Opera

Various Artists - Magic Moments 12CD / digitalOne World Of Music. The ACT label has jazz at its core, and an openness to all kinds of musical directions: pop, rock, the music of singer-songwriters and traditional folkloric forms such as flamenco and tango. These very different genres nonetheless never fail to find new and magical ways to work together. The twelfth Magic Moments compilation presents exciting music "in the Spirit of Jazz". All kinds of pleasure await the listener during its 71 minutes. And what can one expect to hear in this world so far away from a single predetermined style? There are surprises, obviously. Plus several chances to reconnect with established and familiar stars. And discoveries of some genuinely exciting newcomers. The opening track is from Iiro Rantala on solo piano. His portrait of the month of "August" is from "My Finnish Calendar", an album which sets to music the course of an entire year in his home country from a very personal point of view. Argentinian tango is a prime example of a musical tradition which is not just lively but is also constantly developing. The Javier Girotto Trio proves the point in "Deus Xango" from "Tango Nuevo Revisited", a contemporary reimagining of the Piazzolla/Mulligan classic album from 1975. "Four top-league jazz musicians who just enjoy playing". That description by the TV programme ZDF today Journal) defines exactly what "4WD" is all about. The four bandleaders involved are Nils Landgren, Mi-chael Wollny, Lars Danielsson and Wolfgang Haffner). Each of them is in equal control and they all set the direction of the group. "Flamenco and jazz are brothers," says Spanish piano newcomer Daniel García. In his energetic trio with special guest Jorge Pardo, he shows just how true that statement is with the fiery "Travesuras". French accordionist Vincent Peirani and his wife Serena Fisseau then create a familiar musical refuge: "What A Wonderful World" is a paean to silence. A duo of newcomers to the label, Grégoire Maret and Edmar Castaneda create new and exciting sound worlds. In "Harp vs. Harp" harmonica meets harp. This is indeed a special and rare pairing; "Blueserinho" absolutely needs to be heard. With his "Italian Songbook" trumpeter Luca Aquino has recorded a homage to the music of his homeland. Here is "Scalinatella" by film composer Giuseppe Cioffi in an affecting version for trio with the Italian piano star Danilo Rea and accordionist Natalino Marchetti. Singer Cæcilie Norby unites musicians from several generations and countries on "Sisters in Jazz". Her composition "Naked In The Dark" demonstrates that jazz is far from being only about men. "Klinken" comes from the debut album "Stax" by the 25-year-old drummer Max Stadtfeld, a release in the Young German Jazz series. Stadtfeld and his comrades-in-arms have no truck with intellectuality, they move in the rhythm-oriented mainstream and yet point beyond it. With freshness and astonishing maturity this quartet thrills and excites. For over 10 years the successful trio Mare Nostrum with Paolo Fresu, Richard Galliano and Jan Lundgren has been the epitome of the sound of Europe. All three musi-cians have a quite fabulous sense of the lyrical and poetic which is again very much to the fore in their third album; Magic Moments 12 has the Swedish "Ronneby". As the magazine Galore writes of German jazz icon Joachim Kühn. “He interprets Ornette Coleman's music in his very own way: lyrically, gently and introvertedly, but full of surprising details." Kühn relives the unique story of his work alongside one of the legends of jazz here with "Lost Thoughts", a piece never recorded before. On 6 February 2019, jazz baroness Pannonica (Nica) de Koenigswarter (1913-1988) received a posthumous tribute for her tireless commitment to jazz in a concert at the Philharmonie in Berlin. The focus was on pieces by musicians whom Pannonica had supported over so many years with money, accommodation, advice and friendship, and who often dedicated compositions to her in gratitude, "Little Butterly" by Thelonious Monk for example. The New York singer Charenée Wade is in the limelight here, accompanied by Iiro Rantala, Dan Berglund and Anton Eger, with the American saxophone titan Ernie Watts. "An Israeli power trio. Heavy Jazz," Rolling Stone wrote of Shalosh. And when you hear the frenzied "After The War" it is obvious why: rock and indie jazz combine to form a mix which is full of tension and excitement. Violinist Adam Baldych is a supremely talented virtuoso. Stereo Magazine has described him as "one of the most technically brilliant interpreters of improvised music". "Longing" from his album "Sacrum Profanum" is a searingly sad ballad, sensitively interpreted in a duo with pianist Krzysztof Dys. On "Painted Music" the pianist Carsten Dahl gives his own highly personal take on classics of the jazz repertoire. The traditional Danish folk song "Jeg gik mig ud en sommerdag" (I went out on a summer’s day) is the sound of summer. At the end of “Magic Moments 12”, Nguyên Lê's piece "Hippocampus" reminds us of "One World Of Music", the theme of the compilation. The French guitarist of Vietnamese ancestry is a musical wayfarer between cultures who combines the freedom of jazz with influences from rock and world music.Credits: Compilation by Siggi Loch Mastered by Klaus Scheuermann

Luca Aquino - Italian SongbookCD / Vinyl / digital Luca Aquino trumpet, flugelhorn & trombone Danilo Rea piano Natalino Marchetti accordion Orchestra Filarmonica di Benevento arranged and conducted by Giovanni Francesca Fabio Giachino piano & keys Rino De Patre classical guitar Ruben Bellavia drums Sometimes fate steps in and changes the course of a life. That's what happened to Luca Aquino: he was about to go on a "Jazz-Bike-Tour" in the summer of 2017. He’d packed his trumpet and was ready to set off...but then he found he couldn't. He had contracted Bell's Palsy, a sudden and acute facial nerve paralysis which put paid to his idea of cycling all the way from his home town of Benevento to Oslo, with stop-offs to play concerts at important jazz festivals and in some of the most beautiful cities in Europe. So, instead of being out doing live performances, Aquino’s life revolved around daily physiotherapy to heal the facial paralysis. He couldn’t touch the trumpet for more than a year, then had to relearn it more or less from scratch. He was caught somewhere between the threat that this could very well mean the end of his career, and the hope that it might not be too long before he could appear in public again. Tough times, then, for one of Italy's leading jazz musicians who had already released eight albums under his own name and was a permanent fixture in Manu Katché’s band. The good news is that Aquino has successfully put his musical career back on track. This pivotal moment, however, became a time of self-reflection for Aquino, and "Italian Songbook" was the logical outcome of it: "Ever since I was little, the traditional music and popular songs of my homeland have been with me. Music was all around, the latest Italian songs were always on the radio, and my mother often sang to me. My grandfather always said I could whistle those tunes before I could walk. A Neapolitan song was the first piece I ever played on the trumpet at the age of 12. Composers and musicians like Ennio Morricone, Nino Rota, Luigi Tenco, Domenico Modugno and Fabrizio De André have inspired me since then. And during my compulsory break through illness, I decided to take a look back at this music, as a way to start over." Aquino's "Italian Songbook" is very personal, and the repertoire here is broad: film music by the most important Italian film composers Morricone and Rota, plus great songs by cantautori (Italian singer-songwriters) such as Luigi Tenco, Fabrizio De André and Adriano Celentano. Aquino recalls largely forgotten pioneers of Italian music such as Mario Pasquale Costa and Gorni Kramer. And also Chet Baker, who felt so much at home musically in Italy, and is commemorated on one track. Aquino receives outstanding support from pianist Danilo Rea, one of the most lyrical players among Italy’s jazz musicians: "I have known Danilo for a long time, but this is the first time ever that we have played together. He's a true poet of the keyboard." Together with accordionist Natalino Marchetti, they create deeply heartfelt music. And there's a luxurious unfurling of sound when Aquino's group is combined with the Orchestra Filarmonica di Benevento. "This orchestra is not a classical symphony orchestra, but one that acts freely, courageously and unconventionally and can therefore absorb the jazz spirit of the band superbly". In the trio format, they are gentle, soft and intimate, but they can also bring in the opulence of an orchestra, and this dichotomy is what gives "Italian Songbook" its charm. Every note of this album conveys Aquino's devotion to his musical heritage. With a soft tone and yet great urgency he develops these well-known melodies and brings out all of the beauty in them. And so the "Italian Songbook" has become a touching homage to the music of his homeland. Fate really must have known what it was doing all along.Credits: Recorded in March 2019 by Goffredo Gibellini at Digital Records (Rome), Andrea Cutillo, Massimo Aluzzi at Splash (Naples) and Carlo Miori at Only Music Studio (Turin) Mixed by Carlo Miori and Goffredo Gibellini Mastered by Klaus Scheuermann Produced by Luca Aquino and Siggi Loch Cover art by Mimmo Paladino

Various Artists - Monteverdi in the Spirit of  JazzCD / digitalaolo Fresu, Richard Galliano & Jan Lundgren Richie Beirach, Gregor Huebner & George Mraz Michael Riessler, Vincent Courtois & Singer Pur Jan Lundgren, Lars Danielsson & The Gustaf Sjökvist Chamber Choir Danilo Rea & Flavio Boltro Michael Wollny TrioWhen Richie Beirach recorded his 2002 album “Round About Monteverdi”, it made him reflect: "I’ve been involved with music for my whole life,” he said, “but this was something I knew very little about.” Such reflections are not uncommon; Claudio Monteverdi is one of those figures in the development of music whose role was crucial, yet whose presence is shadowy. 2017 would have marked his 450th birthday: the composer, singer and viola da gamba player was born in May 1567 in Cremona in Northern Italy. Active in the twilight of the renaissance, Monteverdi was an innovator in vocal music as it moved forward into the baroque. He didn’t invent opera - he was born just a few decades too late - but was the first composer to really take it to its heights. He was a visionary, yet his star waned after his death, and he only re-appeared properly in the sights of musicologists and performers in the twentieth century … and of jazz musicians too: Beirach admitted astonishment at the freshness, depth and genius of this music: “I had no idea there was so much happening during this epoch. I’d always thought that Johann Sebastian Bach had begun something new. Now it’s clear to me that Bach is the culmination of what Monteverdi and his contemporaries had worked on.” Five pieces from Beirach’s album with Gregor Huebner and George Mraz - now out of print for some years - form the connective tissue of this album saluting the Monteverdi anniversary “in the spirit of jazz”. Beirach’s ingenuity in adapting Monteverdi’s vivid compositions for a jazz piano trio is, however, just a part of the story. German a capella group Singer Pur bring the epitome of poised choral singing to “Amor - Lamento della Ninfa”, accompanied by bass clarinettist Michael Riessler and cellist Vincent Courtois. And an opera album obviously needs ist Italians: Pianist Danilo Rea and trumpeter Flavio Boltro make their instruments sing from the heart in the “Toccata From Orfeo” and “Lasciatemi morire”. Radiant, magical classicism with just a glimpse of modernity prevails in “Se nel partir da voi” from pianist Jan Lundgren with Lars Danielsson and the Gustaf Sjökvist Chamber Choir. Lundgren is also in the Mare Nostrum trio, with Paolo Fresu on trumpet and accordionist Richard Galliano. They imbue “Si dolce è il tormento” with the spirit and the heritage of European folk music. And finally there is Michael Wollny. At the sessions for the immensely popular album “Weltentraum”, he and his trio recorded an adaptation of the “Lamento d’Arianna”, which epitomizes the coruscating power of current European jazz. In this age of the cloud, Monteverdi still has much to offer us.Credits:Music composed by Claudio Monteverdi Curated by Siggi Loch Mastered by Johannes Wohlleben at Bauer Studios, Ludwigsburg Artwork © Uwe Kowski, Selber, 2015 / ACT Art Collection, courtesy Galerie EIGEN + ART Leipzig/Berlin

Danilo Rea, Italy’s lyrical jazz pianist, captivates with brilliant interpretations full of harmony and technical mastery.