Reviews

This incredible album was my introduction to the whole ‘Chopin stream in Polish jazz’ genre... a deep dive I thoroughly recommend. It opened up a whole world of Polish jazz musicians from traditional classical backgrounds, all reverently breathing fresh life into works by their beloved national hero!

Out of all the jazzed-up classical albums I’ve ever heard, this is the most remarkable in terms of keeping the satisfying classical architectural structure of a long-form work such as Chopin’s Second Piano Sonata, while at the same time significantly transforming the material into jazz. This is not just some superficial jazzy noodling around catchy riffs from the classical original – and as much as I love the genre of jazzed-up classical music, I can understand how this can be a very valid criticism of most of it... No, every single time I listen to this, I’m blown away by how the trio perfectly balances all the intricate aspects of Chopin’s Sonata with the style and improvisatory character of the jazz world. This is art at the highest level – and it also swings and grooves!

Although I knew I loved Loussier’s jazzed-up Bach through his Air on the G String, which was used very memorably for those Hamlet cigar TV adverts that I saw all through my childhood – this was the first full jazzed-up classical album I’d ever properly listened to when I was in my 20s, and I absolutely wore this CD out!

I have to admit, it took me a lot of time to warm up to Bach when I was younger – and I really think this isn’t helped by the habit that most concert pianists have of playing Bach in an overly serious, intellectual, and constipated way. Just my opinion of course... And then I found Glenn Gould’s 1955 recording of the Goldbergs, which was a revelation to me! It was only a few years later that I came across Loussier’s version, and Bach was truly unlocked for me. What I think these two recordings have in common is a sheer exuberance and joy – an unselfconscious delight in the music for its own sake without being concerned about what critics might think. I believe many ‘serious’ pianists could learn a huge amount from Loussier’s version.