Hi-Res Downloads

88.2kHz/24-bit, FLAC; ACT Records ACT 9812-2 (supplied by www.highresaudio.com)

Don’t panic: this may be Euro-jazz – how else do you explain a lineup of trumpet, piano and accordians? – but it’s both persuasive and highly approachable, at least when you acclimatise to the slightly unfamiliar tonalities here. Yes, there are times when a conventional rhythm section wouldn’t go amiss, for example in the take on Erik Satie’s Gnossienne No 1, but it’s clear how well the three musicians work together on this, their second Mare Nostrum outing, recorded some seven years after the original. It’s an interesting mix of Northern and Southern European styles – trumpeter Fresu is from Sardinia, Galliano is French and pianist Lundgren Swedish – but the light and shade work well together, whether in the original tunes or the trio’s take on a Monteverdi madrigal, and is well served by a fine recording. AE

Sound Quality: 85%

Hi-Fi News Lab Report

All the tracks here have a spurious tone at ~19.2kHz rising some 20-30dB above the (low) noise floor – flyback from an old CRT monitor perhaps? It’s obscured here by the extended harmonics of the delightful sounding accordina. PM