This is violinist Mari Samuelsen's third recording for the Deutsche Grammophon label. Perhaps that venerable imprint, observing the rich lode of profits reaped by British crossover projects, wanted a slice of the pie. In any event, Samuelsen's releases have been popular (this one made classical best-seller lists in the summer of 2024), and they put distinctive twists on the common crossover album. For one thing, she is a technically gifted player with quite a range of tones in her quiver and a cool, precise approach. These are deployed not in a slurpy string orchestra context but with a small group drawn from the ranks of an ensemble called Scoring Berlin. Furthermore, the material on Samuelsen's program is differentiated, not a sequence of monotone sentiment. The program rises to a mini-climax with Mário Laginha's Coisas da Terra and Aheym by Bryce Dessner (rock fans will know him from his time with the band The National, but he is more oriented toward concert music these days). The dynamic recedes a bit with a movement from Schubert's Piano Quintet in A major, D. 667 ("Trout"), and this doesn't quite work; the greater surface variety of Schubert seems to come out of nowhere, although the inclusion of this goes to show that Samuelsen is up to more than the usual gauzy stuff in the crossover sphere. One online commenter has called Samuelsen "the Einaudi of the violin," and indeed, Einaudi is present on the program, but this isn't quite fair. Samuelsen indicates that the album was inspired by her experience of motherhood. Would one guess this without being informed beforehand? Listeners are invited to try the music out on their friends and ask them to guess. In any event, they will hear a crossover album with variety and superior musicianship. ~ James Manheim