This is an unexpected and very clever proposition. This is not the first time that the Beatles’ music has been arranged in a “classical way”. Francis Colpron and his Boréades (ATMA) had great success with Beatles baroque (I & II), “baroque” pastiches of famous songs. Former concertmaster of the Berlin Philharmonic, Guy Braunstein proceeds differently: he only takes the latest album, Abbey Road, and attempts to make it a credible violin concerto, where the songs would be so many themes. It is therefore a kind of journey, which does not follow the order of the album and which is also “post-Korngold/Waxman” formatted in a continuum nourished by binders and interludes. It is very pleasant to listen to, whatever the affinities or degree of intimacy with the original, and the successful partnership with the Orchester de Liège and Alondra de la Parra continues in The Lark Ascending by Vaughan Williams and the rare Violin Concerto of Delius, an excellent opportunity to become acquainted with the latter’s refinement.
To watch on video