Secret History: Josquin & Victoria
Tomas Luis de Victoria and Josquin Desprez were not contemporaries, they lived and worked in different countries, and perhaps shared little in terms of abstract compositional style. Yet throughout Europe, generations of musicians recognized them as kindred ...
Genre: Classical
Subgenre: Chamber Music
Russian pianist Alexei Lubimov is the rare artist who has been a trailblazer in two directions, both a champion of new music (from Cage to Silvestrov) and a dedicated interpreter of Baroque music with a passion for period instruments. In this remarkable reading of music by CPE Bach, ...
Composer: Carl Philipp Emanuel Bach (1714-1788)
Genre: Classical
Subgenre: Instrumental
Joseph Brodsky - Elegie an John Donne
When the Russian born poet Joseph Brodsky received the Nobel prize for literature in 1987, he was praised for his "all-embracing authorship, imbued with clarity of thought and poetic intensity." It was "a big step for me, a small step for mankind" he jokingly ...
Genre: Spoken Word
Subgenre:
Tim Berne has been described as a saxophonist and composer of granite conviction by The New York Times. Incidentals is the fourth album from his spirited Snakeoil band and the second (following on from 2015's You ve Been Watching Me) to feature the quintet line-up in ...
Genre: Jazz
Subgenre: Free Jazz
Food has defined a new kind of lyrical electro-acoustic improvisation in the course of its twelve year existence. Founded as a quartet in 1998, since 2006 the group has been a core duo of UK saxophonist Iain Ballamy and Norwegian drummer Thomas Strønen joined by guests for diverse projects. ...
Genre: Jazz
Subgenre: Free Jazz
While walking home on 8 October 2014, I was listening to Norma Winstone’s Stories Yet To Tell on my iPod. The opening song, “Just Sometimes,” had already enchanted me with its tender traversal of the heart’s shadowed chambers. ...
Genre: Jazz
Subgenre: Contemporary Jazz
“Rruga” is the ECM debut of an exceptional group, bringing fresh energy and new ideas to the piano trio tradition. Pianist Colin Vallon (born in Lausanne in 1980), has led his own trio since 1999, inviting bassist Patrice Moret (born in Aigle in 1972) and Samuel Rohrer ...
Genre: Jazz
Subgenre: Contemporary Jazz
„How wonderful opera would be if there were no singers“, Rossini once exclaimed, and his colleague Claude Debussy protested that “in opera there is always too much singing”. When Gianluigi Trovesi, Italy’s great musical archaeologist and one of today’s outstanding improvisers, indulges in his old ...
Genre: Jazz
Subgenre: Crossover Jazz
A quartet of master musicians and a programme of jazz classics. “Live at Birdland” presents the finest moments from two inspired nights at New York’s legendary club, as Konitz, Mehldau, Haden and Motian play “Lover Man”, “Lullaby Of Birdland”, “Solar”, “I Fall In Love Too Easily”, ...
Genre: Jazz
Subgenre: Contemporary Jazz
Two of the best-known names in contemporary electronica, Berlin-based DJs and composers Ricardo Villalobos and Max Loderbauer share their admiration for music on ECM in a unique double-album of specially-created “sound-structures” - a project that will bring the label’s music to a new listenership. ...
Genre: Electronic
Subgenre: Ambient
In the two years since Tomasz Stanko’s much-loved “Soul of Things”, both the trumpeter and his young band have continued to make their mark. Many miles of touring, on both sides of the Atlantic, have honed their already exceptional group understanding. “Suspended Night” builds upon the conceptual ...
Genre: Jazz
Subgenre: Contemporary Jazz
The long-awaited album by the Argentinean bandoneon giant Saluzzi and German cellist Lechner, known both for her work with the Rosamunde Quartet and her explorations outside it. It was, for instance, Lechner’s interest in Tango Nuevo that made the ongoing Saluzzi / Rosamunde “Kultrum” ...
Genre: Jazz
Subgenre: Latin Jazz
The third album from one of the most exciting young European bands, “Llyrìa” follows on from “Stoa” and “Holon”, the recordings that established the Swiss band Ronin on the international scene. Leader Nik Bärtsch’s “modular” pieces still define the context of the group’s music ...
Genre: Jazz
Subgenre: Contemporary Jazz
Norwegian trumpeter Mathias Eick makes his ECM debut with The Door. Label mainstays Jon Balke (piano) and Audun Kleive (drums), along with Nils Petter Molvær associate Audun Erlien (bass), forge a memorable session of lyrical crystal. ...
Genre: Jazz
Subgenre: Contemporary Jazz
The uniquely lyrical, liquid and mellifluous sound of Arve Henriksen’s trumpet has had an important supportive role to play on a number of ECM recordings of the last decade. Amongst them – Christian Wallumrød’s “No Birch”, “Sofienberg Variations”, “A Year from Easter” and ...
Genre: Jazz
Subgenre: Contemporary Jazz
Mathias Eick’s intensely melodic trumpet occupies the centre-stage in this album of self-penned tunes which will appeal to an audience beyond “jazz”. Against the powerful backdrops offered by his sleek, modern band, driven by two drummers, ...
Genre: Jazz
Subgenre: Contemporary Jazz
Third Round follows up drummer Manu Katché’s previous ECM albums, Neighbourhood and Playground with his deepest love long yet. Joining him are saxophonist Tore Brunborg, pianist Jason Rebello, bassist Palladino, ...
Genre: Jazz
Subgenre: Contemporary Jazz
Neighbourhood is an astounding, if subdued, meeting of minds. Like other ECM projects of its ilk, this congregation feels as if it arose out of a fundamental and inescapable desire to create music for the sheer enjoyment of it. There is no showing off here. ...
Genre: Jazz
Subgenre: Contemporary Jazz
Pavans And Fantasies From The Age Of Dowland
Violinist John Holloway has carved the deepest Baroque relief into ECM’s surface. With sole exception of Bach’s Sonatas and Partitas for solo violin, he has since 1999 been accompanied by harpsichord and organ or cello continuo in thoughtful and superbly executed programs of music by such ...
Composer: John Dowland (1563-1626)
Genre: Classical
Subgenre: Chamber Music
Friedrich Hölderlin: Turmgedichte
Vienna-based artist Christian Reiner reads from the so-called Turmgedichte, or “Tower Poems,” of Friedrich Hölderlin. The German poet has, of course, long been lodged in ECM’s consciousness (see, for example, Scardanelli), though nowhere nearly as long as he was ...
Composer: Friedrich Hölderlin (1770-1843)
Genre: Spoken Word
Subgenre:
