This is a corker of a disc. I cannot imagine anyone who responds to top-notch virtuosity not being caught up by these two young Danes, both of whom sound as if they could give Evelyn Glennie a good run for her money. Certainly their playing here is stunning, captured in a warm but not over-resonant recording.
The Safri Duo are not just highly accomplished players technically; as the individual notes by Fuzzy (yes, that is his working name, b. 1939), Per Norgard (b. 1932) and Minoru Miki (b. 1930) confirm, Morten Friis and Uffe Savery are musicians who both inspire the best from composers and actively take part in the music's evolution. Only the high standard of their playing was able to realize the long-standing conception that lay behind Norgard's Echo Zone I–III, while in Fireplay, originally written in 1991 for percussion and tape, the passages constructed for the Duo to improvise have taken on an almost separate development, culminating—for the moment—in the present version recorded in 1994. In the case of Miki's Marimba Spiritual II, it would seem the Duo are responsible for the piece in its present form, the 1983 original being for marimba accompanied by a larger ensemble.
The disc opens in entertaining fashion with the brilliant, light Toccata (1990) of Anders Koppel (b. 1947), a straightforward duet for vibraphone and marimba. The other works all use larger arrays, not least Andy Pape's (b. 1955) invigorating CaDance 4 2—the title punning cadence and dance—which is written for various species of drums. Highly recommended.'