Tord Gustavsen & Trygve Seim

Two of the most prominent Norwegian exponents of the "Nordic sound" come to Heidelberg for their first duo concert. In October, two musicians whose art is defined by concentration, sonic culture, and spirituality will meet in the Heiliggeistkirche.

Gustavsen is among jazz pianists with a distinctly recognizable style, marked by exceptional touch and technique. His music, which he himself has called "small hymns", is characterized by intimacy and depth. Trygve Seim developed on the saxophone an unmistakable, elegiac tone between jazz and classical music - once inspired by Jan Garbarek's "Eventyr".

On the intensity of this interplay, SZ critic Andrian Kreye wrote after a joint concert: Gustavsen can shape the tones "so finely", as if playing the strings with "horsehair bows", while Seim draws from simple motifs an "enormous presence". In "Piano-Pianissimo", the two musicians literally "take the audience's breath away".