COMPOSERS: Trygve Seim
LABELS: ECM
WORKS: Trygve Seim - Samgam
PERFORMER: Trygve Seim
CATALOGUE NO: 038 122-2
Trygve Seim’s third disc for ECM exemplifies the patient progress which this label insists on allowing its artists to make, a trait which these days runs contrary to virtually every other part of the music business. Once again, the Norwegian sketches out minutely calibrated settings for horns and saxophones: every breath taken seems meticulously chosen.
Seim is fascinated by the sound of air moving through instruments, himself using old and rare saxophones, and for the keyboard parts he chooses to use the accordion, another ‘breathing’ device. Nine compositions have the feel of ritual and procession, but a rhythmic element survives in Per Oddvar Johansen’s deft drumming, and the glowering low-register sounds from trombones, tuba and bass saxophone create a darkened yet curiously optimistic setting. Inevitably, Manfred Eicher’s production is so sensitive and impeccable that you can hear and almost taste every texture which Seim offers up. Richard Cook