Album cover for Blackbird (r)evolution by Duo Ebano

Blackbird (r)evolution

Duo Ebano

About the album

Black is the color that clarinet, bass clarinet, piano and Seaboard® have in common. Like the blackbird in the song by Lennon/McCartney, we want to learn how to fly, explore new musical territories, and shape a more authentic and personal voice.

Blackbird (r)evolution is a canvas of Duo Ebano’s features, like a bizarre mirror where you can dive in. In a mirror we just see a reflection, which doesn’t necessarily show what we really are. By not accepting the first impression, we can learn how to see beyond the mirror, “take these sunken eyes and learn to see.”

The program represents the soul of Duo Ebano, shifting between standard repertoire and new music. Moreover, it displays composers who try to enhance the clarinet and piano combination, forcing its limits and inventing new ways to make these two instruments communicate, with the intent to achieve a (r)evolution of this set-up.

What to expect from this album? Excitement, fear, kindness, a mother’s song, goosebumps, anxiety, laugh, Radiohead-like moments, mantras, progressive-rock bands, a floating boat in a dark and warm night, a broken carillon, relentlessness, the music of the water.

Tracklist

Carl Maria von Weber

Grand Duo Concertant, Op. 48

I. Allegro con fuoco8:59
II. Andante con moto6:01
III. Rondo. Allegro6:17

Alban Berg

4 Stücke, Op.5

I. Mäßig1:20
II. Sehr langsam1:58
III. Sehr rasch1:18
IV. Langsam3:29

Paolo Gorini

Broken Chain

I. Dark Mirror2:22
II. Prog2:21
III. Headbanger1:40
IV. Rest Soft2:38

Johannes Brahms(arr. Paolo Gorini)

3 Intermezzi, Op. 117: No. 1, Andante moderato6:16

Boris Bezemer

I Love You7:16

Gerardo Gozzi

The Underwater Life of a Bass Clarinet10:31
Total playing time1:02:26

Artists

Composers

When you play a TRPTK album, you know you're not going to hear only mainstream music. [...] An adventure, as always very well recorded.

Audio Aficionado

Take the way Berg builds up the soundscape in the second piece, "Sehr Langsam," without question sublime and beautifully played by this duo.

Ben Taffijn, Nieuwe Noten

Anyone who gets to know Duo Ebano for the first time thanks to this CD will undoubtedly be impressed by the technically and interpretatively rich arsenal that these two gentlemen have to offer. These are top musicians for whom every composer or arranger would like to write and who undoubtedly produce a particularly inspiring interaction.

Aart van der Wal, Opus Klassiek

The result: there is no anxious musical fluttering here, but virtuosic "flying" of beautifully harmonious figures and captivating formations in close quarters.

Jan de Kruijff, Musicalifeiten

Credits

Producer, recording & mastering engineerBrendon Heinst
EditorErnst Spyckerelle
Liner notesMarco DanesiPaolo Gorini
GenreClassicalRomanticContemporaryCrossover
InstrumentationChamber
Recording dateNovember 2019
Recording locationMuziekhuis, Utrecht (NL)
Recording formatPCM 352.8 kHz 32 bit
Mastering formatPCM 352.8 kHz 32 bit
Release dateJanuary 10, 2020
Booklet

Technical specifications

MicrophonesDPA d:dicate 4006ADPA d:dicate 4015A
AD/DA conversionMerging Technologies HapiMerging Technologies Anubis
MonitoringKEF Blade TwoHegel H30
CablingFurutech custom microphone cablesFurutech custom power cables