American Record Guide
We begin with unusually sensitive performances of Robert Schumann’s attractive folk-style pieces played to a turn. Suddenly we are turned over to total madness with Tristan Murail (b. 1947) whose Attracteurs Etranges (1992) is for a very lonely cello, a nine-minute sound experiment. His Letter de Vincent 2018) has a flute arguing with the cello for another eight minutes of increasing beauty, though still non-tonal in essence.
Suddenly we’re back in Schumannland with the cello taking the place of the intended clarinet in the three lovely Fantasy Pieces, played here with beauty. Suddenly the world awakes with a long breath, followed by scratches as the cellist attempts to arise from a dream, but of what? ‘C’est un jardin secret, ma soeur, ma fiancée, une fontaine close, une source scellée’. It is for a lonesome cello and lasts under five minutes. Then we pretend we’re back with Schumann in an arrangement by Murail of the 13 Kinderszenen for flute, cello, and piano.
Murail writes his own liner notes in English and French and explains himself in amusing detail. The playing is excellent. If you can take the strange modernity of the concept, the result is played and recorded with clarity.
David W Moore (American Record Guide
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