Jean-Marc Foltz and Stephan Oliva - Visions fugitives (2012) [Hi-Res]

His long friendship and complicity with Stephan Oliva gave clarinettist Jean Marc Foltz the desire to release this first album, Visions fugitives, on his newly born label, which also bears the name of the title of the Prokofiev work that inspired the duo, of which the pianist plays an extract as an introduction. This is followed by various pieces in which jazz and classical music play mirror games. Using themes borrowed from the classical repertoire (Brahms, Poulenc, Berg) and great standards (Naima, Lonnie's Lament), the two musicians blur the aesthetic boundaries of this programme with amazing talent, where composition and improvisation merge, between improvising interpretations and composed improvisations. However, the performers do not take liberties with respect to the text of the classical pages, contrary to what the effect of newness in sound would suggest, as in the Andante un poco adagio of Brahms' Clarinet Sonata, in which Stéphan Oliva asserts that he has neither added nor subtracted anything from the score. It is therefore their innovative approach, in sound and phrasing, that gives the impression of different music.
This look to classical music by jazz performers is not new: in 1963 Benny Goodman premiered Poulenc's Clarinet Sonata in New York with Leonard Bernstein at the piano. This chamber music recital may not really be jazz music, but what is certain is that the high-flying duo formed by Stephan Oliva and Jean Marc Foltz gives us the chance to hear some beautifully played music.

Tracklist:
1 01. Jean-Marc Foltz - Lentamente - introduction (02:06)
1 02. Jean-Marc Foltz - Adage (03:12)
1 03. Jean-Marc Foltz - Part II (02:45)
1 04. Jean-Marc Foltz - Récit (01:39)
1 05. Jean-Marc Foltz - Romanza (04:46)
1 06. Jean-Marc Foltz - Between Green and Grey (03:39)
1 07. Jean-Marc Foltz - Naima (05:22)
1 08. Jean-Marc Foltz - Vier Stücke I (01:08)
1 09. Jean-Marc Foltz - Variation Berg #1 (01:26)
1 10. Jean-Marc Foltz - Variation Berg #2 (01:50)
1 11. Jean-Marc Foltz - Vier Stücke II (02:19)
1 12. Jean-Marc Foltz - Andante un poco adagio (05:19)
1 13. Jean-Marc Foltz - Reminiscence (02:45)
1 14. Jean-Marc Foltz - Lonnie's Lament (05:43)