Home » Jazz Articles » Album Review » Francois Couturier: Tarkovsky Quartet

193

Francois Couturier: Tarkovsky Quartet

Francois Couturier: Tarkovsky Quartet
Rarely has any other person had such an immense influence on world culture as the late Russian film director Andrey Tarkovsky. His meditations on spirituality and the human soul have brought many a step closer in their journey towards the light. As any luminary whose work and thoughts have inspired countless others, Tarkovsky—besides being a composer for the eye—has also inspired music for the ear. Plenty of artists—including Jan Garbarek, Arvo Part, Jon Hassell, Luigi Nono and Toru Takemitsu—have found inspiration in his films, or have dedicated music in his memory. Among them is pianist François Couturier, whose work with Tarkovsky Quartet completes a trilogy of albums devoted to this filmmaker.

The music on this album, with its suite-like sequence of compositions that flow like a cinematic reverie, comes across as a film-like invitation to a voyage. The spare, gently unfolding and intensely atmospheric melodies and moods deliver an invitation to listen with open ears...and to dream. What began with Nostalghia: Song for Tarkovsky (ECM, 2006) and continued with the solo piano of Un jour si blanc (ECM, 2009) has reached its culmination on this third outing. Each composition is a mysterious, delicate gem, while the titles are full of references to Tarkovsky's life and work: "A celui qui a vu l'ange" is the epitaph found on his tombstone, while "Tiapa" and "Maroussia" are nicknames for his youngest child and his mother.

The music requires and deserves profound attention, in order that the natural flow of ideas emerge from the silence. Throughout, the musicians enter into a dialog that is very intense and focused regardless of the music and the space. On the surface it may sound simply like contemplative music, but its hypnotic quality and richness of detail is revealed upon close and patient listening.

Many ECM recordings are as much about inner landscapes they are outer terrains. As a label, it stands for a certain meditative, introspective approach to playing and listening, and Tarkovski Quartet goes right to the core of its ethos, predicated, as it is, on honesty, trust and on the quality of human relationships. Ultimately, Couturier has delivered a wondrous offering with compositions that open a path to a secret world.

Track Listing

A celui qui a vu l'ange; Tiapa; San Galgano; Maroussia; Mychkine; Mouchette; La passion selon Andreï; L'Apocalypse; Doktor Faustus; Sardor; La main et l'oiseau; De l'autre côté du miroir.

Personnel

François Couturier: piano; Anja Lechner: violoncello; Jean Louis Matinier: accordion; Jean Marc Larché: soprano saxophone.

Album information

Title: Tarkovsky Quartet | Year Released: 2011 | Record Label: ECM Records

Tags

Comments


PREVIOUS / NEXT




Support All About 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 make 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.

Go Ad Free!

To maintain our platform while developing new means to foster jazz discovery and connectivity, we need your help. You can become a sustaining member for as little as $20 and in return, we'll immediately hide those pesky ads plus provide access to future articles for a full year. This winning combination vastly improves 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

Tramonto
John Taylor
Ki
Natsuki Tamura / Satoko Fujii
Duality Pt: 02
Dom Franks' Strayhorn
The Sound of Raspberry
Tatsuya Yoshida / Martín Escalante

Popular

Old Home/New Home
The Brian Martin Big Band
My Ideal
Sam Dillon
Ecliptic
Shifa شفاء - Rachel Musson, Pat Thomas, Mark Sanders
Lado B Brazilian Project 2
Catina DeLuna & Otmaro Ruíz

Get more of a good thing!

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

Install All About Jazz

iOS Instructions:

To install this app, follow these steps:

All About Jazz would like to send you notifications

Notifications include timely alerts to content of interest, such as articles, reviews, new features, and more. These can be configured in Settings.