"This collection of tunes began as a commission for big band to work with voice and koto. While the big band orchestration here works beautifully, the placing of a koto in this setting really captures the attention. I would say that, against the orchestra (rather than the bass and violin of the earlier recording), Nakagawa brings even more intensity to her playing, while making the instrument so clearly part of the instrumentation of the orchestra that it fits seamlessly. Added to this, Willemark's effortlessly smoky vocals deliver words from poems in Danish and Älvdalska to such effect that you don't (as a non-speaker of the languages) need to know what she is saying, only experience the emotion that she conveys"