Notes and Editorial Reviews
The borderlines between 19th-century virtuosity and café music are distinctly blurred in this highly entertaining disc. Laurent Korcia has all the technical bravado and interpretative charisma to breathe new life into such tried and tested violin warhorses as Wieniawski’s D major Polonaise, Tchaikovsky’s Valse-Scherzo and the Kreisler arrangement of Falla’s Danse espagnole. He turns on the seductive charm for Albéniz’s Tango and spins a suitably languorous melodic line in Ravel’s Pièce en forme de habanera. But Korcia also has a natural affinity with more overtly popular idioms, delivering wonderfully fluid renditions of Stéphane Grappelli’s Les valseuses and Piazzolla’s Café 1930. He provides an equally
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irresistible backdrop for the final item on the disc featuring the captivating Julie Depardieu in the chanson La villette. The programme cunningly juxtaposes items featuring the usual combination of violin and piano with more varied and imaginative instrumental accompaniments, none more striking than the combination of double bass and cimbalom which brings an extra ounce of paprika to the violinist’s brilliant arrangements of a sequence of Brahms’s Hungarian Dances.
– Erik Levi, BBC Music Magazine, reviewing the album
Dances
Laurent Korcia is not only an uncommonly accomplished violinist but also an uncommonly original programmer. One would not normally expect to find Debussy, Ravel and Bartók rubbing shoulders with Wieniawski, Denza, Massenet, Django Reinhardt, Stephane Grappelli and Michel Legrand. It's a tribute to both his technique and his vision that the juxtaposition is so joyfully successful.
The Reinhardt, Grappelli and Legrand pieces, in which Korcia joins with Florin Niculescu, accompanied by cello and guitar, really do swing, while in the Debussy Sonata (with Michael Wendeberg) Korcia combines exquisitely graceful phrasing with dash and control on his 1719 Stradivarius. Of course, it's not so much the sheer diversity of musical material that is the CD's raison d'être as the examples of Korcia working with a diverse range of French performers. This he did in his "Danses" collection, which Ivan March welcomed enthusiastically (4/05). It's an approach that could have turned this venture into something of a gimmick if individual egos had been allowed to take over. Fortunately not so! Instead, the various partnerships – two violins on three tracks, violin and bandoneon on two, and so on – come together for the greater glory of heartfelt music-making.
The one discordant element for this listener is the crooning of chansonnier Jean-Louis Aubert in the closing Massenet and Denza items -19th-century salon music through and through. Yet even that is a small enough price to pay for what is overall such gloriously fresh and exhilarating entertainment.
– Andrew Lamb, Gramophone [2/2007], reviewing the album
Doubles Jeux
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Works on This Recording
1.
Polka, Op. 22 by Zino Francescatti
Performer:
Laurent Korcia (Violin),
Jean-Efflam Bavouzet (Piano)
Period: 20th Century
Length: 1 Minutes 29 Secs.
Notes: Audio Engineer: Aude-Marie Piloz.
Audio Producers: Hannelore Guittet; Laurent Korcia.
2.
Polonaise brillante for Violin and Piano no 1 in D major, Op. 4 by Henri Wieniawski
Performer:
Laurent Korcia (Violin),
Jean-Efflam Bavouzet (Piano)
Period: Romantic
Written: 1853; Russia
Length: 4 Minutes 46 Secs.
Notes: Audio Engineer: Aude-Marie Piloz.
Audio Producers: Hannelore Guittet; Laurent Korcia.
3.
Valse-Scherzo for Violin and Orchestra in C major, Op. 34 by Peter Ilyich Tchaikovsky
Performer:
Laurent Korcia (Violin),
Jean-Efflam Bavouzet (Piano)
Period: Romantic
Written: 1877; Russia
Length: 5 Minutes 4 Secs.
Notes: Audio Engineer: Aude-Marie Piloz.
Audio Producers: Hannelore Guittet; Laurent Korcia.
4.
Sonata for Violin and Piano no 1, Sz 75: 2nd movement, Adagio by Béla Bartók
Performer:
Michael Wendeberg (Piano),
Laurent Korcia (Violin),
Jean-Efflam Bavouzet (Piano)
Period: 20th Century
Written: 1921; Budapest, Hungary
Length: 11 Minutes 12 Secs.
Notes: Audio Engineer: Aude-Marie Piloz.
Audio Producers: Hannelore Guittet; Laurent Korcia.
5.
Sonata for Violin and Piano in G major: 2nd movement, Blues by Maurice Ravel
Performer:
Laurent Korcia (Violin),
Michael Wendeberg (Piano)
Period: 20th Century
Written: 1923-1927; France
Length: 5 Minutes 24 Secs.
Notes: Audio Engineer: Aude-Marie Piloz.
Audio Producers: Hannelore Guittet; Laurent Korcia.
6.
Duo for Violin and Cello: Allegro con fuoco by Gideon Klein
Performer:
Laurent Korcia (Violin),
Tatjana Vassilieva (Cello)
Period: 20th Century
Written: 1940; Bohemia
Length: 4 Minutes 27 Secs.
Notes: Audio Engineer: Aude-Marie Piloz.
Audio Producers: Hannelore Guittet; Laurent Korcia.
7.
Sonata for Violin and Piano in G minor by Claude Debussy
Performer:
Laurent Korcia (Violin),
Michael Wendeberg (Piano)
Period: 20th Century
Written: 1916-1917; France
Length: 13 Minutes 8 Secs.
Notes: Audio Engineer: Aude-Marie Piloz.
Audio Producers: Hannelore Guittet; Laurent Korcia.
8.
Les Valseuses by Stéphane Grappelli
Performer:
Laurent Korcia (Violin),
Jean-Efflam Bavouzet (Piano)
Period: 20th Century
Length: 2 Minutes 20 Secs.
Notes: Arrangers: Jean-Efflam Bavouzet; Laurent Korcia.
Audio Engineer: Pierre-Antoine Signoret.
Audio Producer: Jean-Pierre Loisil.
9.
Minor Waltz by Michel Portal
Performer:
Laurent Korcia (Violin),
Michel Portal (Bandoneon),
Pierre Boussaguet (Double Bass)
Period: 20th Century
Written: France
Length: 3 Minutes 44 Secs.
Notes: Audio Engineer: Pierre-Antoine Signoret.
Audio Producer: Jean-Pierre Loisil.
10.
Elégie by Jules Massenet
Performer:
Laurent Korcia (Violin),
Michael Wendeberg (Piano),
Jean-Louis Aubert (Chant)
Period: Romantic
Written: circa 1869; France
Length: 2 Minutes 41 Secs.
Notes: Audio Engineer: Pierre-Antoine Signoret.
Audio Producer: Jean-Pierre Loisil.
11.
Minor Tango by Laurent Korcia
Performer:
Laurent Korcia (Violin),
Michel Portal (Bandoneon),
Pierre Boussaguet (Double Bass)
Period: 20th Century
Length: 2 Minutes 47 Secs.
Notes: Audio Engineer: Pierre-Antoine Signoret.
Audio Producer: Jean-Pierre Loisil.
12.
History of the Tango: Café 1930 by Astor Piazzolla
Performer:
Laurent Korcia (Violin),
Christian Rivet (Guitar)
Period: 20th Century
Written: 1986; Argentina
Length: 7 Minutes 46 Secs.
Notes: Audio Engineer: Pierre-Antoine Signoret.
Audio Producer: Jean-Pierre Loisil.
13.
Minor Swing by Stéphane Grappelli
Performer:
Laurent Korcia (Violin),
Jean-Philippe Viret (Double Bass),
Christophe Lartilleux (Guitar),
Florin Niculescu (Violin)
Period: 20th Century
Written: USA
Length: 2 Minutes 49 Secs.
Notes: Arranger: Florin Niculescu.
Audio Engineer: Pierre-Antoine Signoret.
Audio Producer: Jean-Pierre Loisil.
14.
Si vous l'aviez compris by Luigi Denza
Performer:
Laurent Korcia (Violin),
Michael Wendeberg (Piano),
Jean-Louis Aubert (Chant)
Period: Romantic
Length: 3 Minutes 23 Secs.
Notes: Audio Engineer: Pierre-Antoine Signoret.
Audio Producer: Jean-Pierre Loisil.
15.
Tears by Stéphane Grappelli
Performer:
Laurent Korcia (Violin),
Jean-Philippe Viret (Double Bass),
Christophe Lartilleux (Guitar),
Florin Niculescu (Violin)
Period: 20th Century
Written: USA
Length: 3 Minutes 16 Secs.
Notes: Arranger: Florin Niculescu.
Audio Engineer: Aude-Marie Piloz.
Audio Producers: Hannelore Guittet; Laurent Korcia.
16.
La villette by Jean Lenoir
Performer:
Laurent Korcia (Violin),
Julie Depardieu (Chant),
Arnaud Boukitine (Tuba)
Period: 20th Century
Written: France
Length: 2 Minutes 29 Secs.
Notes: Arranger: Laurent Korcia.
Audio Engineer: René Gambini.
Audio Producers: Hannelore Guittet; Laurent Korcia.
17.
Hungarian Dances (21) for Orchestra, WoO 1: no 1 in G minor by Johannes Brahms
Performer:
Gergana Terziyska (Double Bass),
Cyril Dupuy (Cimbalom),
Laurent Korcia (Violin)
Period: Romantic
Written: 1868; Austria
Length: 2 Minutes 42 Secs.
Notes: Arranger: Laurent Korcia.
Audio Engineer: Pierre-Antoine Signoret.
Audio Producer: Jean-Pierre Loisil.
18.
Hungarian Dances (21) for Orchestra, WoO 1: no 2 in D minor by Johannes Brahms
Performer:
Gergana Terziyska (Double Bass),
Cyril Dupuy (Cimbalom),
Laurent Korcia (Violin)
Period: Romantic
Written: 1868; Austria
Length: 2 Minutes 52 Secs.
Notes: Arranger: Laurent Korcia.
Audio Engineer: Aude-Marie Piloz.
Audio Producers: Hannelore Guittet; Laurent Korcia.
19.
Hungarian Dances (21) for Orchestra, WoO 1: no 4 in F sharp minor by Johannes Brahms
Performer:
Gergana Terziyska (Double Bass),
Cyril Dupuy (Cimbalom),
Laurent Korcia (Violin)
Period: Romantic
Written: 1868; Austria
Length: 3 Minutes 42 Secs.
Notes: Arranger: Laurent Korcia.
Audio Engineer: Aude-Marie Piloz.
Audio Producers: Hannelore Guittet; Laurent Korcia.
20.
Slavonic Dances (8) for Orchestra, Op. 46/B 83: no 2 in E minor, Dumka by Antonín Dvorák
Performer:
Jean-Efflam Bavouzet (Piano),
Laurent Korcia (Violin)
Period: Romantic
Written: 1878; Bohemia
Length: 3 Minutes 23 Secs.
Notes: Audio Engineer: Pierre-Antoine Signoret.
Audio Producer: Jean-Pierre Loisil.
21.
La vida breve: Spanish Dance no 1 by Manuel de Falla
Performer:
Jean-Efflam Bavouzet (Piano),
Laurent Korcia (Violin)
Period: 20th Century
Written: 1904-1905; Spain
Length: 3 Minutes 15 Secs.
Notes: Arranger: Fritz Kreisler.
Audio Engineer: Aude-Marie Piloz.
Audio Producers: Hannelore Guittet; Laurent Korcia.
Composition written: Spain (1904 - 1905).
22.
Etudes-Caprices (8) for 2 Violins, Op. 18: no 1 in G minor by Henri Wieniawski
Performer:
Nemanja Radulovic (Violin),
Laurent Korcia (Violin)
Period: Romantic
Written: 1863; St. Petersburg, Russ
Length: 3 Minutes 55 Secs.
Notes: Audio Engineer: Aude-Marie Piloz.
Audio Producers: Hannelore Guittet; Laurent Korcia.
23.
Sonata for Violin solo, Sz 117: Presto by Béla Bartók
Performer:
Laurent Korcia (Violin)
Period: 20th Century
Written: 1944; USA
Length: 5 Minutes 26 Secs.
Notes: Audio Engineer: Pierre-Antoine Signoret.
Audio Producer: Jean-Pierre Loisil.
24.
Duets (44) for 2 Violins, Sz 98: no 28, Sorrow by Béla Bartók
Performer:
Nemanja Radulovic (Violin),
Laurent Korcia (Violin)
Period: 20th Century
Written: 1937; Budapest, Hungary
Length: 1 Minutes 59 Secs.
Notes: Audio Engineer: Aude-Marie Piloz.
Audio Producers: Hannelore Guittet; Laurent Korcia.
25.
Les parapluies de Cherbourg: Thème by Michel Legrand
Performer:
Jean-Philippe Viret (Double Bass),
Christophe Lartilleux (Guitar),
Laurent Korcia (Violin),
Florin Niculescu (Violin)
Period: 20th Century
Written: 1964; France
Length: 3 Minutes 14 Secs.
Notes: Audio Engineer: Pierre-Antoine Signoret.
Audio Producer: Jean-Pierre Loisil.
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