Geir Draugsvoll - Quasi Improvisata - COMPACT DISCS [CD]

?The idea to record a CD of chamber music for clarinet and piano by composers from Germany, Denmark and Russia arose quite spontaneously. The starting point of our research was the InchFantasiestückeInch by Niels Wilhelm Gade Op. 43. After we had successfully performed this cycle in some concert programs, the desire came to look at the genre of European instrumental romantic miniatures of the 19th and the first half of the 20th century. So it was only logical that our choice fell on the InchFantasiestückeInch by Robert Schumann Op. 73. His work is a kind of starting point for the whole CD concept. The Second Sonata by Alexander Gretschaninow came into our repertoire not long ago, but took a permanent place thanks to it's luminosity, sublimity of figures and sincerity of romantic statement. The same is true of the unique InchSonata-VocaliseInch by Nikolai Medtner, which is an excellent example of an organic synthesis of German and Russian schools of composers and embodies the continuity of Schumann's artistic ideals. The multidimensional term InchfantasyInch (in the old variant InchphantasyInch) means Inchto imagine somethingInch, Inchto improviseInch. And it is precisely the rich, radiant, outstanding and - this is actually the most important thing - free imagination of the artists presented on the CD that has given us the happiness of encountering their art. This joy of fantasizing, full of inspiration, we would like to share with you.

Sofia Gubaidulina' distinguished career and her 80th anniversary are celebrated with this world premiere recording of Fachwerk. Recorded here by it's acclaimed dedicatee Geir Draugsvoll and in the presence of the composer.

Hamerkop is a pair of Baltimore-based soundnerds Annabel Alpers, the composer, singer andinstrumentalist formerly of New Zealand's Bachelorette, and Adam Cooke, a Baltimorean drummer/audio engineer with credits that include BeachHouse, Wye Oak and Future Islands. Together,they have created a song-cycle that contrasts theoften-mundane (yet often satisfying) everyday worldwith that of the idealized, longed-for fantasy, tofind the spaces in between these things, the placewhere we all feel good about our existence.Hamerkop's debut, Remote, started as an exploration of the sonic beauty in Alpers' collectionof field recordings from her homeland and travelsaround the world. Looped and sampled, they became a set of instrumental sounds oftheir own, and when played live in a multiple-speaker, surround-sound experience, theireffect was transporting. The finished album blends these expansive sounds in chorallayers of synths and vocals, with a kaleidoscopic, almost psychedelic quality, all of itanchored by Cooke's Kraut-minimal drumming.Remote is a natural progression from the criminally-underrated Bachelorette catalog-seeking catharsis through the contextualizing of personal texts into rich songscapes,using the chill of synth-pop to mask the fallible human soul hidden behind it. Far awayfrom her native New Zealand with a new life and family in America, Annabel strove tofind elements of her old identity in new environs, building songs out of sonic scrapsfrom remote places, as if she were sewing a blanket in which to wrap them all. As sheputs it, InchHome for me is in two places, and it's been causing a lot of creative tensionbecause I wish I could be in both places at once.InchThe songs of Remote find depth and dimension via a rich tapestry of voices, foundsounds and classic pop melodies, as constant synapse triggering from unexpectedangles and algorithms reveals, by chance and d