Mari’s 飯島真理

Norwegian violinist Mari Samuelsen’s debut for the Yellow Label is entitled simply MARI and is set for international release on May 31 via Deutsche Grammophon/Universal Music Canada, the country’s leading music company. Recorded with the Konzerthausorchester Berlin and conductor Jonathan Stockhammer, the album explores the contradictions of contemporary life – the fact that, despite the excitement of city life and the convenience of instant communication and express travel, many of us still feel a need to ground ourselves in the peace and quiet of the natural world. Mari herself was born in rural Norway and goes back to the family farm as often as her schedule allows. She was keen, therefore, to choose a selection of music echoing the conflicting pulls on our time and energy.

Passionate, dramatic, yet poetic and richly nuanced Mari Kodama brings all these qualities to her interpretation of Beethovens Complete Piano Concertos. This exceptional recording with the Deutsches Symphonie Orchester Berlin shines with extraordinary intensity and contrast, due in no small measure to the artistic bond between Mari Kodama and her husband, the conductor Kent Nagano. Beethovens Piano Concertos are undoubtedly amongst the most influential works in the history of music. Art demands of us that we shall not stand still, the composer once wrote, placing the idea of development at the heart of his music. His five piano concertos saw Beethoven take piano music out of the salon and into the concert hall, playing a crucial role in advancing the genre towards the symphony, whilst simultaneously creating a bridge from the First Viennese School to the Romantic period. Mari Kodama, whose virtuosic mastery of the piano made her a household name all over the world, has completed the Beethoven Piano Concerto Cycle with her husband Kent Nagano, the international star conductor.

Mari Takano, from the standard publicity photograph she uses, looks like a soccer mom ready to go out on a date with her husband, taking a phone call in the kitchen before she heads out the door. Nothing in the photo would give you the impression that Takano is a venturesome and fiercely original classical composer who has studied with Brian Ferneyhough and György Ligeti.

Entre 1994 et 1998, l’absence de tout nouvel album studio de la seule chanteuse samì (de Laponie) qui bénéficie d’une renommée internationale, Mari BOINE, alimentait les plus inquiètes interrogations. Et ce n’est pas une simple compilation (Radiant Warmth) dont le contenu reprenait des pièces de ses albums Goaskinviellja (Eagle Brother) et Leahkastin (Unfolding) qui était de nature à nous rassasier (surtout quand on sait qu’un album live autrement pertinent, Eallin, est sorti à la même époque, mais n’a pas été diffusé en France). Et voici que Bálvvoslatjna (Room of Worship), son cinquième opus, paraît sans crier gare pour rasséréner nos consciences.

The ancient, shamanistic, musical traditions of the Samis of northern Scandanavia, in what was once known as Lapland, are given a modern twist by vocalist and drummer Mari Boine (Persen). Although her highly rhythmic songs are rooted in the wordless, yodeling-like, vocal style of yoik (or joik), Boine's arrangements incorporate influences of jazz, rock and other ethnic elements.

For his first concert work in three decades, film-composer James Horner (Titanic, Braveheart, Avatar) has written a crowd-pleasing double concerto for Norwegian violin- and cello-playing siblings Mari and Håkon Samuelsen. Lush, romantic, virtuosic, and coupled with haunting works by Arvo Pärt, Giovanni Sollima (with cellist Alisa Weilerstein) and Ludovico Einaudi, Pas de deux makes quite an impact.

In retrospect, the musical direction each of these artists would take was already becoming clear. Since that winter, each of them has found an individual manner of expression based on his or her respective national culture. Mari Boine created an inlet for the musical culture of her people, the Sami, into the great river of World Music, developing a very personal idiom and style from the Sami traditions. Inna Zhelannaya continued to work on her own texts and songs, initially still in collaboration with the popular Russian group Alliance, which accompanied her on this album, later with other Russian musicians.