ALEX SIMU QUINTET - Echoes Of Bucharest (Sealed) (CD)

Echoes of Bucharest, the new album published by BERTHOLD records in March 2019, provides an uplifting musical journey into the world of the Romanian born clarinettist Alex Simu. Caught between Europe and Asia, Romania has been influenced by both Ottoman and Western musical traditions. "When I was living in Bucharest" he says, "I wasn't aware of all the organic connections. The urban folk players that created a mixture of all this, as well as classical composers, were my main influences when growing up. I heard street music, people playing at weddings and parties, and then in the concert hall the music of composers such as George Enescu, or Byzantine music in the church." Simu weaves these ideas into his compositions