Frode Haltli, Bent Sørensen, Hans Abrahamsen, – Air

Label: ECM New Series – 481 2802

Country: Germany
Released: 26 Aug 2016

01. It Is Pain Flowing Down Slowly On A White Wall / Composed By – Bent Sørensen
02. Air / Composed By – Hans Abrahamsen

Three Little Nocturnes / Composed By – Hans Abrahamsen

03. I. Andante Amabile

04. II. Allegro Appassionata
05. III. Langsam Gehend, Immer Zögernd, Mit Unsicheren, Immer Schleppenden
Schritten
06. Sigrid's Lullaby / Composed By – Bent Sørensen

Phonographic Copyright (p) – ECM Records GmbH

Copyright (c) – ECM Records GmbH
Made By – EDC, Germany
Recorded At – Selbu Church

Accordion – Frode Haltli

Cello [Trondheim Soloists] – Jaroslav Havel (tracks: 1), Marit Aspaas (tracks: 1),
Øyvind Gimse (tracks: 1)
Double Bass [Trondheim Soloists] – Erlend Skei (tracks: 1)
Ensemble – Arditti Quartet (tracks: 3 to 5)
Orchestra – Trondheim Soloists (tracks: 1)
Viola [Arditti Quartet] – Ralf Ehlers (tracks: 3 to 5)
Viola [Trondheim Soloists] – Frøydis Tøsse (tracks: 1), Louise Lindquist (tracks:
1), Ole Wuttudal (tracks: 1)
Violin [Arditti Quartet] – Ashot Sarkissjan (tracks: 3 to 5), Irvine Arditti
(tracks: 3 to 5)
Violin [First Violin] [Trondheim Soloists] – Anna Adolfsson Vestad (tracks: 1),
Hilde Huse (tracks: 1), Marit Laugen (tracks: 1)
Violin [First Violin] [Trondheim Soloists], Concertmaster [Trondheim Soloists] –
Geir Inge Lotsberg (tracks: 1)
Violin [Offstage Solo Violin] [Trondheim Soloists] – Sigmund Tvete Vik (tracks: 1)
Violin [Second Violin] [Trondheim Soloists] – Ingrid Wisur (tracks: 1), Nella
Penjin (tracks: 1), Stina Andersson (tracks: 1), Tora Ness (tracks: 1)
Violoncello – Lucas Fels (tracks: 3 to 5)

Design – Sascha Kleis

Engineer [Tonmeister] – Sean Lewis (2)
Executive-Producer – Manfred Eicher
Liner Notes – Frode Haltli
Liner Notes [English] – Paul Griffiths (4)
Liner Notes [Translated By (English) (Frode Haltli)] – Shari Gerber Nilsen
Mastered By [Mastering] – Christoph Stickel, Manfred Eicher
Music Director [Artistic Director] [Trondheim Soloists] – Øyvind Gimse (tracks: 1)

Photography By [Cover Photo] – Morten Delbæk

Photography By [Liner Photo (p.8)] – Lars Skaaning
Photography By [Liner Photos] – Fotini Potamia
It is Pain Flowing Down Slowly on a White Wall
for solo accordion and string orchestra (2010)

Air
for solo accordion (2006)

Three Little Nocturnes

for string quartet and accordion (2005)

Sigrid's Lullaby
for solo accordion (2010)

Recorded October and November 2014

Selbu Kirke, Norway

The solo album Air is now out on ECM New Series, and Frode Haltli is heard here
with chamber orchestra, with string quartet and solo, performing music by Danish
composers Bent Sørensen (b. 1958) and Hans Abrahamsen (b. 1952). Haltli plays
Sørensen’s ‘It is Pain Flowing Down Softly on a White Wall’ with the Trondheim
Soloists, as well as the solo piece ‘Sigrid’s Lullaby’. Hans Abrahamsen’s ‘Three
Little Nocturnes’ find the accordionist in the company of the redoubtable Arditti
Quartet, ‘a vital institution in contemporary music’ as Haltli says. For the title
composition ‘Air’, Hans Abrahamsen returned, at Frode Haltli’s suggestion, to the
early solo work ‘Canzona’, revising it until it became a new piece. Of Abrahamsen’s
music, Frode Haltli writes that ‘not one note is accidental, nor are any of the
other specifications. Sometimes, this results in very complex music, while a moment
later it is so simple that it seems a child could perform it. He writes music that
can be on the verge of being discomforting, while at the same time it is
indescribably lovely.’ Haltli acknowledges that the music of Bent Sørensen has been
an influence on his development as a player. Sørensen composed the demanding
‘Looking on Darkness’ (later the title track of Haltli’s ECM debut) for Frode’s
debut concert in Copenhagen, forcing him ‘to discover new ways of thinking and of
playing my instrument, which I have continued to work on for many years, also in
the field of improvisational music, and in other contexts than classical music.’ In
the same spirit ‘It is Pain Flowing Down Softly on a White Wall’ challenges
perceptions of what can be achieved on the accordion through tone control and
nuances in soft dynamics. On the present recording, Haltli’s accordion blends into
and out of the sound of the Trondheim Soloists’ nine violins, three violas, three
cellos and double bass. Towards the end of the piece the Trondheim musicians take
up melodicas, to create textures which seem like a ghostly echo of the accordion.
All of the music on the present disc was written for Frode Haltli, with the
exception of ‘Sigrid’s Lullaby’, which derives from Bent Sørensen’s set of
nocturnes for piano. ‘The piece flows easily into the adjacent but so different
space of the accordion,’ Paul Griffiths observes in his booklet essay. ‘The lullaby
is repeated again and again, slowly dissolving in the waters of time.’

With the exception of its three-plus minute closing number (Sørensen’s “Sigrids
Wiegenlied”), all of Air‘s compositions were written specifically for accordionist
Frode Haltli. The two composers featured here, Bent Sørensen and Hans Abrahamsen,
must be be well acquainted with Haltli’s tastes and abilities because Air is easily
a masterpiece. Despite some fussy variables — such as the difficulty of the music
or the density of the ensembles behind the accordion — music just seems to pour out
in great abundance from Air‘s first minute to its final fade. This is not one of
those albums of new classical music where you need to “work” for the enjoyment;
it’s already there for your taking. An entire feature can be written about the
opening number, Sørensen’s “It Is Pain Flowing Down Slowly on a White Wall". Not
only does its 21-minute running time occupy nearly half the album, but it also
covers a stupefying amount of musical ground, as Haltli works like hell to summon
new sounds and textures from his instrument. “It Is Pain…” features the Trondheim
Soloists ensemble under the leadership of Øyvind Gimse, a group that responds
remarkably well to built-in flexibilities of Bent Sørensen’s writing. At times,
it’s difficult to tell where Haltli’s chromatic shenanigans end and the violins’
glissandos begin during the rubato-heavy introduction—which spans a nebulous six-
minute stretch. The tempo is chugging forward, but it’s hard to determine the exact
pulse. Likewise, the harmony is neither major nor minor, neither tonal nor atonal.
The whole thing just seems to be pushing forward as if it had a mind of its own
with no musician or composer to drive it.

Hans Abrahamsen, in turn, uses a more precise approach to composing. Frode Haltli
reveals that “not one note is accidental, nor are any of the other specifications”.
Much like a classical piece by John Zorn or dialogue written by the Coen brothers,
Abrahamsen specializes in creating things that sound spontaneous but actually are
not. The 11-minute title track gives Haltli a chance to toss and turn solo, ebbing
in and out of moderate dynamics while varying the lengths of the mysterious chords.
The miniature suite “Three Little Nocturnes” is a far more agitated and musically
challenging display of Abrahamsen’s writing. Here, Haltli is joined by the Arditti
Quartet, an ensemble that has already racked up a great deal of superlatives from
music writers around the globe. The “Andante amabile” and “Langsam gehend”
movements play with the harmony in a slower setting, but it’s the fury of the
“Allegro appassionato” movement that jolts the listener all the way forward. In
Haltli’s own subtle words, “[h]e writes music that can be on the verge of
discomforting”.

Frode Haltli gets another turn at a solo performance on the aforementioned final
piece. Not unlike the DNA of Abrahamsen’s pieces, the harmonies of this lullaby
aren’t exactly soothing. The unique thing, though, is that no matter how much the
figure repeats, “Sigrids Wiegenlied” never sounds like it is repeating. Rather,
there are enough changes in each go-round to disguise the repetition. This is just
one of many reasons why a release like Air should be celebrated long after an
album’s usual life-cycle. It is highly original but puts no distance between the
music and the listener. It traffics in the “new music” tools of the trade, but
belongs to no era in particular. It is a genre highlight as well as a Frode Haltli
career highlight.