Frozen Silence is the third ECM release from alto saxophonist Maciej Obara’s Polish-Norwegian quartet bringing the story forward from Unloved and Three Crowns – and perhaps its strongest musical statement to date.

Alert interactivity is the hallmark of the group’s approach in a programme of new Obara compositions inspired by the starkly dramatic landscapes of the mountainous Karkonosze region in south-west Poland. All four players make decisive contributions to the music.

The pieces optimally highlight Maciej’s intuitive musical relationship with pianist Dominik Wania, while bassist Ole Morten Vågan and drummer Gard Nilssen continually transcend rhythm section roles to inject powerful ideas of their own. The album was recorded in Oslo in June 2022, and produced by Manfred Eicher.

1. Dry Mountain
2. Black Cauldron
3. Frozen Silence
4. High Stone
5. Rainbow Leaves
6. Twilight
7. Waves of Glyma
8. Flying Pixies

The album opens on the shimmering elegance of Dry Mountain and the stoic beauty of Black Cauldron and then proceeds to bring us the spirited, titular Frozen Silence, and the playful High Stone.

Along next is one of my own personal favorites, the flirtatiously sculpted Rainbow Leaves and that is in turn backed seamlessly by the sweeping stillness found within Twilight, the set rounding out on the glorified Waves of Glyma, coming to a close on the fortified rhythms and melodies of Flying Pixies.

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