Home » Jazz Articles » Album Review » Gianluigi Trovesi / Gianni Coscia: Frere Jacques - Round...

148

Gianluigi Trovesi / Gianni Coscia: Frere Jacques - Round About Offenbach

By

Sign in to view read count
Gianluigi Trovesi / Gianni Coscia: Frere Jacques - Round About Offenbach
Once again, more than half a decade has gone by since clarinetist GIanluigi Trovesi and accordionist Gianni Coscia last recorded. Round About Weill (ECM, 2005) represented a shift away from the broader compositional purview of In cerca di cibo (ECM, 2000), instead focusing more monolithically—albeit with the improvisational élan which has defined this partnership from its inception still intact—on misunderstood 20th century composer Kurt Weill. With Frère Jacques: Round About Offenbach , the Italian duo with one octogenarian (Coscia) and one near-septuagenarian (Trovesi) tackles the music of Jacques Offenbach, with a similar modus operandi: interpret the 19th century Cologne-born/French composer's music with a playful combination of respect and irreverence, while creating spontaneous improvisations and collaborative compositions that act as causative links.

If "the same modus operandi" suggests predictability, however, there's no cause for concern. Frère Jacques: Round About Offenbach is a 75-minute set of nineteen pieces, ranging from eighty seconds to seven-and-a-half minutes, where some of the music may be so iconic as to be part of a Jungian collective unconscious, but breathed into new life with the combination of two wind-driven reed instruments that may possess distinct qualities but, at times, conjoin to create a most singular voice.

If Trovesi and Coscia demonstrate plenty of the endemic mischief of their Italian upbringing, it's never at the expense of unadorned beauty. "Dedicated to Hélène and her little birds" may begin fervently, with Coscia's accordion in clear support of Trovesi, whose soaring clarinet and occasional flittering motifs evoke clear images of the titular fowl, but halfway through the mood turns more melancholic, as Coscia's minor-keyed musings encourage Trovesi to simplify, even as the two gradually begin to orbit around each other with the kind of keen intuition that only comes from years of working together.

The duo adapts some of Offenbach's better-known works, such as pieces from his unfinished opera Les Contes d'Hoffmann (Tales of Hoffman), and La Belle Hélène, from which three pieces are drawn, in addition to the original "Dedicated to Hélène." And if Offenbach's "Galop," from Orpheus in the Underworld, isn't given full credit, the familiar dance song of the can-can certainly forms the foundation for "Galop...trotterllando," a Trovesi/Coscia original which possesses everything that make this duo so accessible yet so unfailingly deep—most importantly, an unfettered interpretive spontaneity that causes scored music to leap off the written page.

If Round About Weill's reference to the traditional French round "Frère Jacques" was a less-than-obvious hint at what was to come four years later, when Trovesi and Coscia recorded Frère Jacques: Round About Offenbach at Perugia, Italy's Centro Civico Musicale Sant'Anna, who knows what foreshadowing exists here? The only certainty is a hope that another half decade doesn't have to pass before Trovesi and Coscia reunite for another set that combines freewheeling and infectious joie de vivre with an equally unmistakable love of the music from which they choose to draw their inspiration—whatever the source.

Visit Gianluigi Trovesi and Gianni Coscia on the web.

Track Listing

Sognando Hélène / Oui! C'est un rêve; Ah! Que les homes sont bêtes / Mon Dieu, mon Dieu; Piff, paff, pouf / La Duchessa nei caraibi; Tangoffenbach; Ah! Vivre deux / L'eccentrico inventore; Et moi? / No, tu no!; La voix; Parton le barcarole; Beguine del fauno; Sei Italiano? / No! Je suis Brésilien; La Duchessa della Czarda; C'est une chanson d'amour; Galop...trotterellando; Le jugement de Paris / Ma! Non so!; Dedicated to Hélène and her little birds; Metamorfosi...Pour séduire; Minuetto / Olympia; Ouverture / Un Americano a Troia; Epilogue.

Personnel

Gianluigi Trovesi: piccolo and alto clarinets; Gianni Coscia: accordion.

Album information

Title: Frere Jacques - Round About Offenbach | Year Released: 2011 | Record Label: ECM Records

Comments

Tags


For the Love of Jazz
Get the Jazz Near You newsletter All About Jazz has been a pillar of jazz since 1995, championing it as an art form and, more importantly, supporting the musicians who create it. Our enduring commitment has made "AAJ" one of the most culturally important websites of its kind, read by hundreds of thousands of fans, musicians and industry figures every month.

You Can Help
To expand our coverage even further and develop new means to foster jazz discovery and connectivity we need your help. You can become a sustaining member for a modest $20 and in return, we'll immediately hide those pesky ads plus provide access to future articles for a full year. This winning combination will vastly improve your AAJ experience and allow us to vigorously build on the pioneering work we first started in 1995. So enjoy an ad-free AAJ experience and help us remain a positive beacon for jazz by making a donation today.

More

What Was Happening
Bobby Wellins Quartet
Laugh Ash
Ches Smith
A New Beat
Ulysses Owens, Jr. and Generation Y

Popular

Eagle's Point
Chris Potter
Light Streams
John Donegan - The Irish Sextet

Get more of a good thing!

Our weekly newsletter highlights our top stories, our special offers, and upcoming jazz events near you.