Jon Balke - Magnetic Works 1993-2001 / 2CD

This 2-CD anthology, assembled by Jon Balke, contains music from a trilogy of albums made in the period 1993 to 2001 by the Magnetic North Orchestra, drawing upon the same core of musicians, with Audun Kleive and Anders Jormin as the ensemble’s pulsating engine and Morten Halle, Per Jørgensen and, later, Arve Henriksen as the leading melodic improvising players. The integration of string players was a key element of the music, and the MNO worked with a high profiled line of musicians. Balke: “My agenda after leaving Oslo 13 was to work my way around the overwhelming big band sound as the defining characteristic of a large improvising ensemble. Inspired by Gil Evans, Claus Ogerman and Oum Khalsoum, I saw the possibility of blending my favourite musicians into a sound that could wrap itself around my compositional ideas.” The compilation includes music from Magnetic North’s ECM albums “Further” (1517) and “Kyanos” (1822) albums as well as nine tracks from the album “Solarized”, previously issued by Emarcy and long out-of-print.