Øystein Sevåg’s Lacrimosa album is out!
Listen on your digital platform ->
Download Hi-res audio on Bandcamp ->
Buy the CD from Emmo.no -> (international shipping)
After 15 years, pianist and composer Øystein Sevåg returns with a new band-based album, continuing his lifelong alchemy project: fusing Western art music with performer-driven improvisation into a new expression where the traditions merge into a seamless whole. Lacrimosa, an entirely acoustic production, is the closest we come to a true successor to his award-winning album Bridge. The result is melodic and polyphonic, sacred and powerful.
The album brings together an international line-up of musicians from both jazz and classical genres – performers with a deep understanding of the meeting point between the structure of art music and the freedom of improvisation.
– “I am deeply grateful to the outstanding musicians on this album. My compositions are a complex weave of concepts that demand a great deal from the performers in terms of understanding the unwritten rules of various musical territories”, says Sevåg.
Among the featured musicians is the British-Swedish bassoonist Emily Hultmark (former solo bassoonist of the Philharmonia Orchestra, London, and the Royal Stockholm Philharmonic Orchestra). Sevåg is also joined by long-time collaborators such as Bendik Hofseth (sax) and Rune Arnesen (drums) from the Global House album, alongside Mats Eilertsen (bass), Sara Övinge (violin), Hanne Moe Skjebred – viola, Elisa Herbig and Gregor Ridell – cello. The North Makedonian Radio Symphony Orchestra participates on six tracks.
About the album title, Sevåg says – “Lacrimosa means tear. The music on this album is meant for those who seek comfort, inspiration, or renewed belief in the future – in a time when the world struggles to come together”.
Watch the recording of Night on Earth, featuring Emily Hultmark (bassoon), Sara Övinge (violin), Hanne Moe Skjelbred (viola) and Gregor Riddell (cello).
More info
Review on the release concert by Tor Hammerø in Nettavisen (Norwegian)