ONDAS – the new program by Anja Lechner, cello and François Couturier, piano

 

Over the course of their twenty-year collaboration as a duo and in the Tarkovsky Quartet, they have developed a highly distinctive musical language, shaped by free improvisation, original compositions and arrangements of themes that resonate deeply with them. The German cellist and the French pianist not only explore the atmospheric and expressive connections between distant musical sources, but also weave these far reaching influences together through free interplay, creating new musical forms in the process. Their new recording for ECM Records will be released in spring 2027.

 

“The two musicians have elevated the art of listening to one another to a remarkable level. They never play a note too many; in improvised passages, their contributions are sparse yet incisive.”                              Hans-Jürgen Linke, FAZ

 

ANJA LECHNER The New York Times called her a “bright star” in the firmament of historical music in their review of her solo album Bach Abel Hume (2024), which contains her interpretation of the cello suites –. At the same time, she continues to expand her repertoire toward the contemporary canon. Numerous works have been dedicated to her. She has also ventured into improvised music, in her collaboration with pianist François Couturier, with Argentine bandoneon player Dino Saluzzi as well as with Sissel Vera Pettersen, Marilyn Mazur, Nils Petter Molvaer and others. Anja Lechner’s work has been captured on dozens of albums for ECM Records. Since 2025, she has been touring with the Tunisian oud player Anouar Brahem, performing music from his album After the Last Sky. She lives and teaches in Munich.

 

FRANÇOIS COUTURIER Regarded as a leading pianist in the border zone between contemporary jazz and New Music François Couturier spent many years with the Tunisian oud master Anouar Brahem, and has played also with musicians including John McLaughlin, Louis Sclavis and Dominique Pifarély. In 2006 he founded the Tarkovsky Quartet, writing music which references and explores the associative world of  Russian filmmaker Andrej Tarkovsky. The group has made three albums for ECM Records.  Since 2012 he has also been playing in duo with cellist Anja Lechner. François Couturier has been described as a magician of melody and timbre, with a gift for the subtleties of intuitive design. He lives in Paris. 

A variety of projects with musicians of many countries reflects Anja Lechners talent for sensitive interpretation and improvisation. In each of them, her unmistakable, warm and clear sound is always evident. Concert tours and festival appearances have taken her through Europe, Latin America, USA and Korea. Anja Lechner has premiered many works dedicated to her, by composers including Arvo Pärt, Valentin Silvestrov, Tigran Mansurian, Tõnu Kõrvits and Dino Saluzzi. At ECM she has made numerous recordings with, among others, the Tallinn Chamber Orchestra under the conductor Tõnu Kaljuste, with the violinist Patricia Kopatchinskaja, the Rosamunde quartet, the Argentine bandoneon master Dino Saluzzi, the guitarist Pablo Márquez, the Tarkovsky Quartet and with François Couturier. In 2024 she has released her first solo album „BACH ABEL HUME“. In 2025 she started touring as a member of the new Anouar Brahem Quartet and his new program „After The Last Sky“. She lives and teaches in Munich.

 

C´est assez rare d´avoir un disque qui peut nous emporter, pour violoncelle seul. La prise de son est très belle, les pièces sont variées, et on trouve, en plus, des chef-d´œuvres du répertoire. C´est une merveilleuse musicienne qu´on découvre ici. Rodolphe Bruneau-Boulmier, France Musique (‘Disque du jour’)

 

Lechner’s playing is communicative. The Hume pieces are engagingly rhetorical and capricious. The Arpeggio and Adagio of Abel come from one of his finest sonatas and are declaimed with concentrated introspection. In the Bach Suites lightly bowed articulation and conversationally punctuated dialogue do not disappoint. Nicholas Anderson, BBC Music Magazine (Five stars!)