Summarize this content to 2000 words in 6 paragraphs in Arabic Unlock the Editor’s Digest for freeRoula Khalaf, Editor of the FT, selects her favourite stories in this weekly newsletter.With a CV that straddles rock, classical and film soundtracks, the composer-guitarist Bryce Dessner is hard to pin down. This album of solo pieces, while fundamentally “classical”, still presents many shades of his musical style, as the kind of piece he writes for one instrument may not be reflected in any of the others.Dessner himself takes the stage in two short pieces for guitar, Francis and Walls. These are in the best tradition of guitar solos, the latter reminiscent of the Spanish guitar masters, and it is good to have Dessner performing in person.Half a dozen guest instrumentalists join him. Prime among them is violinist Pekka Kuusisto, who invited Dessner to his festival in Finland and was rewarded with Ornament and Crime, three panels of closely woven music with minimalist leanings (Dessner has collaborated with Reich and Glass in the past). Kuusisto plays them with his customary grit.The two most substantial pieces are Tuusula, a searching exploration of a solo cello’s expressive possibilities played by Anastasia Kobekina, and On a Wire for harp. This latter stands apart from the rest; harpist Lavinia Meijer has been multi-tracked, creating a delicate waterfall of harps tumbling over each other.The other musicians include Nadia Sirota, who plays the two-part Delphica 1 and 2 for viola, and percussionist Colin Currie, whose Tromp Miniature recalls Reich at his most gentle. Finally, two loving lullabies for small children, played by pianist Katia Labèque, soothe the senses.★★★★☆‘Solos’ is released by Sony Classical
