Blanc

by Angele Dubeau, La Pieta

Overview

This release by Quebec violinist Angele Dubeau is dedicated specifically to Dubeau's fellow survivors of serious illness, in her case cancer, expressing the aim of "luminous music that can bring interior peace through its strength and powerful evocation." As such it might seem to differ little from any number of other crossover releases filled with mellow tunes. But Dubeau's album has reached the Canadian Top Ten, indicating that plenty of healthy buyers have found it. What sets it apart from the competition is first the variety of the music that gets fit into the basic middle-of-the-road template, and second the rich string arrangements that surround Dubeau's violin and its piercing yet sweet tone. Her version of Cat Stevens' "Morning Has Broken" sounds like one of the lush Japanese string orchestra Beatles arrangements from the 1960s. But even better is the mixture of tunes that Dubeau and her all-female ensemble La Pieta adapt for their purposes: the music is a good deal more heterogeneous than it may seem. Try to find another album on which Stevens coexists with Osvaldo Golijov, Ennio Morricone, Ryuichi Sakamoto, and even the iconoclastic American-South African rocker Shawn Phillips. Ultimately your reaction to this album will depend on how you feel about an entire program of uniformly moderate-tempo and tonally plain melodies, but anyone may find Dubeau's release more effective than expected. Studio sound from a multimedia center at McGill University in Montreal is a major plus. ~ James Manheim

Product Details

Release Date:	03/18/2014
Label:	Analekta
UPC:	0774204873721
Rank:	7562

Tracks

1. Bioshock~The Ocean on His Shoulders / Pairbond
2. The Man Who Cried~Close Your Eyes
3. The Distance Between
4. Postcards from the Sky: Unfolding Sky
5. Kikujiro~The Rain
6. Morning Has Broken
7. Mario~Mario
8. Addio Monti (Promessi Sposi)
9. Appalachia Waltz
10. Fujiyama
11. The Desert and the Parched Land
12. Bibo No Aozora
13. Tony Takitani~Solitude
14. Woman - She Was Waiting for Her Mother at the Station in Torino and You Know I Love You Baby But It's Getting Too Heavy to Laugh

Album Credits

Performance Credits

Angele Dubeau   Primary Artist,Conductor,Violin
La Pieta   Primary Artist,Ensemble

Technical Credits

Angele Dubeau   Liner Notes
Osvaldo Golijov   Composer
Cat Stevens   Composer
Mark O'Connor   Composer
Garry Schyman   Composer
Adrian Munsey   Composer
Ryuichi Sakamoto   Composer
Joe Hisaishi   Composer
Ennio Morricone   Composer
Carl Talbot   Mixing,Engineer,Producer,Mastering
Dave Brubeck   Composer
Francois Dompierre   Composer
Chris Johns   Recording Editor,Assistant Engineer
Marjan Mozetich   Composer
Julie M. Fournier   Production Director
Shawn Phillips   Composer
Antonio Stradivari   Instrument Design
Francois Mario Labbe   Artistic Director,Executive Producer
Luc Robitaille   Photography
Jonathan Hong   Assistant Engineer
Serge Harel   Piano Technician
Marie Dubeau-Labbe   Proof Reading,Liner Note Translation
Kathleen Desilets   Production Assistant