River of Music—The Kanneh-Masons (Decca 4871265)
As a river flows from multiple sources while carving its path, this album celebrates the sources of the Kanneh-Masons’ (seven siblings in all) musical inspirations rooted in personal stories of home, love and family. There is a subtlety that unites the playing of Aminata, Braimah, Konya (violins), Sheku, Mariatu (cellos), Isata and Jeneba (pianos) across this album and the different formations in which they play.At the heart of River of Music is Schubert’s Trout Quintet, recorded with Edgar Francis, viola, and Toby Hughes, double bass. This piece that has long been special to the Kanneh-Mason family. It was one of the first chamber works the siblings played together while growing up in Nottingham. The album includes new arrangements of classical music, folk songs and spirituals. From Samuel Coleridge-Taylor’s African American spiritual “Deep River” to traditional Welsh hymns, the music honors pays tribute to their Welsh grandmother, who followed love across the sea to Sierra Leone, and their Antiguan grandfather, who once dreamed of a music.