Ozella

Tytingvåg Randi: Lights Out [CD Maxi]

The island of Rolla is tiny and sparsely populated - a mere 900 people live here. On A Place Called Home, Oddgeir Berg takes us to this, his father's birthplace, for a concept album about the magic of nature, the spaces hidden in memory, and the bonds that family provides. The music was written with a new trio line-up and during a period of personal turmoil, including a cancer diagnosis for Berg's mother, and the worries which accompanied her treatment. As one would expect, the music feels intimate and pastoral, mostly slower-paced and introspective. But there are also moments of gentle exploration here as well as a beautiful bass solo by new member Audun Ramo. It is an invitation to a journey - to make any place your home.

Magne Thormodsæter is an ECM-alumni, bassist, and in- demand session musician. On L'arte della persuasione, he fuses two worlds with the full force of a beautiful blow. A 35- minute story told in five acts, it pits a high-caliber classical ensemble against a jazz group. The result is captivatingly unclassifiable. Although Thormodsæter fully composed L'arte della persuasione, the score also provides the musicians with permissions to act spontaneously. The work will thus never sound the exact same way twice. This inner tension was amplified by the process: All musicians only saw the piece on the day of recording. "I honestly didn't know what would happen," Thormodsæter admits, but the result ended up sounding entirely organic. Gradually, the players turned into creators themselves - making the piece "their own."

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