Tag: Europe

Jacques Dutronc | Paris s’Éveille

“Jacques Dutronc might be a cool name to drop when discussing debonair Gallic musical greats, but there is a surprising dearth of material written about him outside the Francosphere,” (The Guardian). “In his home country he is a household name and the subject of countless biographies … The Parisian’s ascent to teen idol status wasn’t overnight. He burst through as a positively ancient 23-year-old … charting with the garage R&B of ‘Et Moi Et Moi Et Moi‘ in 1966. Hitherto, he’d been known as a fine session guitarist for other artists such as Eddy Mitchell, Micky Amline and Gene Vincent.

As a teenager, Dutronc, like so many others, was inspired by the burgeoning sound of rock’n’roll coming out of the US, and in 1959 he picked up the guitar for the first time … Just when it looked as if he might be on to a winning streak, Dutronc was called up for national service, and (his musical projects) El Toro and Les Cyclones fizzled out. Dutronc was impossibly handsome and suave, emoting in the boulevardier style to keep the mums on side, with just enough Dylanisms (shaggy fringe, chattery, circumlocutory rapping) to make him positively au courant … The hits kept coming, and in 1968 he scored another #1 with ‘Il Est Cinq Heures, Paris s’Éveille’ (It’s five o’clock, Paris is waking) … In France, Dutronc is as synonymous with (the 1960s) as les Beatles and la mini-jupe, while in territories elsewhere his cigar-chomping visage is the true embodiment of French pop at its most chic.”

“Paris s’Éveille” alternates between A minor for the verses and A major for the choruses. An agile flute darts around the edges of the vocal line, nearly constantly present but never upstaging the lyric.

Franz von Chossy Quintet | Perpetual Lights

“Franz von Chossy was a Munich native who began playing the piano when he was 6,” (JazzInfo). “His mother introduced him to classical music and encouraged him to learn folk music. Franz went to Amsterdam to study at The Conservatoire of Amsterdam. He then moved to New York to attend the Manhattan School of Music, where he studied with Kenny Barron and Garry Dial, Dave Liebman and John Taylor. He also studied film composition with Edward Green in New York.

Franz has released numerous critically acclaimed CDs under his own name, as well as his quintet and his trio. Franz has played in Europe, America, Canada, Asia, India, Jordan, and Syria as well as Africa (Tunisia and Morocco) and Asia. Franz is a valuable member of jazz groups such as the Pascal Schumacher Quartet or Arifa. His ability to improvise … allows him seamlessly switch between styles …”

“The new suite from the Franz von Chossy Quintet, When the World Comes Home, is a musical interpretation of the expulsion of Adam and Eve from paradise,” (JazzSick Records). “Von Chossy’s evocative piano playing moves between jazz and classical music and infused with fresh, contemporary accents by his band. Inspired by his collaboration with the Metropole Orchestra, he composed a cinema-like suite with Adam, Eve, and the fall of man as its points of departure … When the World Comes Home features an extraordinary line-up of piano, drums, cello, violin and clarinet.”

“Perpetual Lights,” the album’s opening track, is an ambitious piece of more than eight minutes in length. One of the few through-lines from start to finish is a restless subdivision of each beat into 16th notes — softly stated by the percussion or carried only by the piano. At other times, the 16ths grow into an overlay for something close to a straight-ahead rock groove, all the more noticeable because the melody often features sustained notes and phrases. The unusual instrumentation jumps out here and there: we hear a cello where we’d expect a bass; the violin and clarinet speak as one at first, then jump into dialogue. The piece starts in Eb, shifts to Bb minor at 1:09, then changes to C minor at 1:28. More changes in tonality follow.

Jacques Ibert | Française (Lorenzo Micheli, guitar)

French composer Jacques Ibert’s “skill (at) improvisation became useful when he was employed as a pianist at silent movie theatres, where he composed scores  to fit the action on the screen,” (JacquesIbert.fr). “He later was to write over sixty film scores for sound movies. World War I interrupted Ibert’s studies at the Conservatoire. He joined an army medical unit, and was decorated with the Croix de Guerre by the French government.”

After his military service, Ibert continued to lead a life of high achievement, not only as composer but as a French citizen. “Shortly after returning to the Conservatoire, Ibert stood for the competition for the Premier Grand Prix (Prix de Rome). He won the prize,which meant living up to three years in Rome at the Villa Medici, in October 1919. In 1937, Ibert was named Director of L’Académie de France à Rome, the first musician to hold this post. In 1955, Ibert was appointed General Administrator of the Réunion des Théâtres Lyriques Nationaux (the combined management of Paris Opera and Opera Comique). In 1956, he was elected to the Académie des Beaux Arts of the Institut de France.”

Ibert wrote “Française” for guitar in 1926. “Ibert … wrote a number of operas, ballets, and film scores, as well as orchestral, vocal, and chamber music and some thirty instrumental pieces,” (ThisIsClassicalGuitar). The “Française” … “is a virtuosic composition with a startlingly original guitaristic style. This lively dance with roots in folk-music in 2/8 time begins with rapid triplets interspersed with linking scalic passages. A middle section offers ingenious harmonic modulations, intricate cross rhythms and short bursts of melody, leading to a reprise of the first section and a vigorous coda.” After a start in C major, the piece modulates to E major at 0:45. More shifts in tonality follow.

Ennio Morricone | Se Telefonando (feat. Mina)

“(Morricone’s) film scores alone spanned jazz, lushly romantic orchestrations, supremely freaked-out psychedelic rock and all points in between; outside of cinema, he worked in everything from 60s Europop to avant-garde modern classical …The most celebrated of Morricone’s diversions into pop music, at least in Italy, ‘Se Telefonando’ is a perfect example of what Anglophone pop audiences missed by snootily ignoring anything not sung in English: a fantastic, epic ballad fit to take on anything that came from Bacharach and David’s pens in the same era, complete with very Morricone-esque idiosyncrasies,” (The Guardian). “Its chorus melody was apparently influenced by the sound of a French police siren, and its bass notes are augmented by the sound of trombones.”

“One of the most beloved and iconic performers in Italian history, vocalist Mina was a fixture on the pop music scene in the ’60s and ’70s … “(AllMusic). “Her lush and powerful voice put a distinctive mark on her music, which frequently jumped genres, from Italian pop and R&B to bossa nova, jazz, and even disco … she was a trailblazing figure who challenged social mores and became a symbol for female empowerment, pushing boundaries with her liberated image and unapologetic lyrics. Into the 21st century, her prolific and genre-shifting output kept her atop the charts with over a dozen number one albums and multiple hit singles.”

“Se Telefonando” (1966) starts in F# major, its verse building gradually. The short chorus is heard for the first time in F# as well, but a common-tone modulation to A# hits at 1:19 for a re-statement of the chorus as the tune climbs to its highest point. At 1:49, the track returns to its original key with another chorus, only to climb back to A# at 2:14 with yet another chorus. We gradually realize there will be no subsequent verse as the tune fades!

Les Flechettes | Les Gens

“People” has been Barbra Streisand’s signature song since its release in 1964. The tune was written by Bob Merill and Jule Styne for the musical Funny Girl, a play about the life of comedian Fanny Brice, with Streisand playing the lead in the original Broadway production. The producers did not much like the song, but Streisand’s compelling performance during try-outs made it a keeper. Streisand’s recording strikes a wistful, plaintive tone. The orchestral backing features sweet strings, and a plodding string bass marking the slow tempo. Her record won the 1964 Grammy for Song of the Year.

Nothing wrong with that, but enter Les Fléchettes (“The Darts” in translation), a French pop group consisting of two sisters and their cousins. They recorded a couple of albums in the late 1960s, including the 1969 tune here. The group later reformed as Cocktail, the French entrants for the 1986 Eurovision song contest.

“Les Gens” is based on “People”, though you might struggle to discern that. The French lyrics were written by Eddy Marnay, a songwriter and producer, who won the 1969 Eurovision song contest as a lyricist, and produced several of Celine Dion’s early albums. Those lyrics, while not a direct translation, retain the overall theme of the English version. The pop arrangement here is happy and bright, and the prominent electric bass offers a soupçon of funk. The key goes up a half-step at 2:06.

The B-side of the single is also a French version of a song originally recorded in English, the Turtles’ song “Elenore”. The deliberately-dumb lyrics of the original are replaced by conventional love-theme lyrics in “Une Fille Est Toujours Belle”. Like the original, it modulates between minor verses to major choruses.

Junior Senior | Take My Time

“Junior Senior were a Danish pop duo. The duo consisted of Jesper ‘Junior’ Mortensen and Jeppe ‘Senior’ Laursen,” (Discogs). “They were well known for their 2002 single ‘Move Your Feet,’ which gained worldwide success in 2003, most notably in the United Kingdom.” The track barely made a scratch in the US, peaking at #45 on the US Dance chart — the band’s most prominent release in the States. But the tune reached #4 in Denmark, #20 in Australia, #11 in France, and #3 in the UK.

The duo’s 2005 release “Take My Time,” from the album Hey Hey My My Yo Yo, sounds like an update on the sound of the US-based band B-52s because … it is: B-52s vocalists Kate Pierson and Cindy Wilson are both featured on the track.

Sounding for all the world like a late ’80s/early ’90s B-52s hit with a bit less frenetic energy, a lot less intra-band banter, and a broader harmonic vocabulary, “Take My Time” is a pop/funk fête delivered by a band that brings “joyful energy … mix(ing) all kinds of genres in a melting funky pot with a big smile on their faces,” (MTV). The track features half-step modulations at 2:48 (with an uninterrupted groove) and 3:14 (after what seems like a false ending — until the decrescendo shifts into reverse and the groove returns).

Ludwig van Beethoven | Piano Sonata 5, Op. 10 #1, Third Movement

“Beethoven was a classical musician. He used the same grammar rules that you can find in Haydn’s works,” (Jaime Kardontchik, “Modulation in Beethoven’s Sonatas“). “So why does his keyboard music sound so vastly different from Haydn’s or Mozart’s music? For one thing, he was a son of the French Revolution with its Republican ideas of Liberty, Fraternity and Equality. He was an eighteen year old teenager when in 1789 the French Revolution shattered the pillars of the old monarchical world and he enthusiastically embraced these new ideas.

But what made in the end his keyboard music so distinctive is that papa Haydn and the younger Mozart grew up with and perfected the technique of playing and composing for the 4.5-octave harpsichord … Mozart died prematurely in 1791. The young Beethoven grew up together with this new and different keyboard instrument, the forte-piano. He extracted from the forte-piano every new sound possible as the piano makers were improving the instrument and expanding its range up to the present 7.5-octave piano as it is known today. Beethoven loved its sound, however imperfect the instrument was in his time; he understood the almost unlimited possibilities it opened for the expression of new musical ideas, took the risk, and bet on it. And two hundred years later, we are happy he did so. But historical circumstances and technical developments are clearly not enough to explain the individual and his contribution: he was simply Beethoven.”

After a start in C minor, a modulation into the relative major key (Eb) is in effect between 0:33 – 1:11). The 1798 sonata’s sprightly prestissimo movement continues to transition between the two relative keys throughout, passing through other keys (C major included) in the process.

Trijntje Oosterhuis | What the World Needs Now

Vocalist Trijntje Oosterhuis has been part of the Dutch pop scene since the 1990s. After touring with saxophonist Candy Dulfer, she formed the band “Total Touch” with her brother Tjeerd, releasing two successful albums in the late 90s. She went on to embark on a solo career.

She has released two albums of Burt Bacharach songs, The Look of Love (2006) and Who’ll Speak for Love (2007), with Bacharach performing on some of the tracks.

The selection here, “What the World Needs Now,” another Bacharach/David song, was a hit for Jackie DeShannon in 1965 (Billboard #7). The video is taken from a 2008 DVD release, Ken Je Mij (Do You Know Me), a series of duets with Uruguayan guitarist Leonardo Amuedo.

There’s a dramatic whole-step modulation at 2:40.

Antonin Dvořák | String Quartet in F Major (Op. 96, B. 179, “American”), movement I: Allegro ma non troppo (Dover Quartet)

“In 1892, the American philanthropist Jeanette Thurber persuaded Czech composer Antonin Dvořák to head her newly formed National Conservatory of Music in New York City for three years, (MusicProgramNotes.com) … “Within a year, Dvořák had composed his Symphony in E-Minor ‘from the New World,’ … Directly after composing the ‘New World’ Symphony, Dvořák took a long summer holiday in 1893 in Spillville, Iowa … Amidst nature and his countrymen, Dvořák overflowed with musical ideas. Within three days he sketched out his entire String Quartet No. 12, later nicknamed the ‘American‘ … There is no movement without a gorgeous melody, and equally enticing are their delightful accompaniments … The American is unreservedly a masterpiece and crowd pleaser.”

The Guardian, placing Dvořák in his overall historic context: “As well as raising American consciousness of its Native American and African American traditions – a stance seen by some as vindicated by the emergence of jazz – Dvořák influenced a new generation of Czech composers, whose work was even more implicitly nationalistic. He befriended the young Janáček, who would eventually develop his music differently, but his mentor’s example was crucial. Dvořák also influenced his violinist and composer son-in-law, Josef Suk, who in turn briefly taught Bohuslav Martinů. Martinů’s assessment of Dvořák said it best: ‘If anyone expressed a healthy and happy relationship with life, it was he.’”

The quartet’s first movement begins in F major and features many side-steps into other keys, but an A major section starting at 1:38 is particularly striking.