Hörprobe: Trygve Seim / Andreas Utnem

Modestly subtitled “Songs for saxophone and piano”, 

this recording quietly covers a lot of ground, with 

repertoire including new musical settings of parts 

of the Mass, folk songs, theatre music, improvisations, 

and a new version of Trygve Seim’s softly-breathing 

tune “Bhavana” (first heard on “Different Rivers”). 

“Purcor” is the first recorded documentation of a 

duo that already has a 14 year history. In the mid 

1990s pianist-composer Andreas Utnem, working 

with Norway’s Church City Mission foundation, invited 

saxophonist Seim to join him for selected church services, 

improvising around variations on the psalms and playing 

some of his compositions and Trygve’s. In time, this 

developed into an informal regular ‘gig’ and in 2008 

the players decided it was time to record the special 

music they had shaped along the way. “Purcor” was 

recorded at Tøyen Kirke, a church in the older part 

of Oslo. The album is a thoughtful and reflective 

album, of great charm.