Six of the best from the ECM label’s cool catalogue
For many music fans the German ECM record label is the epitome of cool, with its crystal-clear production ethos, austere monochrome artwork and an array of boundary pushing artists.
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Recently I was asked to pick some of my favourite ECM records and say why they mean so much to me. Although it started out as a jazz label, it has widened into the classical market, featuring premieres of some cutting-edge contemporary “serious music” composers like Arvo Part, Steve Reich and John Adams, as well as bringing us plenty of top-notch world music and film soundtracks.
These are my top six.
CLASSICAL
1 Sir Andras Schiff: Bach’s Goldberg Variations (2003)
This wasn’t the Austro-British pianist’s first survey of Bach’s great masterpiece. Many considered his 1986 Decca recording to be the best since Glenn Gould’s two readings in the 1950s and ’80s – some felt it surpassed them. When Schiff signed with ECM in the early 2000s he obviously thought that after 20 years he had more to say about these glorious variations. Running this ECM gem a close second are Schiff’s complete Beethoven sonatas set and last year’s Schubert sonatas and impromptus performed on his 1820 fortepiano, giving a fascinating insight into how the composer would have played and heard them.
2 Officium: Jan Garbarek and The Hilliard Ensemble (1994)
The British a cappella group’s performance of a collection of hymns, chants and songs from medieval and Renaissance times mixed with the Norwegian saxophonist’s atmospheric improvisations on both tenor and soprano instruments is a revelation and broke new ground at a time when crossing genres was less commonplace. They returned in 2010 for Officium Novum, bringing to light sacred music from Armenia and the Turkish Empire alongside contemporary works, including a hymn by Estonian composer and ECM favourite, Arvo Part.
3 Keith Jarrett: Shostakovich’s 24 Preludes and Fugues (1992)
This was the first classical ECM album I bought and it has remained a firm favourite, despite Jarrett’s forays into works by Bach, Handel, Mozart and Samuel Barber. Bach was a logical choice for Jarrett’s first classical venture, but Shostakovich’s preludes and fugues were directly inspired by the earlier composer’s massive The Well Tempered Clavier. They sit remarkably comfortably under Jarrett’s fingers.
JAZZ
1 Keith Jarrett: The Koln Concert (1975)
If Mike Oldfield’s Tubular Bells put Richard Branson’s Virgin Records label on the map Keith Jarrett’s in-the-moment Koln Concert did the same for ECM founder and producer Manfred Eicher. It became an instant jazz classic, alongside Miles Davis’s Kind Of Blue, Dave Brubeck’s Timeout and John Coltrane’s A Love Supreme. Classical music fans loved it as well, so much so that a sheet music edition reproducing every unpremeditated note had piano students lining up for a copy. The opening moments are like sunlight flooding a room.
2 Chick Corea and Gary Burton: Crystal Silence (1972)
Pianist Chick Corea and vibraphonist extraordinaire Gary Burton first got together when they were the only musicians to turn up for a jam session at a jazz festival. Their uncanny empathy – not to mention phenomenal technique – was immediately apparent and led to this their first recording. Señor Mouse and the title track are adrenaline-fuelled highlights.
3 Bill Frisell: Epistrophy (2019)
US guitarist Bill Frisell has recorded 11 albums with ECM. Pick any of them and you won’t be disappointed by this musical magpie whose repertoire covers everything from Hank Williams to Thelonius Monk, Americana to the Beatles, his own stuff and everything in between. He makes each song uniquely his. Every note produced on his guitar – electric or acoustic – is “right” and precisely placed. I particularly love Epistrophy, nine duets with young bassist Thomas Newman. There’s wonderful chemistry here.