A I R classical album review: Stranger things indeed

A I RFrode Haltli (accordion), Trondheim Soloists, Arditti Quartet ****ECM New Series 481 2802

A I R
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Artist: Frode Haltli; Trondheim Soloists; Arditti Quartet; Bent Sørensen; Hans Abrahamsen
Genre: Children's Music
Label: ECM New Series

The strangest of things can coexist or collide in dreams. There's a surreal atmosphere of dreamlike recall to the mostly gentle ideas that drift in and out of focus in Bent Sørensen's It Is Pain Flowing Down Slowly on a White Wall. The orchestral strings hum as well as play, and add melodicas to their regular instruments.

Fellow Dane Hans Abrahamsen's Three Little Nocturnes delight in what you might call alchemical transmutations of the sound of accordion and string quartet, sometimes with vertiginous effect.

The two accordion solos, Sørensen's Sigrid's Lullaby and Abrahamsen's Air, both move with a plaintive simplicity of which Norway's Frode Haltli seems to be a special master. url.ie/kh67

Michael Dervan

Michael Dervan

Michael Dervan is a music critic and Irish Times contributor