For the first time available here on vinyl, Magnus Granberg music has gain a good reputation through the years and his excellent serie of publications by the british label Another Timbre and his Skogen group. This time on a small, quartet, formation, Magnus Granberg, on prepared piano, and violinist Anna Lindal are joined by Cyril Bondi and d’incise, from the Diatribes duo and many more, whom where already part of the 10tet recording of “How Deep is the Ocean, How High is the Sky?” in 2015.
“Nattens skogar” is a piece of evoluting materials, fragments, of melodies, of multiple pulses, of tones and soft noises, in a seemingly perfect balance, with this inimitable melancolic touch and sens of endless time we often find in Granberg’s work. It was originally intended for the Swedish ensemble Skogen and its materials are partly derived from two pieces of quite decidedly nocturnal musics, Erik Satie’s “Nocturnes”, and Thelonious Monk’s “Monk’s Mood”, a composition Magnus had listened quite intensely to for quite some time before writing this piece. It borrows its title, “Nattens skogar”, from the Swedish translation of Djuna Barnes’s novel “Nightwood” and it is quite obviously a pun, referring to the use of nocturnal musics as a source material for the piece, and to the Skogen ensemble’s name. This version, of the rather open score, was recorded in Stockholm in april 2016.
Recorded in Stockholm, april 5th 2016. Mixed by d’incise. Mastered by Giuseppe Ielasi. Cut by Adi Flück/Central dubs.