Claus Ogermann - Works for Violin & Piano - Yue Deng, Jean-Yves Thibaudet (2007)

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Claus Ogermann - Works for Violin & Piano - Yue Deng, Jean-Yves Thibaudet (2007)

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French piano star Jean Yves Thibaudet is joined by young Chinese violinist Yue Deng for this album of intimate classical music for piano and violin by the celebrated jazz composer/ arranger Claus Ogermann. Grammy Award Winner Claus Ogermann is a musician of rare breadth and versatility who has worked with all the great song stylists including Frank Sinatra, Stan Getz, George Benson, Nelson Riddle, Astrid Gilberto, Michael Brecker and Antonio Carlos Jobim. Well known for recent collaborations with Diana Krall (including the album The Look Of Love), Claus Ogermann has also written works performed by legendary pianists Bill Evans and Glenn Gould, and is the arranger of the classic recording of The Girl From Ipenema. Classical style has always been important to Ogermann, and his compositions include concertos-both classical and jazz- a song cycle (premiered by Brigitte Fasbaender and an orchestral suite commissioned for the American Ballet Theatre. Praised as "one of the most exciting talents before the public today," pianist Jean-Yves Thibaudet is renowned for his eloquent phrasing, lustrous colors and brilliant technique. His poetic interpretations have won him a following throughout the United States and around the globe, having performed with virtually every major orchestra in the world. Yue Deng is one of today's outstanding Chinese violinists, having trained in China and at New York's Juilliard School.

Composer: Claus Ogerman
Performer: Jean-Yves Thibaudet, Yue Deng

Reviews: Haunting. Breathtaking. Cool. Sublime. Brilliant. Magnificent. The consistent quality about Claus Ogermann's writing for so many various performers is that it is so MESMERIZING. This particular performance of his "Works for Violin & Piano" (Sarabande-Fantasie/Duo Linco/Preludio and Chant/Nightwings) by French pianist Jean-Yves Thibaudet and vilolinist Yue Deng in these duo settings is NO exception. I first became aware of the classical pianist Thibaudet after hearing his marvelous 1997 jazz flavored solo piano recording, "Conversations With Bill Evans", on the London label; a heartfelt tribute by Thibaudet to the late, great jazz pianist Evans and no easy feat for a classically trained artist like Thibaudet. A native of Lyons, France, he became a major player on the international concert stage during the early 1980's. Violinist Yue Deng was born in Hebel, China and comes out of the Oberlin Conservatory and Julliard. She has recorded with Bar- bra Streisand, Barry Manilow, Diana Krall, Johnny Mandel, Willie Nelson, and Dionne Warwick, as well as playing on numerous movie scores. Ogermann's "Works for Violin and Piano" contains two pieces that were FIRST performed by the violinist Aaron Rosand in recorded orchestral settings: "Sarabande-Fantasie", from 1990 and the four movement "Concerto Lirico for Violin and Orchestra", from 1986 (known here as "Duo Lirico"), both found on a 1998 Ogermann cd on the Koch Label. The third piece on "Works" is "Preludio and Chant" (also found on the Rosand/Ogermann cd), written by Ogermann in 1979 for and first recorded by Latvian violinist Gidon Kremer, and dedicated to Manfred Grater of Cologne, Germany. The last selection, "Nightwings", is a gorgeous short piece by Ogermann that was first recorded by jazz violinist Joe Venuti in 1975, and has been covered by a wide variety of artists over the years, including guitarist Jan Akkerman, and the two, late, great jazz saxophonist's Stanley Turrentine ("Nightwings" from 1977), and Michael Brecker ("City- scape" from 1982), both recordings made, as well, with Ogerman and his Orchestra. I first heard "Nightwings" on Akkerman's classic 1978 "Aranjuez" record that was also made with Ogerman's Orchestra. Here, on "Works", "Nightwings" is described as the "fifteenth in a collection of relative- ly short pieces for violin and piano that were conceived as "encores". The (highly demanding) melo- dic content recalls a genre prized by virtually every great violin virtuoso of the past". The readings and performances by Thibaudet and Yue Deng of Ogermann's pieces on "Works" are brilliant, exqui- site, and stunning. Claus revelaed his only concern with this recording was to "stir the listener's emotions". He certainly accomplished that with me. A magnificent, haunting, and timeless work of art. EXTRAORDINARY. 500 million stars. P.S. For aother look at Yue Deng's impeccable playing on violin in a duo setting, check out her 2004 collaboration with pianist Roger Kellaway call- ed, "Yue Both Sides Now", available on Kellaway's own label, consisting of nine pieces with improvised piano and Yue's exquisite performances. The composers they cover include Django Reinhardt, Joni Mitchell, Duke Elling- ton, Bill Evans, Billy Strayhorn, and several original tunes by both Kellaway and Yue herself. Her incredible 11 minute solo performance of Strayhorn's "Lush Life" is, alone, worth having. Marvelous and HIGHLY recommended.