Lars Danielsson - Liberetto II (2014)

When soul mates and perfectly matched musicians find one another, they are well advised to stick together. "Liberetto II" by the exceptional Swedish bassist and cellist Lars Danielsson is the living proof. Three years ago he found a quartet with the former e.s.t. drummer Magnus Öström, the British guitarist John Paricelli and most of all as a new dream team duo with Armenian pianist Tigran. It interpreted his compositions and realised his musical ideas more precisely than probably any ensemble before it. On "Liberetto II", Danielsson and his quartet take that energy a step further, exploring new musical dimensions at the borders between chamber jazz, classic and European folk. The melody is always the focus, and the way they develop and creatively manipulate it stands as Danielsson's title neologism suggests to equal parts in the formal tradition of European classical music and in the improvisational freedom of jazz.