Unfolding

Description

Already partners on numerous records released by Louis Sclavis on ECM — including the most recent, Characters On A Wall — the clarinetist and pianist Benjamin Moussay have in recent years considerably developed their rapport and sense of interplay, successfully multiplying concerts across Europe. In this new album, whose program consists solely of original themes (two-thirds composed by the pianist, the remaining third by the clarinetist), the duo of French musicians imagines, at the borders of chamber music, a world of intimate conversations, juxtaposing contemplative sequences of intense lyricism with far more whimsical moments that highlight the joyful complicity at the heart of their collaboration. Always highly focused, the duo draws intense and warm improvisations from delicate themes — never overflowing, but instead patiently exploring the potential of the written material, in fluid dialogues of rare creativity.