Hi-Res Downloads

96kHz/24-bit, FLAC; Neuklang NCD4165 (supplied by www.highresaudio.com)

This contemplative, introspective collection by saxophonist David Haudrechy and pianist Grégoire Aguilar is what classical composers would have called ‘variations on a theme’. The key to what lies ahead is all contained in the opener, ‘Melancholia’. In the ensuing tracks, the two musicians do their best to find out how many ways they can plough the same plot of ground, but it’s a refined and delicate kind of ploughing. Lost Lake would serve well as background music for a moody French film, in which two obsessed lovers quarrel and copulate until they’ve exhausted their enthusiasm for both. Late in the programme, the curtains of a shadowy chamber are thrown open with ‘Polaroid’ and ‘Charade’ and a welcome bit of sunlight streams in. Progression from darkness to light is this album’s dramatic arc. You’d never know from sampling isolated tracks. Recommended for late, late nights. BW

Sound Quality: 80%

Hi-Fi News Lab Report

Produced at Bauer Studios, Ludwigsburg, by Philipp Heck and Eva Bauer-Oppelland, this duet of piano and soprano saxophone looks like a genuine 96kHz rendering, probably from analogue tape (or from slightly noisy mics!).  PM