A pearl in the world of crossovers

In the 1960s, the Swingle Singers divided music lovers by recording Jazz Sebastian Bach. Many of them were outraged. How can you "attack" Bach by "swinging" him? It was a time when the cantatas performed by Karl Richter were one of the benchmarks. In 1970, Harnoncourt and Leonhardt conducted the first volume of a 60-disc series of the complete cantatas. A bombshell in the recording world. With their historically documented interpretations, the beginning of a long story, they could only prove the Swingle Singers right: it had become obvious that Bach had to "swing"!

Clara Barry takes an even bolder gamble: jazzing up Bartók's melodies. As with the Swingle Singers, some afficionados will be shocked. But we're spellbound! Let's not forget the composer's friendship with Benny Goodman...

First flash: the voice. Just don't get stuck in habits. Clara Barry does not sing "operatically". Note that when Bartók criss-crossed the countryside to record the folk melodies that often inspired his works, the singers he captured were not singing Pamina at the Budapest opera. Clara Barry uses a jazzy vocal projection, coloring the melodies in innovative ways. She tells a story and takes us by the hand with great sensitivity.

Second flash: harmony. Of course, Bartók is a master of harmony. But here, if the spirit remains, Emil Spányi's piano adorns Bartók's melodies with colors reminiscent of Bill Evans or Keith Jarret. The result is overwhelming! Mátyás Szandai makes the pizzicati of his double bass sing with a unique poetic involvement, and Hector Léna-Schroll's trumpet lights up one of the tracks on this CD, a unique and all-too-brief appearance! A song by Kodály and two Swedish folk pieces complete the program.

The crossover trend, the hybridization of two musical genres, has not only produced masterpieces. Here, we are faced with a pearl. It doesn't sacrifice one style for another (Bartók/Jazz), but rather takes the gamble of fusing genres to create something totally innovative. The gamble really paid off.

Clara Barry sings Bartók. Emil Spányi, piano; Mátyás Szandai, bass. Claves 50-3088