On Carrousel, Levan Tskhadadze (Clarinet) and Izhar Elias (Guitar) play their instruments with an incredible transparency, refined articulation and subtle musical colors. It is their own story they create.

The album is exclusively available in Stereo DSD 512, DSD 256 and DSD 128 from NativeDSD.

Their music speaks as if they are talking with each other through their instruments. Each piece in this album has its own character and demands a different approach. The carrousel is chosen as symbol for this diversity.

This album, with it’s wide stylistic span, yet cohesive musical end result, is proof of this musicians mastery. And thanks to the sublime sound quality, every single inflection is audible.

Clarinet and guitar is an instrumental combination one seldom hears. A puzzling fact considering that the clarinet’s timbre can be light and intimate, therefore very well suited to the sound of the guitar.

When Levan and Izhar played on a Dutch radio show they first heard Carrousel performed by it’s Composer and Jazz Pianist Rembrandt Frerichs. They knew instantly that the piece would work for clarinet and guitar. Rembrandt Frerichs happily agreed to rearrange ”Carousel” for the duo resulting in a unique intimate arrangement of his composition.

Arranging pieces for clarinet and guitar requires a certain outside the box way of thinking. For example lots of pieces for the clarinet are written in B flat, while A major is one of the most common tonalities for the guitar. By tuning the guitar strings up a semitone one can play pieces in B flat while still benefit the use of open strings. Rigoletto’s fantasy (track 4) and the variations on the Carnival of Venice (track 8) where played in this way, by using a different guitar.

Levan Tskhadadze, Clarinet
Izhar Elias, Guitar