Ur Musig (1993) Cyrill Schläpfer, Rees Gwerder, Jakob Alder, Jakob Duesel

Jan Antonín Losy was born around 1650 of a prosperous Bohemian family. After the death of his father, the first Count of Losinthal, he inherited not only his title but also considerable wealth. He was therefore able to devote his life to music, and his skill as a lutenist became famous throughout Europe. Unlike professional players, Losy had no need to sell or publish his music but fortunately it has survived in numerous manuscript copies. Today we have almost 200 pieces by Count Losy, many of which once belonged together in larger suites or partitas.

The first Japanese composer to achieve international status, Tōru Takemitsu proposed a fusion between Western music and the culture of his country. His music radiates a lyrical intensity that comes as much from his roots in the early modernists Debussy and Alban Berg as from his affinity with the more overtly experimental mid-twentieth-century styles of John Cage and Morton Feldman. Played throughout the world, he is considered one of the most important composers of the second half of the 20th century.

Martin Rude (Sun River) & Jakob Skøtt (Causa Sui) team up for a genre-defying record that was recorded during an exceptional session on March 3rd 2020. Martin brought his Double Bass, Acoustic & Baritone guitar into the studio of Causa Sui, where Jakob's drums were already miked & prepped by soundwiz Jonas Munk, freshly tuned from the new Causa Sui recordings. The music they played ranges from sprawled out pre-fusion electric jazz to psychedelic folk ragas. After the sessions, the hours of free floating music was edited & dubbed by Jakob Skøtt into shorter cohesive segments, but maintaining the improvised vibe of these first takes.

The Swedish lutenist, Jakob Lindberg, developed his first passionate interest in music through the Beatles. He started to play the guitar and soon became interested in the classical repertoire. From the age of 14 he studied with Jörgen Rörby who also gave him his first tuition on the lute. After reading music at Stockholm University he went to London to study at the Royal College of Music. Here he further developed his knowledge of the lute repertoire under the guidance of Diana Poulton and decided towards the end of his studies to concentrate on Renaissance and Baroque music.

From the reign of Henry VIII and onwards, the lute and its practitioners enjoyed the patronage of the very highest English society. Henry played the lute himself, as did his daughter Elizabeth I, who during one period employed as many as five lutenists at her court. In 1603, when she was succeeded on the throne by James I, the tradition was maintained: with his appointment of John Dowland the king increased the number of royal lutenists, while his queen, Anne of Denmark, played the lute herself. This royal enthusiasm for the lute influenced the aristocracy, and an English style of lute music was established.

12 years after his album entitled ‘Italian Virtuosi of the Chitarrone’ (BIS-1899), Jakob Lindberg returns to his magnificent theorbo, specially built for him by the luthier Michael Lowe, based on an instrument preserved in the Musée de la Musique in Paris. One of the most spectacular instruments of the early baroque owing to its length and great number of strings, the theorbo was originally designed to accompany the voice, but is also ideally suited to solo performance. For this disc, Lindberg has chosen pieces by Robert de Visée, one of the great French masters of the lute, theorbo and guitar repertoire and a favourite of Louis XIV. The recording features dances as well as character pieces, including a moving ‘Plainte’ in memory of his two deceased daughters.

Martin Rude (Sun River) & Jakob Skøtt (Causa Sui drummer) team up for their 2nd album in 2020, following their acclaimed debut The Discipline of Assent. All basic tracks were cooked up from a new session on July 7th in Causa Sui’s Jonas Munk’s studio. This time around, the duo took it’s time to modulate a few ideas into several takes, but maintaining an “onwards and upwards” attitude, often relying on an original impulse or idea snagged out of the ether.

The Orpheus in England title of this release refers to the fact that both John Dowland and Henry Purcell were honored with the "Orpheus" designation after their deaths, nearly 100 years apart. The booklet for this Swedish release even comes with an anonymous poem telling the deceased Purcell to "Touch but thy Lyre, the Stones will come and dance themselves into a Tomb." The unusual idea of connecting the two composers, who shared a common tendency toward a mixture of melancholy and daring harmonic thinking, works well, and there are many lovely moments here.