Christian Winther Christensen - Almost In G [Col Legno]

Put on the circuit via the Col Legno-imprint on February 15th, 2k19 is "Almost In G", the latest longplay work by New Music composer Christian Winther Christiansen performed by the 12 piece orchestra known as Scenatet. Consisting of an entirety of seven compositions, these being split into a total of 16 tracks spread over the course of roughly an hour the opening title piece "Almost In G" seems to be touching on highly experimental FreeJazz and Free Improvisation with an alarmingly, explosive, eruptive and unsettling percussive undertone found in its oftentimes extremely dynamic arrangement going from near silence to maximum loudness on a regular whereas the follow up "Sextet" relies on repetitive, saw-like string scrapings and echoes of a rural, naturalistic approach towards folk'ish structures which have a quite calming effect on the listener. With "Chorale" we see Christian Winther Christiansen entering formalistic, structural, yet multilayered and somewhat meandering visions of courtly music performances in a future societally asunder, his "String Trio" extends the realm of Contemporary Classical and "Nachtmusik" brings forth a minimalist rhythmic foundation submerged by wildly plucked strings and short harmonic episodes before working its way towards a climaxing crescendo. Finally "Being Apu Sarkar" provides more of a stripped down, calm take on classic (Neo)Classical compositions for advanced listeners and the concluding piece named "Four Hyper-Realistic Songs", which btw would be a well-fitting title for a new, forthcoming Björk EP, caters a selection of tender, yet not less demanding musical works of a slighty tongue-in-cheek nature. Demanding stuff for a musically trained expert audience.

Album artwork on Instagram!