”European Standards”
Jan Lundgren, piano & fender rhodes /
Mattias Svensson, bass /
Zoltan Csörsz Jr drums & percussion
ACT Music
Recorded October 2-7 2008 at Artesuono Recording Studios, Cavalicco (Udine), Italy
Pianist Jan Lundgren has always been good for a surprise, beginning with his decision to opt for a career playing the piano – at the time he was considered to be one of Sweden´s most promising young tennis prospects....It was even more surprising when in 1997 Lundgren came out with his CD "Swedish Standards", an incredibly atmospheric and tasteful reworking of the rich Swedish folklore tradition.... The album was a sensational success in Sweden; it received a whole slew of awards, and even stormed its way up the pop charts.
"European Standards" represents the logical next step, a trip through ten European countries, from the German-speaking to the Romantic language countries on to the Slavic lands. Each one is represented by a "typical" song from that country´s tradition, some very popular, others virtually unknown.
It is not just the convincing and surprising repertoire that makes this project stand out from other similar set-ups; above all it is Lundgren´s amazing ability to masterfully shape the original material – material that couldn´t be more diverse – into a homogeneous, perfectly flowing coherent album. Over the years his personal style has become unmistakeable, an economical, feather-light, and yet thematically expansive way of playing that reshapes the various constituent elements in an ingeniously original manner. He is ideally complimented here by the likewise lyrically grounded, constantly driving rhytmic play of his two companions, Mattias Svensson on bass and
Zoltan Csörsz Jr on drums.
The trio is so perfectly attuned that the listener does not hear how difficult it was to put this music together. At any rate, Jan Lundgren has once again come up with an especially enjoyable album. But then coming from him, perhaps this isn´t much of surprise.
