Magne Thormodsæter is an ECM-alumni, bassist, and in-demand session musician. On L'arte della persuasione, he fuses two worlds with the full force of a beautiful blow. A 35-minute story told in five acts, it pits a high-caliber classical ensemble against a jazz group. The result is captivatingly unclassifiable.
Although Thormodsæter fully composed L'arte della persuasione, the score also provides the musicians with permissions to act spontaneously. The work will thus never sound the exact same way twice. This inner tension was amplified by the process: All musicians only saw the piece on the day of recording.
“I honestly didn't know what would happen,” Thormodsæter admits, but the result ended up sounding entirely organic. Gradually, the players turned into creators themselves - making the piece “their own.”