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Brubeck meets Bach
Label: Sony Classical
Year: 2004
Released on LP: No
Released on CD: Yes
Tracks
CD 1
Concerto for two pianos and orchestra in c-minor,
BWV1060
01. Allegro
02. Adagio
03. Allegro
Points on jazz
Prelude
Scherzo
Blues
Fugue
Rag
Chorale
Waltz
ΐ la Turk
CD 2
1. Jazz selection
2. Unsquare dance
3. Lullaby
4. Brandenburg Gate: Revisited
5. Regret/
6. Blue rondo ΰ la Turk
7. Take five
8. Brahms lullaby [Guten Abend, gute Nacht]
Personnel
Dave Brubeck (piano)Bobby Militello (alto sax, flute)
Randy Jones (drums)
Michael Moore (bass)
Anthony Paratore (piano)
Joseph Paratore (piano)
Russell Gloyd (conductor)
Bach Collegium, Munich (orchestra)
Notes
1. Released by Sony Classical Europe.
2. Recorded live at Alte Oper [Old Opera House], Frankfurt Am Main, Germany.
3. Dave performs on CD 2 only.
CD 1 is with Bach Collegium, Munich conducted by Russell Gloyd and Anthony & Joseph Paratore.
Reviews
Gramophone.net Copyright
Ask Dave Brubeck who his favourite composer is and the answer always comes back: "Bach". This 2004 concert makes explicit the spiritual kinship between Papas Bach and Brubeck. The set opens with a fine performance of Bach's Concerto for Two Pianos, BWV1060, with Anthony and Joseph Paratore responding positively to Russell Gloyd's driving tempi.
The Paratore brothers have recorded the two-piano version of Brubeck's ballet score Points on jazz before, but this version with orchestral accompaniment is a reminder of how ingenious Brubeck's material is. A Prelude rich in references to Bach and Chopin becomes the basis for a dazzling set of variations - a swinging blues one moment, a highly creative fugue next - every note distilled through Brubeck's fertile imagination.
When the Brubeck Quartet joins the Bach Collegium Munich post-interval, its leader is in abundant and puckish mood. His solo on St Louis Blues shifts from sinewy linear contours to monumental block chords. He peaks with Herculean double-time stride piano and on the next track, his classic Unsquare Dance, bitonal reharmonisations from the direction of the piano radically overhaul the original concept. The next three pieces bring the Bach theme back into focus. Brandenburg Gate, Revisited is a nifty re-imagining of a Brandenburg Concerto for jazz group and orchestra, while the throughcomposed string piece Regret and the beguiling Lullaby spin gloriously complex structures from clear harmonic outlines - JSB would have approved for sure. And, if you're wondering what Brubeck can still find to say about Take Five, check out this new version. His thorny solo is brazenly audacious. Brubeck's bite is still great. Just like his Bach.
Philip Clark
Gramophone.net Copyright