Maria Faust - Maria Faust Sacrum Facere '2014

Tracks list

Estonian, Denmark-based composer and reeds player Maria Fausts latest project,
Sacrum Facere, is a song cycle inspired by Estonian folklore and the runo
singing from the Setu region, close to the Russian border. Faust composed and
arranged the music for brass ensemble, three woodwinds, prepared piano, and
Estonian folk harp, the kannel, in a manner that weaves impressively her two
passions—contemporary classical composition and free improvisation. 

The movements in the cycle were written specifically for an octet, each one
featuring different soloist and all highlighting the individual voices of the
musicians and their instrumental colors. Fausts compositions do not shy from
sounding naive and even sentimental yet none of the compositions focus only on
the straight emotional aspec, all emphasize her rich and highly personal musical
language as composer and improviser. 

On Epp she arranges the brass and woodwind instruments as a choir, led by
Swedish trumpeter Tobias Wiklund, that charges the innocent theme with
meditative colors. Tui, featuring Norwegian tuba player Daniel Herskedal as
soloists, and later Vivre, featuring American tenor saxophonist Ned
Ferm—Fausts partner—as the main soloist, offer more room for
dramatic improvisation. Both allowing the ensemble to investigate sounds,
dynamics and forms of interplay and emphasizes the unique role of the prepared
piano and plucked strings of the kannel as sketching a delicate pulse. 

Italian pianist Emanuele Maniscalco is the main soloist in the emotional suite
Lydia, cleverly weaving the loose outlines of this piece, ornamented freely by
the brass and woodwind instruments. The profound ascetic and minimalist
atmosphere of Hiie, featuring Danish trombonist Mads Hyhne, and the title piece
with Faust as the main soloist on the breathing clarinet and spare singing,
brings to mind the spiritual-meditative compositions of fellow Estonian composer
Arvo Part, informed too by East European folklore and religious singing. Faust
concludes with an arrangement of a traditional piece, Itk (daughters Lament),
taken from an anthology of Estonian music and sung by Anna Vabrana (1877-1964),
accompanied gently by the ensemble. 

Tracklist:
01. Epp
02. Tui
03. Lydia
04. Hiie
05. Virve
06. Sacrum Facere
07. Itk

Personnel: Maria Faust: alto saxophone, clarinet, voice; Francesco Bigoni:
clarinet; Ned Ferm: tenor saxophone, clarinet; Emanuele Maniscalco: prepared
piano; Kristi Mühling: kannel; Tobias Wiklund: trumpet; Mads Hyhne: trombone;
Daniel Herskedal: tuba; Anna Vabarna: vocals.

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