Tag Archives: ECM Records

New music – Anouar Brahem: After The Last Sky (ECM)

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Eight years after Blue Maqams, Anouar Brahem returns with a poignant project, titled after a line of verse by poet Mahmoud Darwish, which asks “Where should the birds fly, after the last sky?” Graceful chamber pieces for oud, cello, piano and bass subtly address the metaphysical question and its broad resonances in a troubled time. While drawing upon the traditional modes of Arab music, Brahem has consistently sought to engage with the wider world, too, and found inspiration in many sources from different cultures.

Bassist Dave Holland and pianist Django Bates are again part of the Tunisian oud master’s international quartet, joined now by cellist Anja Lechner. Brahem’s rapport with Holland – first established on the Thimar album of 1998 – is meanwhile legendary. “Dave’s playing gives me wings,” Anouar has said, an observation that materializes repeatedly across the record. Django Bates’ piano, an important supportive force throughout, contributes swirling solos.

The album marks the first time that Anouar has included a cellist in his group music. Anja Lechner, a leading voice in the recording, has long been conversant with Brahem’s compositions and included them in her own recitals. The cello is given the first and last statements here. After the Last Sky was recorded at Lugano’s Auditorio Stelio Molo RSI in May 2024, and produced by Manfred Eicher. The album is issued as the Brahem quartet embarks on a European tour with concerts in France, Germany, the Netherlands, Switzerland and Belgium.

Watch the title track below:

You can discover more about the album and explore purchase options at the ECM Records website

Published post no.2,488 – Saturday 29 March 2025

On Record – Sebastian Rochford & Kit Downes: A Short Diary (ECM)

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by Ben Hogwood

What’s the story?

This is an album with a deeply personal touch. Dedicated to Gerard Rochford, an Aberdeen poet and father of drummer Sebastian, it is described by him as ‘a short diary of loss’, offered as ‘a sonic memory, created with love, out of need for comfort.’

Around the time of his father’s death in 2019, Seb experienced a rush of musical thoughts coming to him, even though he wasn’t looking to write anything. This became part of the grieving process, and though he initially looked to resist the urge he found that giving space to the musical thoughts was helping him cope better elsewhere. Sat at the piano, he was able to vent his feelings through the simple vehicle of a home grand piano, and later the drum kit.

To help him he enlisted regular collaborator, pianist Kit Downes, and the pair recorded the music at the Rochford family home, capturing its ambience on record.

The final piece, Even Now I Think Of Her, is a composition by Gerard himself, sung into his phone and sent to Sebastian.

What’s the music like?

There is a beautiful and often heart stopping intimacy to this music. When experienced late in the day it is a companion for thought and reflection, turning inwards towards the centre of the mind on thoughtful pieces like Night Of Quiet, which at other times opens outwards and bringing the departed spirits and surrounding environment into the conversation.

This Tune Your Ears Will Never Here – a heartbreaking title – is a beautiful piece with which to start, setting out the hymn-like disposition of a lot of Rochford’s musical thinking. It begins with the piano intoning a solemn sequence in block chords, yet distracted by bigger thoughts at play.

The drums are very sensitively used, very much in the background – while on a piece like Love You Grampa complementing the piano’s free-thinking block chords. The first impression here is adding some well-judged percussion to a languid Debussy piece, but then the piece opens out into something more playful.

On Silver Light the music hints at folksong in the right hand of the piano, with modal melodies and light punctuation from the drums. Rochford’s compositions are capable of sustaining their concentrated thought for longer, too – and as Ten Of Us explores the lower ranges of the piano, the audience is effectively placed in the room next door, listening intently. It ends with a show of inner strength, Downes playing ever more expansively as the drum kit also intensifies.

Gerard’s composition fits hand in glove with the rest of the album, its right hand melody lightly insistent and dressed with brushed snare drum. It must have been almost unbearably poignant to record.

Does it all work?

It does. The instinctive nature of the music is wholly absorbing, and although Rochford’s father may have passed on, the strength of his character frequently comes across in writing that is thoughtful, reverent and lightly amusing.

Is it recommended?

It is. This is a concentrated, intimate set of musical studies and meditations, and clearly worked as part of the grieving process for Rochford. It is a beautiful, poignant album for musical reflection and reparation.

Listen

Buy

You can explore listening and purchasing options for A Short Diary at the ECM Records website

In Gratitude – David Fraser, Stewart Brown & John Bourke

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by Ben Hogwood

I wanted to place on record my appreciation for three very different but fiercely passionate musical contacts we have very sadly lost in recent weeks.

My heartfelt condolences go to the family and friends of David Fraser, who until recently worked for the excellent distributor Proper Music. David headed the press and marketing facility in the UK for the prestigious ECM label, a position from which he was able to make many enlightening musical recommendations. I remember him as a generous, kind-hearted contact who was always pleased to talk and continually modest about his vast musical knowledge. Thank you, David – I shall miss our chats, and include one of our mutual loves, the music of György Kurtág – one of his Bach arrangements – below:

The world of classical music has also been paying tribute to Stewart Brown, who died earlier this month at the age of 69. Stewart founded and ran the Testament label from 1990 onwards, creating an important resource of historical recordings that were largely remastered on his watch. Many an EMI recording was enhanced at Stewart’s hand, and we will greatly miss the excellence of the projects he oversaw.

I only know a fringe of the Testament catalogue well, but the recordings I have reviewed and enjoyed include Erich Leinsdorf conducting Prokofiev, Carlo Maria Giulini’s Bruckner, Sir John Barbirolli’s Mahler, a chamber recital from David Oistrakh, Mstislav Rostropovich and Benjamin Britten in recital at the Aldeburgh Festival, one of the label’s most recent releases, and a wonderful series of Clemens Krauss conducting Richard Strauss. All those recordings are testament (pun intended) to Stewart’s eye for a valuable recording, and us record collectors owe him heartfelt thanks for his achievements. Most importantly – as his close friends have confirmed – he was a lovely man.

The third of my musical musketeers is John Bourke. I never met John, but while he was running his own music PR enterprise we built up that most modern of musical friendships, a regular e-mail and social media correspondence. Whenever he had something he genuinely thought I would enjoy, John would be on the virtual blower.

That is the key element – John was never too pushy with the music he was promoting, unless he felt the listener / reviewer would appreciate it, and our friendship grew on that assumption. Several of Arcana’s interviews and playlist features are the result of John’s thoughtful prompting, while a great many more of my musical discoveries, especially the Glacial Movements label – were made possible through John’s correspondence. Thank you John – and I hope that wherever you are resting now that you have the most ambient of electronic music to keep you company.

ECM – A Stream of Consciousness

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The news that ECM have returned their catalogue to streaming services is a cause for celebration…especially if you like the sort of music we at Arcana enjoy talking about.

So good is the news in fact that we’ve decided to celebrate with an ECM Spotify playlist. The only trouble with doing this is deciding what to leave out, while accepting there are corners of the label’s output that we have not yet explored.

Yet there is some amazing music in these two hours, with artists of the quality of the Hilliard Ensemble, Jan Garbarek, the cellists of the Berlin Philharmonic and Pat Metheny ready to bring it to you. Yet if there is just one musical item to take from this playlist, it’s the last one – Christopher Bowers-Broadbent raising Philip Glass‘s Dance IV to the heights. Enjoy – and tell us what you think!