Gramophone Award-nominated artist Martin Fröst’s latest album for Sony Classical brings the extraordinary alchemy of a specially formed ensemble to the public with highly original arrangements for the first time on record. With acclaimed pianist Roland Pöntinen and legendary bassist Sébastien Dubé, Fröst’s new album Night Passages charts a nocturnal journey through the mystical and the melancholic, the playful and the profound. The result is a unique fusion of music past and present, and a snapshot of a three-way musical friendship like none other.

Reimagining favourites from the Baroque, while touching on jazz and folk music the album’s atmosphere carries with it the vibe of late-night improvisation and deep conversation between friends. From Rameau to Richard Rodgers, it invites listeners to eavesdrop on a musical union. All nineteen tracks on the album were arranged by Fröst and his fellow trio members for their own instrumental lineup of clarinet, piano and bass.

Scintillating Scarlatti keyboard mingling with touching Handel, virile Purcell, aerated Bach and works by Rameau that sound with new exotic allure. Despite the quiet intimacy in works such as Richard Rodgers It Never Entered my Mind and Bach’s Jesu bleibet meine Freunde, there is virtuosity, stamina and athleticism on display too, not least in a strident arrangement of Vallflickans Dans by the Swedish composer Hugo Alfvén – a piece close to the heart of any Swede.

The album further includes the trio’s light-footed take on Chick Corea’s Armando’s Rhumba and Fröst’s own cadenza-like Prelude to the traditional Swedish polka Dorotea, which is full of his trademark improvisatory fluidity. The same qualities appear to stop time in a heart-rending take on Purcell’s Music for a While.

Martin Fröst is chief conductor of the Swedish Chamber Orchestra and frequently appears with the world’s most distinguished orchestras. In 2014, he became the first clarinetist to win the prestigious Léonie Sonning Music Prize. A committed innovator, Fröst’s Genesis and Retrotopia projects, initiated at the Stockholm Concert Hall, have proved game-changers in the field of concert presentation.

Fröst has recorded repertoire from five centuries including a series of concept albums for Sony Classical beginning with the critically acclaimed Roots. His latest recording “Vivaldi” has received the prestigious Opus Klassik award and in January 2022 Martin Fröst was named artist of the year by the International Classical Music Awards (ICMA).