From Bach to Bluegrass to Balkan Beats, the mandolin is the chameleon of the music world – every culture and musical genre features the mandolin or one of its close relatives – and Avi Avital is this beautiful instrument’s most charismatic, versatile exponent.
After the success of “Bach”, Avi returns to again defy expectations with a selection of beautiful melodies and delightful dances from Europe, Central Asia, and the Americas, each with roots in popular folk traditions, arranged by some of the world’s greatest classical composers. The resulting dialogue – between North and South, East and West, New and Old, Classical and Traditional – offers a captivating musical journey “Between Worlds”.
Review:
Fresh off an album of music by Bach, Israeli mandolinist Avi Avital returns
with an album of 20th century music influenced by folk traditions. Much is made
in the booklet about the boundary-crossing nature of the program, but really,
aside from the fairly unusual but entirely appropriate music by Georgian
composer Sulkhan Tsintsadze, it is a pretty standard collection of ethnic
material. It stands out for several reasons, however, one of which is simply
that it's been a while since the mandolin has been asked to do so many
different things. Another is the arrangements, some of which are by Avital
himself: they surround the mandolin with delicate little groups of strings
and/or harp, accordion, clarinet, and percussion. The effect is to set off many
of the quieter mandolin effects, all of which are very elegantly executed, quite
clearly. Major credit is due to Deutsche Grammophon's engineers, working at
the Siemens-Villa Konzertsaal studio in Berlin, but Avital himself contributes a
kind of confidence that makes you forget you're listening to a mandolin playing
all kinds of things it wasn't designed for. His version of Astor
Piazzolla's Fuga y misterio provides fresh evidence of the adaptability of that
composer's music to almost any medium, and really only the Siete canciones
populares españolas of Falla don't quite make the transition successfully.
A must for mandolin lovers.
All Music Guide – James Manheim