The name of Nordic composer, pianist, keyboardist and film scorer Christian Balvig has been for quite some time a big buzz, within not only a classical music field, but also a more pop and rock orientated too, given his recent collaborations with Danish collectives like Efterklang, When Saints Go Machine or Mew, just to mention some of the bands Balvig has been working with.
Fresh from scoring a Danish TV series called Cry Wolf (Ulven Kommer), broadcasted in more than 30 countries worldwide, plus a short movie called Eternal Father, shortlisted for the 2025 Oscar ceremony, Balvig has found himself very much inspired and evidently at ease, lately, to work on pieces that would still have a strong cinematic appeal in his music, given the success of the aforementioned soundtracks that he scored in the recent past.
This inspired flow continues, undoubtedly, also on Balvig's new album, called Find And You Will Seek, in which the composer was supported by a rather exciting string group called Ensemble Hermes, who, in terms of creating atmospheric music, are a perfect match for Christian Balvig's vision of the new album.
Find And You Will Seek is not only Balvig and Ensemble Hermes' album title, but it's also the name of the main instrumental suite on which the record is centred on.
Divided in six movements, the Find And You Will Seek suite covers the first part of the album and feels like an imaginary journey into the unknown. Balvig's piano playing frames beautifully the different stages of said journey, creating a sonic wave that reflects moods, fears and hopes of the protagonist, with the Ensemble Hermes completing the harmonic structure of the whole suite in an inspired and occasionally imaginative way.
The second part of Find And You Will Seek album is structured in a slightly different way, still maintaining though a strong and defined cinematic appeal.
Starting with another suite in three movements and called Bird Suite, Balvig and Ensemble Hermes nail one of the most evocative and harmonically moments of the new album, suspended between musical mysticism and dreamy soundscapes of nature.
The two pieces of true Chamber Music closing the album, Tace In Te and What Happened To The World offer another side of Christian Balvig's multi-faceted compositional style, where the atmospheric and sometimes melancholic sides of Balvig's piano playing merge, in a surprisingly organic way, with the improvisational and energetic free-form performing style of the Ensemble Hermes.
Find And You Will Seek confirms the magic moment of an artist such as Christian Balvig, living one of the most inspired stages of his career to date, in an album that is a true statement of talent at 360 degrees not only for the Scandinavian composer, but also for this amazing string project that is Ensemble Hermes.
Find And You Will Seek is out now and it can be purchased via Amazon Music.
