the ground beneath our feet The Knights & Eric Jacobsen

• Steve Reich (b. 1936)
• 1 Duet for Two Violins and Strings 06:03
• Johann Sebastian Bach (1685-1750): Concerto for Violin & Oboe in C Minor, BWV 1060R
• 2 I. Allegro 04:42
• 3 II. Adagio 04:31
• 4 III. Allegro 03:22
• Igor Stravinsky (1882-1971): Concerto in E-flat, “Dumbarton Oaks”
• 5 I. Tempo giusto 04:49
• 6 II. Allegretto 04:22
• 7 III. Con moto 06:05
• Colin Jacobsen (b. 1978) / Siamak Aghaei (b. 1974): Concerto for Santur, Violin & Orchestra
• 8 I. Prelude - Invocation of a Bakhshi 03:31
• 9 II. Part 1 - Twisting, the Vine is Strengthened 03:56
• 10 III. Part 2 - The Circle tends Inwards... 07:12
• 11 IV. Part 3 - And Outwards... 11:40
• The Knights
• 12 the ground beneath our feet 15:08
• Total Runtime 01:15:21

Info for the ground beneath our feet

Das „Abenteuer“-Orchester von New York: The Knights mit ihrem Debüt-Album the ground beneath your feet. Der „Big Apple“ ist seit Gershwins und Bernsteins Zeiten ein Pflaster für die unerschrockene Verbindung von E-Musik und Jazz, von Show und Avantgarde.

Nun hat New York ein Orchester hervorgebracht, das mit bewundernswerter Kühnheit die verschiedensten Repertoirebereiche verbindet und damit nicht nur das Publikum, sondern viele prominente Gastsolisten begeistert. Sein Name: The Knights. Jetzt legt das Orchester sein erstes Warner Classics-Album vor: the ground beneath our feet.

Alte Musik so spielen, als sei sie gestern entstanden – Neue Musik so, dass sie einen sofort begeistert: Das ist nach eigener Aussage das Motto des Orchesters, das in seinem Warner-Debüt epochenübergreifend zu einem Streifzug durch die Welt der Kammerkonzerte einlädt: von Steve Reich über Bach bis zu eigens (auch gemeinsam!) für The Knights komponierten Werken und Strawinskys neoklassizistischem Meisterstück Dumbarton Oaks.

Diese Komposition erlebte 1938 ihre Premiere am Ort dieses Namens bei Washington. 75 Jahre später spielte The Knights hier live dieses Album ein. Die überragende Präzision, Spielfreude und Frische, die man hier jeder Note anmerkt, hat The Knights eine solche Hochachtung eingetragen, dass sich Größen wie Yo-Yo Ma, Itzhak Perlman, der Banjovirtuose Béla Fleck, der Geiger Gil Shaham oder der Saxofonist Joshua Redman mit ihnen zu Projekten zusammentaten

Gegründet wurde The Knights von den Brüdern Colin und Eric Jacobsen – der eine Komponist und Geiger, der andere Dirigent und Cellist – bei Kammermusiktreffen in New Yorker Musikerkreisen.

Christina Courtin, vocals
Siamak Aghaei, santur (Stravinsky Concerto)
Colin Jacobsen, violin (Stravinsky Concerto)
Johnny Gandelsman, violin (J.S. Bach Concerto BWV1060R)
Adam Hollander, oboe (J.S. Bach Concerto BWV1060R)
Ariana Kim, violin (Reich Duet)
Guillaume Pirard, violin (Reich Duet)

The Knights
are an orchestral collective, flexible in size and repertory, dedicated to transforming the concert experience. Engaging listeners and defying boundaries with programs that showcase the players’ roots in the classical tradition and passion for musical discovery, The Knights have, as the New Yorker observes, “become one of Brooklyn’s sterling cultural products...known far beyond the borough for their relaxed virtuosity and expansive repertory.”

The Knights’ 2014-15 season kicks off with a performance at Brooklyn’s Roulette, marking the first of a series of New York City residencies to be undertaken by the group over the next three seasons with support from the Andrew W. Mellon Foundation. Other highlights include the Caramoor Fall Festival, where The Knights serve as curators and give three performances featuring saxophonist Joshua Redman and violinist Gil Shaham; the ensemble’s debut at Carnegie Hall in the New York premiere of the Steven Stucky/Jeremy Denk opera The Classical Style; a collaboration with The National’s Bryce Dessner, broadcast on WNYC’s New Sounds Live; and a residency at the University of Georgia. In the new year, The Knights tour the East Coast with banjo virtuoso Béla Fleck before embarking on a European tour with soprano Dawn Upshaw, featuring performances in Salzburg, Baden-Baden, Darmstadt, and at Vienna’s legendary Musikverein.

Recent season highlights include The Knights’ debut at the Tanglewood and Ojai Music Festivals, and collaborations with Yo-Yo Ma, Itzhak Perlman, Dawn Upshaw, Jeremy Denk, the Mark Morris Dance Group, the Joshua Redman Quartet, santur player Siamak Aghaei, and pipa virtuoso Wu Man, and the creation of the ensemble’s first original group composition. Recordings include the ground beneath our feet, a live album released in January 2015 on Warner Classics featuring Stravinsky's Dumbarton Oaks and original works by members of the ensemble, an all-Beethoven disk released in 2013 on Sony Classical (the orchestra's third project with the label), and 2012's "smartly programmed" (NPR) A Second of Silence on Ancalagon Records.

The Knights evolved from late-night chamber music reading parties with friends at the home of violinist Colin Jacobsen and cellist Eric Jacobsen. The Jacobsen brothers, who are also founding members of the string quartet Brooklyn Rider, serve as artistic directors of The Knights, with Eric Jacobsen as conductor. In December 2012, the Jacobsens were selected from among the nation’s top visual, performing, media, and literary artists to receive a prestigious United States Artists Fellowship.

The Knights’ roster boasts remarkably diverse talents, including composers, arrangers, singer-songwriters, and improvisers, who bring a range of cultural influences to the group, from jazz and klezmer to pop and indie rock music. The unique camaraderie within the group retains the intimacy and spontaneity of chamber music in performance.

Booklet for the ground beneath our feet