Vassilis Tsabropoulos: piano

The versatile Greek pianist has already outlined a broad arc of musical possibility in his recordings for ECM – from post-Bill Evans jazz with Arild Andersen to explorations of Gurdjieff’s nomadic sound-world with Anja Lechner. “The Promise” picks up the implications of his earlier solo recital “Akroasis” (“Hypnotic and mysterious, shimmering like ancient mosaics” – The Independent), but is more rigorously composed, carefully casting arpeggios into deep pools of silence. All pieces are Tsabropoulos originals, with the exception of “Djivaeri”, a Greek traditional tune. The album was recorded in 2008 in the resonant space of Athens’ Megaron Concert Hall, with Manfred Eicher producing.

Till Fellner: klavír

Inventionen BWV 772 - 786, Sinfonien BWV 787 - 801, Französische Suite V in G-Dur BWV 816

For more than four years, fans have been waiting for a new Bach recording from the extraordinary Austrian pianist Till Fellner. His interpretation of the first book of the Well-tempered piano for ECM was released in 2004 to great critical acclaim. “The articulation and the shaping of line are always clean, with meticulous but subtle attention given to the underlining of fugue subjects. There is just the right amount of flexibility in his shaping of phrase, and the sheer beauty of his sound helps lend the cerebral an enticing touch of the sensual”, wrote Stephen Pettitt in the Evening Standard. With the two-part Inventions and three-part Sinfonias Fellner now illuminates the magic of Bach’s allegedly just didactic piano pieces from 1722/23, in which he offered a method of polyphonic playing and composing. Interspersed is a vividly swinging account of Bach’s fifth French Suite in G-major.

Pat Metheny: electric and acoustic guitars, guitar synthesizer, bass, Jaco Pastorius: bass, Bob Moses: drums, Lyle Mays: piano, synthesizers, synclavier, autoharp, Dan Gottlieb: drums, Michael Brecker: tenor saxophone, Charlie Haden: double-bass, Jack DeJohnette: drums, Nana Vasconcelos: percussion, voice, Steve Rodby: basses, Pedro Aznar: acoustic guitar, voice, bells, percussion, Paul Wertico: drums, Billy Higgins: drums

Landmark recording and old favourites – greatest hits, effectively - from the formative years of one of jazz’s most influential guitarists. This :rarum CD features the perennially popular Pat Metheny Group, the 80/81 ensemble and Metheny’s trios with Jaco Pastorius/Bob Moses and Charlie Haden/Billy Higgins. Detailed liner notes by Metheny sketch the origin of each featured tune and recall his enthusiasm about “recording for one of the most exciting and interesting record labels to emerge in many years.”

Johann Sebastian BACH / Wilhelm MIDDELSCHULTE: Chaconne für Violine allein
Franz SCHMIDT: Toccata C-Dur
Felix MENDELSSOHN-BARTHOLDY: Präludium und Fuge G-Dur, op. 37/2
Marco Enrico BOSSI: Tema e Variazioni, op. 115
Fidelio Friedrich FINKE: Drei Choralvorspiele für Orgel
Jaroslav TŮMA: Improvisation on „Koleda, koleda, Štěpáne“ theme

Jaroslav Tůma – organ Jehmlich (Dresden 1941)

Robert Levin: piano
(with Ya-Fei Chuang: piano)

The first ECM release dedicated exclusively to music by the doyen among French contemporary composers (born 1916). “De l’ombre et de silence” offers a comprehensive overview of Dutilleux’s highly original and energetic work for one and two pianos (“Figures de Resonances”). American pianist Robert Levin, not least known as a long-standing musical partner to violist Kim Kashkashian, a noted theorist and professor of humanities at Harvard, approaches the repertoire with great sonic subtlety and utmost technical brilliance. Levin met the composer during his season as Director in Residence at Nadia Boulanger’s Conservatoire Américain at Fontainebleau in 1979 and has since been his close friend. In his liner notes to the present recording Levin writes: “Dutilleux has always kept a discreet profile, composing with painstaking perfectionism, subjecting his works to relentless revision before, and sometimes after, they have been presented to the public”. The programme opens with Dutilleux’s path-breaking piano sonata of 1946–48, a three-movement work that is marked by a personal synthesis of French Impressionism and the clear-cut rhythmic contours characteristic of Soviet music of the same period. The shorter pieces – radiant, playful and highly sophiticated music condensed to its very essence – “document Duteilleux’s trajectory from extended tonality to a sound world totally of his own invention, in which harmonies of dazzling iridescence inflect brilliant rhythmic and melodic gestures” (Robert Levin).

Petr Kroutil – saxophone, vocal, clarinet; Barbora SWINX Řeháčková – vocal; Václav Kalenda – trumpet; Ondřej Kabrna – keyboards, accordion, oud; Adam Tvrdý – guitar; Lukáš Martinek – guitar; Vít Švec – double bass; Zdeněk Tichota – bassguitar; Michal Hejna – drums; Imran Musa Zangi – percussion

Concerto funebre (Solo-Violine und Streichorchester)
4. Sinfonie (Streichorchester)
Kammerkonzert (Klarinette, Streichquartett und Streichorchester)

Isabelle Faust - violin
Paul Meyer - clarinet
Petersen String Quartet
Münchener Kammerorchester
Christoph Poppen - conductor

That the clavichord is a nearly forgotten instrument is quite unjust. It served its role very comprehensively for many centuries, and many of its advantages could not be taken up by newer kinds of keyboard instruments, nor could they be replaced in any commensurate way,
let alone be surpassed. The main reason why pianos and later harmoniums definitively displaced clavichords from people’s homes and salons during the nineteenth century was the general requirement of a louder sound, although a part may have also been played by the newer types of musical instruments being easier to play.

80 pages, format 170 x 230, colour photos
Recommended recording Jaroslav Tůma: A Portrait of the Clavichord F10241