Best of Classic Meets Cuba

クラシック音楽とキューバの情熱の融合、新録を加えたベスト盤！
ドレスデン響のコントラバス奏者キリアン・フォースター等、ドイツ出身の3人のクラシック・ミュージシャンと、2人のキューバ・パーカッショニストの運命的な出逢いから生まれた、2つの世界の融合による斬新で独創的なサウンド。新録音を加えたこのベスト盤には、彼らの魅力が凝縮されています。

クラシックの気品とキューバの情熱。新録を加えたベスト・アルバム
ドレスデン響のコントラバス奏者でもあるキリアン・フォースター、ベティ・カーターなどとの共演経験があるドラマーのトビアス・フォースター、そしてドラマーでボチェッリやカレーラスのバックを努めたこともあるティム・ハーンという、ドイツ出身のクラシック・ミュージシャン3人が、ティンバレスの名手、アレクシス・エステベスとコンガ奏者のエリス・ロドリゲスというキューバのパーカッショニスト2人と運命的な出会いを果たし、クラシックとキューバという2つの世界を融合。斬新で独創的なサウンドを創り上げ、数々の作品をリリースしてきた。今作は、新録で「PAGANINI VARIATIONS」「REICH MIR DIE HAND（MOZART）」を新たに加えたベスト・アルバム！
ソニー・ミュージック

This is a compilation of material from four Classic Meets Cuba CDs, plus two new tracks, packaged without benefit of notes or any information about the project. Classic Meets Cuba is a collaboration involving a pair of German musician brothers, pianist Tobias Forster and bassist Kilian Forster, and several Cuban percussionists. It might have been helpful for buyers to know the origins of each track. The good news is that the compilation format displays the virtues of this idea to the maximum. The appeal of this music lies in the variety of ways theyve found to adapt the classics to Cuban percussion. Very few of them involve Baroque music, whose affinities to jazz in terms of consistent harmonic rhythm have made it the favorite among earlier crossover experimenters; when Classic Meets Cuba does do Bach, as in the Air (track 7), it actually breaks up the rhythm and melody. A number of the selections are taken from the groups Mozart Meets Cuba album of 2004, and these are impressive once again. Mozart and Beethoven, whose music depends fundamentally on changes in harmonic rhythm, would seem the toughest composer to transfer to this kind of arrangement, but the group actually finds ways to use the percussion to complement the dynamic of the music. Sample Guantanameritmo, track 2, based on the first movement of the Piano Sonata in C minor, K. 457, or the Beethoven Pathetique sonata that follows. Classic Meets Cuba sometimes does straight jazz improvisation on classical tunes, but more often they rethink the piece and devise an arrangement that involves both the original material and the percussion as a unified whole. It all comes together with one of the two new tracks, the Paganini Variations (tracks 13-19), where the possibilities of the ensemble are explored more systematically. Highly recommended for jazz/classical crossover fans.

This is a compilation of material from four Classic Meets Cuba CDs, plus two new tracks, packaged without benefit of notes or any information about the project. Classic Meets Cuba is a collaboration involving a pair of German musician brothers, pianist Tobias Forster and bassist Kilian Forster, and several Cuban percussionists. It might have been helpful for buyers to know the origins of each track. The good news is that the compilation format displays the virtues of this idea to the maximum. The appeal of this music lies in the variety of ways theyve found to adapt the classics to Cuban percussion. Very few of them involve Baroque music, whose affinities to jazz in terms of consistent harmonic rhythm have made it the favorite among earlier crossover experimenters; when Classic Meets Cuba does do Bach, as in the Air (track 7), it actually breaks up the rhythm and melody. A number of the selections are taken from the groups Mozart Meets Cuba album of 2004, and these are impressive once again. Mozart and Beethoven, whose music depends fundamentally on changes in harmonic rhythm, would seem the toughest composer to transfer to this kind of arrangement, but the group actually finds ways to use the percussion to complement the dynamic of the music. Sample Guantanameritmo, track 2, based on the first movement of the Piano Sonata in C minor, K. 457, or the Beethoven "Pathetique" sonata that follows. Classic Meets Cuba sometimes does straight jazz improvisation on classical tunes, but more often they rethink the piece and devise an arrangement that involves both the original material and the percussion as a unified whole. It all comes together with one of the two new tracks, the Paganini Variations (tracks 13-19), where the possibilities of the ensemble are explored more systematically. Highly recommended for jazz/classical crossover fans.~James Manheim

〈クラシック・ミーツ・キューバ〉シリーズから初のベスト！ドイツ出身のピアノ・トリオと、キューバのパーカッショニスト２人によるユニット。発売されるたびに大人気でした。ジャジーで自由な洗練されたアレンジとピアノの音色の美しさ。情熱的なキューバン・リズムが絶妙に融合。印象的で楽しい楽曲をセレクト。モーツァルトの《交響曲第４０番》をマンボのリズムで。激しいリズム、降り注ぐ音の雨でベートーヴェンの《悲愴》、バッハの《Ｇ線上のアリア》はしっとりバラードなど。これは聴いてみないと体験できない、素敵で楽しいアルバムです。
intoxicate (C)上村友美絵