DESCRIPTION:
MUSIC FOR A WHILE - "CANTICLES OF WINTER"
TORA AUGESTAD, vocals
STIAN CARSTENSEN, accordion & pedal steel
MATHIAS EICK, trumpet
MARTIN TAXT, tuba
PÅL HAUSKEN, drums & percussion

Music for a while, lead by Norway's uncrowned queen of cabaret, Tora Augestad, released their long-awaited second album with the ambiguous title Graces that refrain to high acclaim in 2012. Now they release their new album with startling winter songs with shimmers of christmas: Canticles of Winter. As leading lady for Music for a while, Augestad fronts a dream team of Norwegian jazz musicians: Stian Carstensen (Farmers Market), Mathias Eick (Jaga Jazzist, Manu Katché), Martin Taxt (Trondheim Jazz Orchestra, Koboku Senju) and Pål Hausken (In the Country, Susanna). What particularly characterizes Music for a while, is the group´s personal, organic and creative treatment of the material. On their critically acclaimed first album, Weill Variations, the band did original and fresh versions of Kurt Weill´s immortal music. Graces that refrain features fearless "cover versions" of compositions in classical music: from John Dowland to Poulenc.
Canticles of Winter mixes melancholic winter tunes by Schubert with Baroque treasures from the great masters; Purcell, Bach & Händel. The Anglo-Saxon Carol tradition is featured with songs like "Wexford Carol", "Coventry Carol" and as heard here: "In the bleak midwinter" by Harold Darke.
Enjoy!