Laurent Korcia, violin – “Doubles Jeux” – Works of REINHARDT, RAVEL, DEBUSSY, BARTOK, KLEIN, LEGRAND, MASSENET Etc. – with assisting artists – Naive

by | Jan 16, 2008 | Classical CD Reviews | 0 comments

Laurent Korcia,  violin – “Doubles Jeux” – REINHARDT: Minor Swing; PORTAL: Minor Waltz; RAVEL: Blues; DEBUSSY: Violin Sonata; WIENIAWSKI: Etude-Caprice No. 1; KORCIA: Minor Tango; BARTOK: Duos for 2 Violins; KLEIN: Duo; REINHARDT: Tears; LEGRAND: Theme from The Umbrellas of Cherbourg; MASSENET: Elégie; DENZA: Si vous l’aviez compris – with nine musicians on violins, piano, bandoneon, cello, guitar, doublebass and two vocals – Naive V 5066 ***** [Distr. by Harmonia mundi]:

What a delightful feat of programming! Magnifique! Korcia – who looks like a French Billy Bob Thornton – begins the English half of his note booklet with the heading “Just an impression…” and my impression is that this CD is most welcome after the spate of somewhat boring violin-encore albums we’ve been seeing/hearing lately.  As a supporter of diversity in every area of life, I can’t knock a concert that mixes classical and jazz and starts off with a tune by Django Reinhardt – plus another one later in the program. The melding together of that, Michel Portal’s Minor Waltz and some jazzy Ravel and Debussy should be obvious.

The Four Duos by Bartok mix balletic rhythms and violent figurations, and are continued in violinist Gideon Klein’s even more tortured Duo. The second Django tune takes us into the gorgeous-melody closing section of the program, highlighted by Michel Legrand’s classic theme from his musical, and then leads us into the two closing vocals by Jean-Louis Aubert, a leading singer from the French pop/rock world.  Korcia quotes and supports the late Stéphane Grappelli’s attitude: “The post office can go out of business – I don’t have a message to deliver.”  It’s just an impressive collection of terrific “chamber music” – highly recommended!

— John Sunier

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