Laurent Korcia's Double Games

Available at Amazon: Laurent Korcia, Doubles Jeux, F. Niculescu, M. Wendeberg, M. Portal, et al. (released November 20, 2007)

Laurent Korcia: Danses (2005) Bartók (2006)

At every listening, live and in recording, Debussy's swan song, his 1917 violin sonata, raises questions about the mix of sounds contained within it. To ponder one angle on those questions, make it the centerpiece of a recording, alongside four of Bartók's playful duos for two violins, a contrapuntal Wieniawski duo for two violins, Gideon Klein's violin-cello duo, and Massenet's Élégie. To explore the turns toward popular song, jazz, and folk music in all of these classical works, mix in pieces by classical composers feeling out the world of jazz, like Ravel's Blues and tango pieces by Michel Portal and Laurent Korcia for violin and bandoneon. Top it off with some of the real stuff, arrangements of pieces by Django Reinhardt (with Stéphane Grapelli), Luigi Denza, and Michel Legrand.

Finally, blur the lines completely by making the recording with a combination of musicians from inside the classical sphere and beyond it, like jazz violinist Florin Niculescu, jazz bassist Pierre Boussaguet, bandoneon player Michel Portal, and pop singer Jean-Louis Aubert (the man who once fronted the 80s French rock band Téléphone, now singing Massenet). Joining them all together is eclectic French violinist Laurent Korcia, playing with a broad tone of many colors on his 1719 Zahn Stradivarius. Finally, this is crossover to be recommended, a disc that is intensely pleasurable for the ears and offers challenges for the mind. It is the alternately intense and whimsical soundtrack to a quirky, intelligent movie that could only be made in France.

Naive V 5066