Composer: Iain Farrington
Performer: Art Deco Trio
Format: FLAC (tracks)
Label: Somm
Catalogue: SOMMCD0663
Release: 2023
Size: 1.2 GB
Recovery: +3%
Scan: cover
01. The Bite of the Flumblebee (After Rimsky-Korsakov)
02. Valerie Takes a Ride (After Wagner’s WWV 86B)
03. Elise’s Blues (After Beethoven’s WoO 59)
04. Arrival Revival (After Handel)
05. One Night in Seville (After Bizet’s WD 31)
06. Jiffy Dance (After Bizet’s WD 31)
07. Saturday in the Park with Elgar (After Elgar)
08. Country Breaks (After Beethoven)
09. Jim’s Nobody (After Satie)
10. Hungarian High-Five (After Brahms’s WoO 1)
11. 3am Lullaby (After Brahms’s Op. 49 No. 4)
12. There’s a Storm Brewiing (After Vivaldi’s RV 315)
A Sea Shanty Shake-Up
13. I. What Shall We Do with the Drunken Sailor
14. II. Lowlands
15. III. Sailor’s Hornpipe
Lay my burden down
16. I. When I Lay My Burden Down
17. II. Sometimes I Feel Like a Motherless Child
18. III. Amazing Grace
19. IV. Steal Away
20. V. Every Time I Feel the Spirit
SOMM Recordings is pleased to announce Classical Changes, a second disc by the Art Deco Trio, which treats favourite classical pieces to delightful and often dazzling jazz-accented re-workings in variegated arrangements by Iain Farrington. Comprising three remarkable instrumentalists – Peter Sparks clarinet, Kyle Horch saxophone, Iain Farrington piano – the Art Deco Trio is a virtuosic powerhouse in performance and made its acclaimed label debut with Gershwinicity (SOMMCD0631) in 2021. Also featuring five African-American Spirituals and three sea shanties, Classical Change takes the early-20th-century fashion for ‘Jazzing the Classics’ at face value with a collection of 20 first recordings of scintillating new arrangements, translating the works’ ‘original sober environment into one that was more intoxicated’, as Farrington tellingly comments in his booklet notes. Familiar pieces by Beethoven, Brahms and Rimsky-Korsakov are respectively refashioned in the, by turns, evocative, exuberant and ecstatic ‘Elise’s Blues’, ‘Hungarian High-Five’ and ‘The Bite of the Flumblebee’. Similar treatment is afforded Bizet (the excitable ‘Jiffy Dance’ and sultry ‘One Night in Seville’), the ceremonial pomp of Handel (‘Arrival Revival’), grandeur of Elgar (‘Saturday in the Park with Elgar’), and grandiosity of Wagner (‘Valerie Takes a Ride’) alongside vivacious re-imaginings of Satie and Vivaldi. The trio of sea shanties in A Sea Shanty Shake-Up and the five-part Lay My Burden Down, drawn from African-American Spirituals, prove pleasingly amenable to Farrington’s jazz-laced re-fashioning of their various messages and moods.
The practice of performers adapting popular tunes has a long history, and the jazz movement that emerged in the early 20th century picked right up on the trend. For the Art Deco Trio’s sophomore release, Classical Changes, pianist Iain Farrington has done more than simply transcribing this veritable who’s who of classical hits, essentially recomposing them for himself and his fellow Trio members, Peter Sparks (clarinet) and Kyle Horch (saxophone). A quick glance at the track titles on this program will likely elicit a chuckle, but the witty titles relate to Farrington’s take on the tunes. The Art Deco Trio offers a variety of styles in these interpretations, kicking things off with the snappy “The Bite of the Flumblebee” (after Rimsky-Korsakov’s Flight of the Bumblebee), which will give listeners a sample of the technical skill held by the Trio members. Elsewhere, the Trio offers takes on Beethoven’s Für Elise with “Elise’s Blues” (transforming it into a forlorn tale of love lost), two pieces from Bizet’s Carmen, and even remakes Brahms’ Wiegenlied (“Lullaby”). Beyond the classical hits offered by the Trio are two suites that Farrington had originally arranged for different instrumentation before further adapting them: A Sea Shanty Shake-Up, for orchestra, and a collection of African American spirituals and traditional songs, Lay My Burden Down, which was first arranged for organ. A Sea Shanty Shake-Up is pure fun and fits the players well. On the other hand, while Lay My Burden Down has some quality moments, the clarinet-saxophone-piano sound doesn’t quite have the weight required for the original songs, which could benefit from a more fleshed-out instrumentation and arrangement. There is something here for fans of classical and jazz music alike, and it may create new fans of both.