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"Production standards are reliably exquisite: one expects nothing less from this source ... the duo settle for relaxed, vaguely ethnic, New Age background music in which one piece segues imperceptibly into the next and rough edges are smoothed away ... listeners in search of a mood of limpid repose could do a great deal worse. Lechner and her partner are seriously accomplished and sensitive players." - Gramophone "Five Stars ... what is most remarkable about this recording, by turns melancholically beautiful and mischievously playful, is how diverse yet homogeneous it is ... filled with the unexpected ... dark and dancing, mysterious and implicitly beautiful, Lechner and Couturier capture Moderato Cantabile's meaning ... with unfailing empathy to create a deeper understanding of this music than words could ever articulate." - All About Jazz With this release for ECM, German cellist Anja Lechner and French pianist Franҫois Couturier debut their duo collaboration on which they approach the music from their individual vantage points. Lechner is a classical soloist with an uncommon interest in improvisation while Couturier is a jazz musician travelling ever further away from jazz. They present their own arrangements of works by three fascinating outsiders from the margins of music history: G.I. Gurdjieff, Komitas and Federico Mompou, composers who reveal influences from the east, both philosophically and related to folk traditions and religious music. Lechner’s cello assumes almost a singer’s role in these pieces, exploring the strong melodies. Franҫois Couturier’s compositions function as both contrasting and complementary elements.