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Thread: AAJ Review: Anja Lechner & François Couturier, Moderato cantabile

  1. #1

    AAJ Review: Anja Lechner & François Couturier, Moderato cantabile



    My review of Anja Lechner & François Couturier's Moderato cantabile, today at All About Jazz.

    ECM Records has long divided its discography in two: the regular series, representing music of a more improvisational bent; and its New Series, featuring largely classical music ranging from the contemporary to the archaic, but more truly defined in its through- composed nature. Still, the line between the two has, however, often been a porous one, where artists perhaps most associated with one side of the fence are able to make the occasional excursion to the other side. Perhaps the artist most representative of this ability to work in both structured and extemporaneous contexts is cellist Anja Lechner. Even her earliest appearance with Rosamunde Quartett—on Dino Saluzzi's Kultrum (ECM New Series, 1998)—represented the beginning of a relationship with the renowned Argentinean bandoneonist that would lead to programs where the line between form and freedom was even less distinct, such as the superb duo recording Ojos Negros (ECM, 2007), in which overt improvisation was replaced by the more interpretive nature of phrasal nuance, harmony, dynamics and rhythmic inflection.

    Since then, Lechner has regular walked both sides of the fence—or, perhaps more accurately, dismantled the fence entirely, going wherever her muse takes her without worrying about such irrelevant concerns as "is it jazz?" or "is it classical?" The cellist has, based on her discography, a clear fondness for collaborations with pianists, as recordings like Ketil Bjornstad's La Notte (ECM, 2013), Misha Alperin's Her First Dance (ECM, 2008) or Lechner's trio recording with Vassilis Tsabropoulos and percussionist U.T. Gandhi, Melos (2008), amply demonstrate. Even more longstanding is her relationship with Francois Couturier, collaborating with the French pianist in his acclaimed Tarkovsky Quartet last heard on Tarkovsky Quartet (ECM, 2011), the third in a triptych tribute to the great filmmaker that began with Nostalghia—Song for Tarkovsky (ECM, 2006).

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  2. #2
    Member Oreb's Avatar
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    I've been disappointed in the Couturier recordings I've heard - IMO there's a preciousness to his playing - but I love Lechner's work, particularly her Gurdjieff duet album with Vassilis Tsabropoulos so I'll be interested to hear this (my copy is on it's way from amazon.uk).

    Chants, Hymns and Dances is one of my desert-island discs. As good as the Cecily Lytle complete recordings are, this is the way to hear Gurdjieff/de Hartmann's music!

    Does it matter that this waste of time is what makes a life for you?

  3. #3
    Quote Originally Posted by Oreb View Post
    I've been disappointed in the Couturier recordings I've heard - IMO there's a preciousness to his playing - but I love Lechner's work, particularly her Gurdjieff duet album with Vassilis Tsabropoulos so I'll be interested to hear this (my copy is on it's way from amazon.uk).

    Chants, Hymns and Dances is one of my desert-island discs. As good as the Cecily Lytle complete recordings are, this is the way to hear Gurdjieff/de Hartmann's music!
    If you like Lechner, Gurdjieff and Tsabropoulos, I am pretty sure, even if you find Couturier "precious," that you'll love this recording.

  4. #4
    Member Oreb's Avatar
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    You're right - it's wonderful.

    (I do have a slight quibble - and it's not with the recording, it's with the notes: it's a shame to see the writer referring to the Turkish 'invasion' of Armenia. That's the preferred terminology of the Turkish government, but primarily because it conceals the truth, which was genocide.)

    Does it matter that this waste of time is what makes a life for you?

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