Sokratis Sinopoulos and Yann Kirim – Topos (ECM, 2025)
Lyra meets piano on Topos by Greek duo Sokratis Sinopoulos (lyra) and Yann Kirim (piano). This is their first studio project as a duo after a long collaboration in Sinopoulos’s quartet.
The exquisite material on Topos braids together warm Greek folk roots, elegant chamber-jazz interplay, and world music influences with Béla Bartók’s “Romanian Folk Dances” as a recurring thread. The dances appear in newly formed versions that highlight Sinopoulos’s splendid lyra lines and Kirimkiridis’s agile, spacious piano.
Original pieces such as “Vlachia,” “Valley,” “Mountain Path,” and “Forest Glade” are featured alongside the Bartók material. Titles such as “In One Spot,” “Slash Dance,” “Dance For Bucsum,” and “Romanian Polka” show how the duo can quickly shift from high energy to hush.
Sinopoulos and Kirim describe Topos as a shared musical “home,” connecting Greece with Hungary, Romania, and the wider Balkans. The sessions took place in Athens in February 2024, with mixing completed there in April 2025. ECM’s Manfred Eicher produced the album.
Buy Topos.
Author: Tyler Bennet
