Credits:

Wolfert Brederode 、 Matangi String Quartet 、 Joost Lijbaart

Description:

This is the fourth ECM album by Dutch pianist Wolfert Brederode. He has released works in trios and quartets, but this is a different and special project, a suite for piano, string quartet, and percussion. Originally composed by Brederode in response to a commission for music commemorating the 100th anniversary of the end of World War I, it was premiered in November 2018, but has come to embody a broader, more personal meaning in the meantime. Brederode commented, "On many levels, this music has to do with grief, loss, and learning to stand up again." The music is both vulnerable and resilient, with emotional ups and downs, alternating between bleak and hopeful moods. The musician-musicians involved in this project have been friends since their student days at the Royal Conservatory of Music in The Hague. The Matangi String Quartet has often performed with Wolfert Brederode in his theater music productions, and has earned a reputation as one of the most versatile string quartets in the Netherlands, with a wide repertoire that includes baroque music, contemporary compositions, and jazz. (The quartet has recently been noted for its recordings of Schnittke, Silvestrov, and Shostakovich.) In 2014, the Matangi Quartet included music by Brederode on its own album, alongside works by Louis Andreesen and Chick Corea. As the project progressed, Matangi's players found more and more freedom within it and became active participants in its improvisation section.Drummer Joost Leibert has been working with Brederode since 2004 across genres. He plays jazz with Yuri Horning and works in an improvisational duo that tries to submerge individual identities in a single sound "as if playing a prepared piano together," rather than a percussion and piano duet, and this sensibility is reflected in the "Ruins and Remains" This sensibility is also reflected in the approach taken in Ruins and Remains. Personnel] Wolfert Brederode: piano; Joost Lijbaart: drums, percussion The Matangi Quartet: Maria-Paula Majoor, Daniel Torrico Manacho: violins; Karsten Kleijer: violins Karsten Kleijer: viola; Arno van der Vuurst: violoncello;

Tracklisting:

1.Ruins II
2.Swallow
3.Remains
4.Cloudless
5.Ruins and Remains
6.Ka
7.Ruins I
8.Duhra
9.Ruins III
10.Retrouvailles
11.Nothing for granted
12.Dissolve
13.March
14.Ruins IV