Jan Provoost

"The Nymphs" tells the story of a wandering mortal who ends up in the realm of the Queen of the Nymphs. The late Scottish entertainer Jimmy Logan narrates the story, interwoven with hauntingly beautiful music composed by Jan Kisjes and magical poems recited by Bryan Maguire. The combination of story, music and poems results in a fairytale decor. The package also contains a second music-only CD.

Een driedubbele cd met het integrale werk voor cello en pianoforte van Ludwig Van Beethoven, dat is het resultaat van de intense muzikale samenwerking van celliste France Springuel en pianist Jan Vermeulen. De twee begonnen drie jaar geleden samen te musiceren en de muzikale klik die beiden toen voelden, deed hen besluiten om het repertoire voor cello en piano aan te pakken. Eerst waren er twee Schubertcd's, dan volgde Schumann, en nu is er dus Beethoven. De sonate voor cello en piano is in feite een uitvinding van Beethoven zelf.

Henryk Mikolaj Gorecki (1933–2010) achieved an international success in the mid-1990s, with his Symphony No. 3, “Symphony of Sorrowful Songs”. Since then, Gorecki’s name has been associated almost exclusively with this piece. However, his music is much more than this one brilliant work. Gorecki never looked at musical fashions, but consistently created his own sound universe. In the 1980s Gorecki, feeling misunderstood, stepped back from the official concert life in Poland. He reached out to simple folk and church melodies, making their choral arrangements.

Jan Garbarek is, of course, one of ECM’s longest standing composers and saxophonists, yet he is first and foremost a spectacular improviser who often manages to reach farther than (I imagine) even his own expectations in touching new melodic concepts. Paired with the Spheres-like church organ of Kjell Johnsen, he plumbs the depths of spiritual and physical awareness in a way that few of his albums have since. Here more than anywhere else, he shapes reverberation into its own spiritualism, exploring every curve of his surrounding architecture, every carved piece of wood and masonry.

Johann Sebastian Bachin (1685–1750) musiikki tunnettiin hänen kuolemansa jälkeen pitkään lähinnä alan harrastajien keskuudessa. Felix Mendelssohnin (1809–1847) johtamasta Matteus-passion esityksestä Berliinissä 1829 alkoi Bach-renessanssi, joka nosti barokin mestarin suuren yleisön tietoisuuteen. Samalla Bachin teokset saivat alistua sovituksille, jotka olivat suosittuja aina 1900-luvulle saakka. Sovittaminen oli osa ajan esittämiskäytäntöä, sillä ennen autenttisuuskäsitteen syntyä kaikki musiikki sovitettiin vallitsevan tyylin mukaiseksi, ja niinpä myös Mendelssohnin johtama Matteus-passio oli mukautettu vastaamaan ajan musiikillis-esteettisiä haasteita.

Blue sound. Deep focus. Encompassment. This is what awaits the listener on this recording. Not compression or complex harmonies, rather the sound characterizes this recording. The tone, the sound here is carried by the spirit of internalization. The silence between the notes connects. The album is a search for simplicity and the essential, which looks inward and decelerates the listener.

Beautiful music inspired by nature and the peace we all can expirience by taking a walk and listen to the birds singing, the calming sounds of ocean waves. Nature means a lot to Jan Skovgaard Petersen. Whenever important decisions have to be taken, he usually taks a walk by the ocean to create a break where thoughts can calm down. The music on this album expesses his gratitude and inner joy to have this sanctuary.