Fantastique Fantastique

Fantastique is a pop music duo of "typical Dutchmen": round-faced Dick Dam and blue-eyed Astrid Leuwener from the city of Haarlem in the west of the Netherlands. It was formed by famous Dutch producers' team Cat Music (Geertjan J. Hessing, Aart Mol, Elmer F. Veerhoff, Erwin van Prehn, Cees R. Bergman) well-known till 1979 as glam rock/teenybopper band Catapult and then also as The Monotones. These "Ottawan-like" electronic dance tracks they wrote for Fantastique ("Mama Told Me", "Costa Blanca", etc.) topped charts in many countries in the early 1980s; in October 1981 on Dutch Top 40 singles chart its highest number was 5. In 1986 Mama Told Me spent 13 weeks and reached number 84 on the official UK singles chart. There are a lot of remixes of "Mama Told Me" issued long after Fantastique drifted into oblivion, even it was used as a part of soundtrack of Dutch movie I am Joep Meloen. The vocals were actually done by Marian Pijnaker and Cor van der Hoogt.

Le Concert Brisé, William Dongois - Style fantastique - G. B. Pandolfi-Mealli & J.-J. Froberger (2010) {Carpe Diem CD-16280}
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© 2010 Carpe Diem Records | CD-16280
Classical / Early Baroque / Chamber Music

Style fantastique (CD-16280) is the 2010 live album of the ensemble Le Concert Brisé lead by William Dongois (cornetto), and the ensemble's fourth recording with the label Carpe Diem. The term Style fantastique refers to a 17th century style of composition and interpretation that is characterized by its very free form, its elements of improvisation and a highly dramatic arrangement. The album holds the six sonatas op. 3 for solo instrument and continuo by Giovanni Pandolfi-Mealli (1620 - ca. 1669), printed in Innsbruck, Austria in 1660. The individual pieces are named after musicians who, together with Pandolfi-Mealli, were employed at the Habsburg Court in Innsbruck, for instance, Antonio Castello (sonata "La Castella").

Bobby Montez - Jungle Fantastique (1958) {Cubop CBCD036 rel 2001}
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© 1958, 2001 Cubop / EMI-Capitol | CBCD036
Jazz / Latin Jazz / Afro-Cuban / Mambo / Vibes

Jungle Fantastique was, until its reissue in 2000, a very scarce classic. Originally released on the Jubilee label, this 1958 set features vibraphonist Bobby Montez in a quintet with pianist Carlos Ortega Avelar, bassist Jimmy Baiz, Miguel Gutierrez on timbales, and Louis Miranda on congas. The music ranges from exotic melodies and heated Afro-Cuban jazz to percussion displays ("Kon-Tiki"). The music is Americanized Cuban jazz, similar at times to the Cal Tjader sound of the 1950s. Although Montez is the lead voice, it is the full ensemble sound that is most memorable on six of the leader's originals and melodic versions of "Speak Low," "Carioca," and "Summertime." All of the music on this LP-length CD (mambos, boleros, and cha-cha-chas) is easily danceable, full of infectious rhythms, and quite pleasing.

What an intriguing idea to want to transcribe one of Berlioz’s work for four accordions! What an even more curious idea to want to transcribe the Symphonie Fantastique and bring into their squeeze boxes this astounding and radical masterpiece, true breakthrough in the history of orchestra thanks to the introduction of rarely used, despised, or even forgotten instruments, in a celebration of sounds, and a magical demonstration of Berlioz’s Treatise of Modern Instrumentation and Orchestration.

Inspired by a desire to offer my own kids a fresh guide to the orchestra, Philharmonia Fantastique was created to showcase both the artistic and technical wonders of the medium. Like its predecessors Peter & the Wolf and Young Person’s Guide to the Orchestra, it colorfully presents the instruments of the orchestra in the medium of a film soundtrack. Philharmonia Fantastique uses both musical genre and electronic sounds for characterization: noir-ish jazz for the woodwinds; bending lyricism in the strings; dark techno for the brass; drum-corps in the percussion; and, for our Sprite protagonist, a simple yet harmonically wandering piano melody.