Little Snich 6

The name of Eduard van Beinum may too often be overlooked among the music directors of Amsterdam’s Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra, in between the longer and more internationally renowned tenures of Willem Mengelberg and Bernard Haitink, but this is a wrong that Eloquence has put right with the reissue of the greater portion of Van Beinum’s recorded work with the orchestra on both Decca and Philips. The conductor has been revealed anew as an interpreter of lucidly phrased fidelity to the score and uncommon sensitivity. The present issue brings repertoire especially close to Van Beinum’s heart. He was a master Schubertian, who needed to be taught no lessons by the nascent period-instrument movement on nurturing a hop, skip and jump in the composer’s effervescent orchestral textures or coaxing a sweetly flowing lyricism from their sunny complexions.

This collection of recordings illuminates two different sides of violinist Tasmin Little’s accomplished playing. While the Brahms and Sibelius Concertos are a testament to her technical skill and breadth of expression, the Pärt works display a more pared-back approach, making full use of Little’s pure and resonant tone.

Any conversation about the piano trio in the European jazz of recent decades will inevitably touch on the topic of the "Nordic sound". The leading exponents of it – Jan Johansson, Bobo Stenson, Bugge Wesseltoft, Esbjörn Svensson… – have not just drawn on the vast palette of American jazz, they are also musicians steeped in the songs of their homelands, as well as in the European classical music canon and contemporary music. With their strong feeling for melody, harmony and dramaturgy, pianist Benjamin Nørholm Jacobsen, bassist Martin Brunbjerg Rasmussen and drummer Lasse Jacobsen create a cinematic sound, music which can at times be melancholic, at others enchantingly beautiful, and which is full of twists and turns.

A few changes compared to their previous returning albums, most noticeably Daniel Denis and Alain Rochette gone, finding suitable replacements in Dave Kerman and Pierre Chevalier. Roger Trigaux is also taking a bit of a backseat because of his declining health; he is taking on the role of musical director and composer only playing guitar on one track. Ex-bassist Guy Segers has now moved up a step into being their manager. This album was recorded in Israel, but mixed in Belgium, but more significantly, it was not released by Cuneiform but by Carbon 7 , a small but adventurous Belgian label also handling Aka Moon, amongst other…