Where Is Love [CD]

Petter Udland Johansen has been known for years as an exceptional interpreter of early music. With his distinctive voice and keen sense of style and text interpretation, he has made a name for himself as a specialist in repertoire from the Middle Ages to the 18th century. Now he is opening a new chapter: on his album Where Is Love, the versatile singer turns his attention for the first time to the great songs of the American Songbook timeless classics by George Gershwin, Cole Porter, Jerome Kern, Richard Rodgers and other masters. Johansen is joined by Christian Gutfleisch, his ideal musical partner at the piano. Gutfleisch performs on a Bluthner grand piano from 1910, whose warm, velvety tone forms a poetic bridge between past and present. The instrument seems to carry within it the sound world of the very era in which many of these songs were written - while offering an abundance of color and intimacy that perfectly suits the duo's chamber-like approach.