Quarterly Critic’s Choice
The best and most interesting new releases of the previous three months are awarded a place on the Quarterly Critic’s Choice. Evaluation criteria are artistic quality, repertoire value, presentation, and sound quality. From 2014 onward, the Long Lists are stored directly with each Quarterly Critic’s Choice.
Crossover Productions
Masako Ohta & Matthias Lindermayr: Nozomi
LP/CD, Squama Recordings SQM028 (Alive)
Masako Ohta and Matthias Lindermayr met six years ago at an award ceremony in Munich. Since then, the sensitive Japanese pianist and the airy-toned German trumpeter have grown into an established duo; this is their second album. »Nozomi« (Hope) proves immediately captivating, with a dreamlike sound world that sits between chamber jazz and nocturne, and a striking economy of means: from a minimum of notes (sometimes a small melody, sometimes a handful of chords), a beguiling flow of sound emerges, again and again – and with it, maximum magic. For the jury: Christoph Irrgeher