Frode Haltli - Air (2016)

The innovative Norwegian accordionist Frode Haltli is heard here with chamber orchestra, with string quartet and solo, performing music written for him by Danish composers Bent Sørensen and Hans Abrahamsen. Sørensen, he notes, has been an influence on his development as a player, challenging perceptions of what can be achieved on the accordion through tone control and nuances in soft dynamics, a subject explored in detail on It is Pain Flowing Down Softly on a White Wall, where Haltli is heard with the Trondheim Soloists. Hans Abrahamsen’s Three Little Nocturnes find the accordionist in the company of the redoubtable Arditti Quartet. For the title composition Air, Hans Abrahamsen returned, at Frode Haltli’s suggestion, to the early solo work Canzona, reworking until it became a new piece “characterized by a great sense of peace and a cohesive form”.