Reaching for the album entitled Chamber Quintet, many of you may be asking where the idea came from to record improvised music on oboe, bassoon, cello, double bass and drums?
This concept came out of listening to the fascinating Phantasy op. 32 by Benjamin Britten, a piece for oboe and string trio. The combining of oboe and bassoon sounds with those of cello, double bass and drums seemed to us to be an inspiring and creative challenge.
While working on the compositions we asked ourselves who invite to our new project?
It is well known how few improvising bassoonists, oboists or cellists there are on the world. We felt from the very beginning on, that one person who would play exactly as we hoped is the American cellist Erik Friedlander, enchanting audiences not only with his sound but also with his instrumental mastery. We could not imagine to realize this project without the bassoon of Michael Rabinowitz either. This absolute virtuoso is one of the few musicians in the world who can improvise on this instrument with such freedom. We started our quest with our first fascination – the oboe. Emmanuelle Somer turned out to be the ideal partner, with her pure and sophisticated sound on that instrument, coupled with her abilities on the English horn.
All the musicians accepted our invitation to record really quickly, then came the most difficult and time-consuming part of setting up this collaboration: finding the dates for our musical rendezvous.
After only a few minutes playing in the studio we could feel how experienced were the artists we were having the opportunity to work with. We had spent over two years on the music for this work, and finally here we were, in the studio, bringing it into existence.
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Gerard Masters captures the looseness, magic, and swing of jazz in this second installment of the Composition Series. Bandcamp New & Notable Mar 5, 2020
Trumpeter Harry Spencer’s orchestral modern jazz has cinematic scope, inspired here by dissidents throughout history. Bandcamp New & Notable Oct 3, 2023