Gwen Cresens - Gwen Cresens Quartet: Eclectica (2020)

Our German car, the Korean TV, the Bolivian coffee beans and our fruit and vegetables preferably locally. The ice cream comes from Italy, and the Swedish seat is next to the Mechelen cupboard. Everything belongs together, indivisible and unique. Everything is one. Accordionist Gwen Cresens, for example, collects his material eclectically. In music, as he approaches them, globalization is a starting point. A condition.

Musicians such as Bach, Mozart and Beethoven were masterful improvisers. The score was the starting point, the music was then created from freedom and talent. With his new quartet, Cresens joins this tradition by entering into a dialogue with three jazz musicians of the most beautiful allooi: pianist Bart Van Caenegem (De Frivolous Raspberry, Brussels Jazz Orchestra), double bass player Janos Bruneel (Jack Van Poll Trio, Marjan Van Rompay Group) and drummer Matthias Dewaele (Stéphane Mercier, De Looze / Machtel / Dewaele Trio) who learned the craft from the best in New York. Together they perform Cresens' compositions and exciting interpretations by Bach and Grieg, film music by Laurel & Hardy and exciting versions of pop songs. Accordion is central, the instrument of many cultures, that's how Gwen Cresens approaches the music. The word "genre" becomes superfluous.
The tango and false musette are curiously lurking around the corner, as is always the case with Cresens. All in one.

Accordion ambassador Gwen Cresens feels at home on the most diverse stages. He stood with Arno, Raymond van het Groenewoud, KommilFoo, Les Ballets C de la B and the Brussels Jazz Orchestra.
Gwen was curator of the Bruges Airbag Festival, edition 2018, toured successfully with his first solo recital and was nominated as best soloist for the Classical Music Awards.
In 2018 he released his first solo CD with Brussels Philharmonic as a soloist in collaboration with Warner Classics and Klara.
His renditions of the concertia by Piazzolla and Galliano were praised at home and abroad. The CD was for weeks at No. 1 in the Ultratop Classical.

The Gwen Cresens Quartet experienced its baptism of fire for 10,000 spectators during Odegand (Festival of Flanders, Ghent) and performed for a sold-out Red Hall during Klara in the Singel.

Tracklist:

01. Peer Gynt, Suite No. 1, Op. 46: III. Anitra's Dance
02. Grab the Deed
03. Apanhei-te cavaquinho
04. La Ballade Irlandaise
05. Prelude No. 2 in C Minor, BWV 847
06. Prelude No. 3 in C-Sharp Major, BWV 848
07. Danny Boy (Londonderry Air)
08. Old Friend
09. Chop Chop
10. Cheguei
11. Libertango
12. Plaisir d'amour
13. Nobody Likes an Angry Bunny