Lucian Ban / Mat Maneri - Transylvanian Concert

“Transylvanian Concert” marks an ECM debut for Romanian pianist-composer Lucian Ban and a welcome return for US violist Mat Maneri, in his 9th appearance for the label. The album documents a spontaneously organised performance in Targu Mures, in the region where Lucian Ban grew up. A large, highly-attentive audience follows Ban and Maneri through a programme of their self-penned ballads, blues, hymns and abstract improvisations, plus Mat’s chilling solo performance of the spiritual “Nobody Knows The Trouble I’ve Seen”, the whole informed by the twin traditions of jazz and European chamber music. Rain, drumming upon the stained-glass windows of the Culture Palace, offers occasional melancholy commentary. In all, a unique and compelling set.