Home » Jazz Articles » Magnus Granberg
Jazz Articles about Magnus Granberg
About Magnus Granberg
Instrument: Composer / conductor
Magnus Granberg: Holde Traume, kehret wieder!
by John Eyles
When Swedish musician and composer Magnus Granberg's first album on Another Timbre, Ist Gefallen In Den Schnee, was released in 2012, it was credited to Skogen, the nine-(or seven-or ten-) member ensemble in which he played piano (prepared or not) and/or clarinet. It was not until his fifth release on the label, How Deep is the Ocean, How High is the Sky (2015) that Granberg was credited by name. As those album titles suggest, Granberg has often been inspired by ...
Continue ReadingMagnus Granberg: Evening Star, Vesper Bell
by John Eyles
This album is the tenth on Another Timbre (AT) featuring Magnus Granberg's music, making him the composer who has appeared most often on the label, his first release having been Ist gefallen in den Schnee in 2012. Ironically, Evening Star, Vesper Bell also marks the first time Granberg has recorded with Apartment House, who have practically become the AT house band, this being their twenty-eighth appearance on the label. Granberg has also released albums on other labels, most notably three ...
Continue ReadingMagnus Granberg: How Lonely Sits the City? (version for quartet)
by John Eyles
In 2020 the Japanese Meenna label took the unprecedented step of releasing two different versions of Magnus Granberg's composition Come Down to Earth Where Sorrow Dwelleth within months of one another, the first performed by the American quartet Ordinary Affects, the second by a Japanese quartet of sho, koto, prepared piano and no-input mixing board; both versions were very well received. In March 2022, Another Timbre released How Lonely Sits the City?, recorded in June 2021, and played by the ...
Continue ReadingMagnus Granberg: Night Will Fade and Fall Apart
by John Eyles
Commissioned by Sweden's Thanatosis in December 2020, and written for the six-member Tya Ensemble in 2021, Magnus Granberg's composition "Night Will Fade and Fall Apart" was inspired by two older pieces, like some of his past compositions. So, the new composition's rhythmic materials were extracted from "Tres gentil cuer" and "En l'amoureux vergier" by the late fourteenth century French composer Solage, while its harmonic materials were loosely derived from the 1940's popular song and jazz standard "My Foolish ...
Continue ReadingMagnus Granberg: Let Pass My Weary Guiltless Ghost
by John Eyles
Some eight years after his Another Timbre debut, Ist Gefallen In Der Schnee (2012), the good news for followers of Swedish composer-performer Marcus Granberg is that Let Pass My Weary Guiltless Ghost--his ninth release on the label in as many years--is one of his best yet. Further good news is that this album features a ten-member Skogen, the group which has performed on four of the previous eight. Recorded in Stockholm in November 2019, this time out the group is ...
Continue ReadingMagnus Granberg: Es schwindelt mir, es brennt mein Eingeweide
by John Eyles
In recent years Magnus Granberg has become so prevalent that it is surprising to note his first CD did not come out until 2008, a limited-edition release with the ensemble Skogen. After a stuttering start, recordings came regularly after his first Another Timbre recording, Ist Gefallen in Den Schnee (2012), attracted glowing reviews. Now, Es schwindelt mir, es brennt mein Eingeweide is Granberg's seventh Another Timbre album in as many years. Across the previous six, he has employed ensembles ranging ...
Continue ReadingJurg Frey & Magnus Granberg: Early to Late
by John Eyles
Jürg Frey and Magnus Granberg are two of the musicians who feature most frequently in the Another Timbre catalogue. So, when the label commissioned two new works in 2015, it was no surprise that they were the chosen composers. Performed by Ensemble Grizzana, including a stellar line-up of AT regulars alongside Frey and Granberg themselves, the resulting pieces were premiered at the Huddersfield Contemporary Music Festival at the end of November 2017, receiving a prolonged ovation and rave reviews. Fortunately, ...
Continue Reading
