Aleksandra Orbeck Nilssen

Frozen Silence is the third ECM release from alto saxophonist Maciej Obara’s Polish-Norwegian quartet bringing the story forward from Unloved and Three Crowns – and perhaps its strongest musical statement to date. Alert interactivity is the hallmark of the group’s approach in a programme of new Obara compositions inspired by the starkly dramatic landscapes of the mountainous Karkonosze region in south-west Poland. All four players make decisive contributions to the music. The pieces optimally highlight Maciej’s intuitive musical relationship with pianist Dominik Wania, while bassist Ole Morten Vågan and drummer Gard Nilssen continually transcend rhythm section roles to inject powerful ideas of their own. The album was recorded in Oslo in June 2022, and produced by Manfred Eicher.

Superstar tenor, Roberto Alagna, returns with his sensational new album Caruso. Caruso 1873 is Alagna’s tribute to the Neapolitan singer who Alagna considers to be the greatest tenor of all time. Alagna honours his legendary predecessor with a selection of repertoire drawn from Caruso’s own recording career, which stretched from 1902 to 1920. Alagna is accompanied by the critically acclaimed Orchestre National D’ile-de-France, singers Aleksandra Kurzak and Rafal Siwek and conductor, pianist and arranger, yvan Cassar. The music chosen is a journey back in time through Caruso’s eclectic repertoire. It showcases his personality and is blended with Alagna’s own favourites. The album offers many surprises and stretches from Handel and Pergolesi to verismo composers including Cilea and Leoncavallo, contemporaries of Caruso who wrote music for him. Puccini is represented by “Vecchia zimarra”, the bass Colline’s aria from La bohème which – as legend has it – Caruso once sang on stage standing in for an ailing colleague in perfect subterfuge. Caruso (1873—1921) was an Italian operatic tenor. Caruso was one of the first major singing talents to be commercially recorded.