"BRAZIL" – QUATOUR EBENE
Fun in the sun! I should tango!
It is hot. I am hot and at the moment
under-cheered. With the door shut it is stifling, yet with the door open, in wanders the noise of
the street, exhaust fumes and even more heat. On the CD player is the album
Brazil by Quatour Ebene with chums Bernard Lavilliers, Stacey Kent and the
Brazil Choir and String Orchestra. It is the quartet's latest recording and is
the second of their ‘fusion’ projects. This one is firmly camped in the rhythms
and atmosphere of South America, samba, bossa nova and the tango.
Their choice of repertoire for this
recording runs from Piazzolla to Stevie Wonder, Sting to Chaplin, taking in
lesser-known Brazilian composers along the way and a collaboration with the
extraordinary Bernard Lavilliers – a ruggedly handsome, smokey-voiced French singer/songwriter,
ex-steel worker, boxer, ex-con, traveller and sometime reporter with a
fascination for the music of South America and Africa.
Now, I love this album. I’m not usually a
big fan of classical musicians adventuring beyond their customary boundaries and
comfort zones – it just never sounds all that convincing. I don’t cringe very easily but
classical-jazz/samba/rock crossovers will usually have me blushing and
wondering where to put myself before realising that it’s the CD that needs to
be put somewhere else, out of its-and my-misery. But this… the first track I heard was their
take on Libertango – not a piece that is under represented in the world of
recorded music. After an enigmatic introduction the cello begins with the
familiar ostinato rhythm, crisp and unwavering, which is passed between
instruments throughout. One of the reasons I think that this works so well is
the quality of the sound that the quartet produces. It doesn’t have the over
refined aura which could mark them out as 'classicos' on a rather self-conscious
holiday. It has a wonderful edginess, bordering on but never tipping over into abrasiveness. You can believe that you are listening to string players who have
never left Brazil and are steeped in the culture.
Something else that sets this recording
apart is the outstanding quality and inventiveness of the arranging. Brave
choices that push at the harmonic structure of the pieces but don’t undermine
the original versions; a keen awareness of how string instruments blend with
one another and as part of a larger group, and always managing to sound fresh
and spontaneous, almost improvised. The two voices are both husky and sultry.
Both accomplished and evocative of times and places beyond the tawdry here and
now of a Friday afternoon. Both of whom you will gladly let take up residence in
your soul to provide the soundtrack for a landscape to which you can transport
yourself when the world encroaches…
The sheer joy of life that these young men
and their collaborators exhibit is the main reason that I love this CD. This is
joyful music, reveling in the heat and intense feeling and rhythms of South
America. At the beginning I said that I was hot and cheer-lite - I am still hot but I can imagine the heat to
be the heat of a Brazilian beach after dark with its compelling beats and
seductive voices. I’m off home now to put this CD on again and pour myself a
caiparinha and let the abundant cheer wash over and through me. I suggest you
do the same.
Blog: Matthew Greswell
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