Norwegian Pianist and Composer Jon Balke Releases Discourses

Norwegian pianist and composer Jon Balke is set to release his third solo album titled Discourses (ECM Records) on May 5, 2020.

Balke describes the project as a “a kind of elegy” for dialog in public conversation: “Reading news and articles from a variety of sources, I am, like many people, engaged, shocked, frustrated, inspired, and sometimes glad about what I observe, and this stays with me in the process of making music. In the case of Discourses, language has been a big inspiration and a gateway to shape and mold the piano playing along the lines of rhetoric.”

The album includes piano and soundscapes generated with “field recordings and processed instruments. I played a lot of them on my cello and warped them with various sound tools. Keyboards were also used, and software plug-ins.

Jon Balke – Photo by Caterina di Perri / ECM Records

Jon Balke was  born in 1955 in Norway. He was one of the founders of the group Masqualero. His earlier solo works include Book of Velocities (2007) and Warp (2015).

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