enlists ...
Continue ReadingKetil Bjornstad: Remembrance
by John Kelman
In a career spanning four decades that only began reaching a wider international audience with the release of his first album for ECM, Water Stories (1993), Norwegian pianist Ketil Bjørnstad has collaborated with many fellow Scandinavians, including guitarists Terje Rypdal and Eivind Aarset, bassist Arild Andersen, drummer Jon Christensen and live sampler Jan Bang. Surprisingly, he has rarely worked with saxophonists, notable exceptions being Bendik Hofseth on 2001's profoundly moving Grace (Emarcy), and Wolfgang Puschnig on the similarly sublime Devotions ...
Continue ReadingECM March 29th Releases!
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ECM Records
Don't miss these two new March 29th releases! Julia Hülsmann Trio Imprint Julia Hülsmann: piano Marc Muellbauer: bass Heinrich Köbberling: drums On the second ECM disc from the popular Berlin-based Julia Hülsmann Trio, the leader's themes stand out in stark relief, as if stamped or printed into the surrounding improvisation. “Imprint" offers highly communicative jazz in which melody, clearly-etched melody, is paramount. Hülsmann is a gifted jazz-composer and there are surprises amongst her pieces ...
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