Album Release—Mélodies Volées
by José Sogorb
José Sogorb, horn, Éadaoin Copeland, piano, and other guest musicians; 7 Mountain Records. Listen on Spotify.
Despite current trends and narratives about recording an album, I still felt the need, perhaps a much-too-romantic idea nowadays, to create an all-around, long-lasting musical statement through which audiences could get a proper idea of me as an artist.
I have been playing together with Irish pianist Éadaoin Copeland for quite some time already. Of course we enjoy playing the repertoire written originally for the horn in our recitals, but reflecting on my musical inspirations—works written for other instruments and from very different music styles—led us to start including some of these unconventional works into our concert programs. The “stealing” of these tunes led us to the idea of making an album exclusively of stolen melodies. Indeed, the simple act of translating the album title into French, Mélodies Volées, signifies the transformational element central to this album.
Every tune, no matter how great it is, doesn’t necessarily sound good on the horn; so, with careful consideration, we chose pieces where the instrument has the chance to shine and display its unique voice. The album presents eleven works arranged for solo horn, for horn and piano, and for horn with larger ensemble. In these various settings, you can find music ranging from the iconic first cello suite of Bach to the mellow atmospheres of jazz standards, from the virtuosities of a Paganini Caprice to the eclectic sounds of Björk.
The recording location that we chose for the album was Westvest90, a charming church near Rotterdam with warm, embracing acoustics that make it almost seem as if it was made for the horn sound. The church also houses a beautiful Steinway & Sons concert grand piano and has been running its own chamber music concert series for some years.
Frerik de Jong, sound engineer and owner of the 7 Mountain Records label, took care of all the technical aspects of the recording, guiding us very patiently through the entire process. Recording days are long and intense, so it is of great importance that the producer has a certain intuition to create a sense of ease to help the musicians give their very best.
To finance the project, we set up a crowdfunding campaign on Voordekunst, a Dutch platform which helps artists finance their projects. We are enormously grateful to everyone who believed in our idea and supported us through this platform and other means.
We can’t wait to share the album with you!
To get the album, please visit www.josesogorb.com.