Search - Lars Danielsson :: Libera Me (Hybr)

Generally quite lovely . . .

Jan P. Dennis | Monument, CO USA | 07/03/2005

(4 out of 5 stars)

". . . but I think bassist and cellist Danielsson would've been better served by placing himself in the context of a regular band, rather than a bass-plus-symponic-orchestra context. Indeed, the tracks with the guests work best (especially those featuring Nils Peter Molvaer on trumpet and Dave Liebman on soprano sax).



The rest of the tracks seem to lack something, either becoming too conventionally pretty or too indulgently virtuosic. Yes, Danielsson is a very fine instrumentalist, but my own feeling is that the sonorities of the bass/cello are somewhat irritating when placed so far up front in the sound image, as they are on many of the numbers, especially without the balance of horns, winds, piano, and guitar.



Not what I expected, and somewhat disappointing, but may be welcomed by those who are especially taken by the bass as a lead instrument."

Lovely Scandinavian effort but sometimes dull

A.J.H. Woodcount | 09/24/2005

(3 out of 5 stars)

"Like everything from scandinavia coming being great stuff you might forget that sometimes things may go wrong over there. On 'Libera Me' things are missing and things that are not should be.



Track 1 is beautiful. The piano and bass do excellent work. The trumpet of Nils Petter Molvaer are(as often)superb. I like his sound. Track 2 is a moving piece. Carsten Dahl plays piano excellent. Beautifully arranged with percussion. I do not like the strings. Track 3 is only drums en bass and that works for me. Track 4 is a good popsong. I could like the lyrics, but Norby sings and she shouldn't hit those notes like she does. I to believe Lars Danielsson being to much in the spotlight. I just find it hard to accept the bass on the foreground in a song like this. Not tasteful. Track 5 is with David Liebman on the soprano sax. The strings are wrong again, but the rest works for me. The piano and percussions are beautiful. On track 6 and Molvaer reappears. Molvaer makes this beautiful composition work. The samples of Jan Bang are a great addition as the percussion of Jon Christensen. The strings do nothing for this track. On track 7 the strings of the orchestra are for the first time an addition. I like this almost classical piece with only bass and strings, although it is what to sentimental.Track 8 is a rearangement for bass and drums of a joni Mitchell song. It is nicely done. Track 9 is with Carsten Dahl on piano. This is beautiful piece. Dahl makes it work. Track 10 is with Molvaer and is of good quality. Track 11 is Danielsson with the orchestra and is full of bad sentiment.

Track 12 is the bonus track and is a written by Christensen and Danielsson. I like every note and sample. Molvaer and Bang make it work....again.



This album (like this review) is somewhat of a puzzle. Really good music coexist here with bad muzak. Molvaer seems to leave his mark in track 1,6,10 and 11. It's more his music then anything else. Carsten Dahl also leaves a big impression. The tracks without Dahl or Molvaer are full of bad sentiment. Sentiment I find hard to swallow. The percussionwork on this album is the one thing that acts on a constant high level.



I saw these compositions on the North sea Jazz Festival 2005. Danielsson couldn't manage to take things to a higher level. Not even with the help of Bobo Stenson.



A lot of the sentiment is wrongly arranged. This makes the music have less instead of more. Loose track 4 and the Orchestra and FJB/O-music might give a honest 4 star appreciation.



FJB/O!-music 2006"