Boulanger

Soprano Anna Prohaska and violinist Patricia Kopatchinskaja are both well known for their taste for eclecticism, experimentation and adventure. As they are also are friends, it was only to be expected that one day they would devise and record a programme together, and here it is: Maria Mater Meretrix… What is the relationship between Hildegard von Bingen and Gustav Holst, Antonio Caldara and Lili Boulanger? The two musicians and their partners in Camerata Bern explore the image of woman through ten centuries of music: the figure of the Virgin Mary – among other works, the triptych Magnificat - Ave Maria - Stabat Mater (1967/68) by Frank Martin, an unclassifiable composer whom both artists venerate – but also Mary Magdalene, in pieces by Caldara and Kurtág. The Saint, the Mother, the Whore… The expression of two women musicians of today, a journey full of meaning and a sensory exploration featuring solos, duets, quartets and works for large orchestra.

Lou Bennett - Pentacostal Feeling (1966) {Gitanes Jazz 548 790-2 rel 2001}
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© 1966, 2001 Philips / Gitanes Jazz Productions / Universal Music | 548 790-2
Jazz / Soul Jazz / Jazz Blues / Organ

Regularly engaged in the Blue Note of the rue d'Artois in the 60s, Lou Benett often performed as a trio with guitarists Jimmy Gourley and René Thomas and drummer Kenny Clarke. With the commercial success of Amen, his first recording, Lou joined the trumpet player Donald Byrd, then student in the composition class of Nadia Boulanger, to make an album with ambitious sound architecture. Benefiting from Thomas' highly mobile guitar and Kenny Clarke's rhythmic flexibility, the Paris Jazz All Stars playing Byrd's toning arrangements, Lou Bennett's churchy organ roars powerful chords. The blues, music of the Baptist temples, permeates a carnal music, widely open to dance.

It is a meaningful sign of the times that Astor Piazzolla is arguably one of the most frequently performed composers on the contemporary musical stage, even though he probably never aimed at writing “classical” music. True, one of the fundamental encounters of his life was with composer and teacher Nadia Boulanger, who mentored many of the most important avant-garde musicians of the second half of the twentieth century. And, under her guidance, Piazzolla did attempt to express his personality through the language of Western contemporary music. The results, of course, were very good, since nobody could question Piazzolla’s talent. Yet, when Piazzolla performed one of the tangos he had already written to his professor, she exclaimed: “Astor, all your classical pieces are well written, but the true Piazzolla sound is here, never leave it behind!”. And if the language of Piazzolla’s music does not correspond to that of the coeval European avantgardes, neither does it conform to the standards of the Argentinian tango tradition. It is precisely for his utter originality that Astor Piazzolla rightfully claimed and obtained a place in the pantheon of twentieth-century classical music. But it is also this originality that may puzzle those attempting to classify him within one of the established musical categories.