Album Notes

The second CD of the Simurg Ensemble sees them taking a more consistently avant-garde direction, further defining and cementing their unique sound.
Track description:
1) Wolfgang Güdden: Sonate for clarinet, cello and piano - strictly classical in form, highly contemporary in material: quarter tones, glissandi and multiphonics make up a large part of the clarinet and cello parts. The piano is mainly treated as a percussion instrument, adding colour and depth to the clarinet/cello duet
2) Robert Weirauch: Tenebrae - written after a visit to the Nazi extermination camp of Buchenwald: humanity at its lowest, absolute darkness of the human psyche. A bleak and extreme piece
3) Robert Weirauch: Narcissus - for contrabass solo. The original version for solo cello can be found on the ensemble's first CD, "Simurg Ensemble Plays Robert Weirauch"
4) John Slangen: Volucris - written for Simurg. A short piece developing and varying several compact themes. The two parts are linked by a short clarinet cadenza
5) Juan Allende-Blin: Silences Interrompus - for clarinet, contrabass and piano. A "soundscape" piece, mainly consisting of silences pierced by percussive and improvisatory gestures from the trio. At the end of the piece, the orchestration changes to historical clarinet, gusla (a small one-stringed fiddle) and japanese bamboo bells