Graham Fitkin - Loosening

This double album for Signum Records features Fitkin's piano quartet Touch, recorded by Clare with the Sacconi Quartet and violinist Darragh Morgan.

Each of the five works on this album has the string quartet at its core and every one includes its own additional soloist. The string quartet is a homogenous group, steeped in history and tradition, in which timbrally similar instruments create a well-honed sound through trusted communication and shared purpose. Each of these works has clearly defined roles for the two protagonists, quartet and soloist. Approaches often evolve - perhaps the quartet splits to focus more on individual constituents or, conversely, subsume the incomer into a larger group.

Four of the five works have never been recorded before, and the fifth is a new arrangement (also never recorded).

The album was released in full on the 12 July 2024 and is available to stream here. It features the following works:

• Loosening, with Simon Haram, soprano saxophone
• Slow, with Ruth Wall and Graham Fitkin, organs
• Distil, with Joby Burgess, percussion
• Touch, with Clare Hammond, piano
• Recur, with Ruth Wall, Harp