Ketil Bjørnstad / David Darling – Epigraphs

Review by Rick Anderson
Those familiar with previous work by these two instrumentalists will find no surprises on their second duo album, which consists primarily of compositions by pianist Bjornstad, interspersed with fragments of works by composers of the European Renaissance (William Byrd, Orlando Gibbons, Guillaume Dufay, and the obscure German composer Gregor Aichinger) and a couple of David Darling compositions, one of them written for multi-tracked cello. The sixteen pieces on this disc are highly consistent in terms of mood and texture: from Bjornstad's "Epigraph No. 1" that opens the program to the Aichinger compositions "Factus Est Repente" that closes it, the feeling is one of deep calm and contemplation. To call this music "minimalist" wouldn't be entirely accurate, since there's quite a bit of harmonic movement and not much repetition, but because Bjornstad and Darling's playing is so consistently gentle and the music is so consistently quiet and pleasant, this album has a flavor that will be familiar to fans of Philip Glass and Arvo Part. Recommended.
Bjørnstad/Darling's first duet album "The River" was one of the runaway successes of our 1997 programme, described by the Sydney Morning Herald as "An unforgettable listening experience." On "Epigraphs", the frame of reference for the Norwegian pianist and the American cellist is the music of the Renaissance. Darling and Bjørnstad play arrangements of pieces by William Byrd, Orlando Gibbons, Guillaume Dufay, and Gregor Aichinger as well as compositions of their own, inspired by these old masters. The result is an extremely attractive, gentle, often slowly-moving music of great clarity.