The two twin Dessner brothers are always up to something. These days, Aaron continues to work with the biggest pop star in decades, while Bryce continues to operate in the classical and film-score zones, at least when they’re not too bush with their band. Bryce’s soundtracking work recently led him to collaborate with Bruce Springsteen, and now he’s signed with Sony Music Masterworks and announced a new classical album.
Later this summer, Bryce Dessner will release his new album Solos. It’s a collection of instrumental works that he wrote for different musicians, and it features his compositions being played by people like cellist Anastasia Kobekina, violinist Pekka Kuusisto, harpist Lavinia Meijer, violist Nadia Sirota, and percussionist Colin Currie, as well as Dessner himself on guitar. Here’s what Dessner says about the project:
Writing a solo piece for me is always a great challenge and joy, as you have all the personality and talent of the player plus the physicality and resonance of the solo instrument, a bit like a Shakespearean monologue. These solo pieces for violin, viola, cello, harp, percussion, guitar and piano represent many years of my compositional process. When I began composing, I mainly wrote solo pieces for myself to play and I have always loved unaccompanied instrumental music — including the solo Bach lute and cello suites and the Renaissance lute fantasies of John Dowland, which I used to play myself on the classical guitar. These pieces of mine are often written like poems, where the musical language itself dictates the form and evolution of the piece, and were often opportunities for me to explore more deeply my relationship to the instruments they were composed for. They also represent in each case close collaborative relationships and friendships I have been very lucky to develop with the incredible musicians who play them. Katia, Pekka, Anastasia, Nadia, Lavinia and Colin are all exceptional artists who brought so much of their amazing talent to these recordings.
Today, Dessner shares “Lullaby For Jacques Et Brune,” a short and pretty piece played by the French pianist Katia Labèque. Check it out below.
Solos is out 8/23 on Sony Music Masterworks.
