Cutting-edge New York orchestra The Knights have been signed by Warner Classics, and their first album, the ground beneath our feet, is due to be released Jan 26.
The Knights began with brothers Eric and Colin Jacobsen, staging impromptu chamber music readings with their friends at their home while they were music students. Since then, the orchestra has risen and been hailed as “the next generation of classical music.” They have been known to play with big names in the classical and indie music scene, such as Bryce Dessner, guitarist of the band The National.
The new album will explore the concerto grosso form, a Baroque form in which musical material is passed between a small group of soloists and a full orchestra. Colin characterizes the relationship between these two musical groups as a “party within a party.”
Their ground beneath our feet will pair examples by Bach, Haydn, Stravinsky and Reich with world-premiere recordings of two collaboratively composed concertos. True to their collegial creed, the title track is a genuine group composition, collaborative from inceptions to interpretation.
The CD release is timed to coincide with The Knights’s extensive, upcoming, seven-state, East Coast tour, where they will be joined by 15-time Grammy-Award-winning banjo artist Bela Fleck.
The album was recorded live in concert at Dumbarton Oaks in Washington, D.C., to commemorate the 75th anniversary of Stravinsky’s chamber concerto at the Washington estate.
The tour’s inaugural performance at New York’s Pace University Jan. 28 is the second of The Knights’s three residencies at New York venues this season, as part of a three-year initiative funded by the Mellon Foundation to help them connect even more closely with their native city.
© 2024 Classicalite All rights reserved. Do not reproduce without permission.
