Stephane Delicq's new CD, La Compagne des Anges, offers just over an hour of his compositions, which work equally well for listening or for dancing in couples.
The instrumentation is limited to diatonic accordeon (Stephane), violin and alto violin (Francois Michaud), double bass (Benoit Dunoyer de Segonzac), and flute (Daniel Barda), which weave an atmosphere of intense Romanticism and nostalgia for a dream half-forgotten - you might say the musical equivalent of Alain Fournier's "Le Grand Meaulnes". Stephane often attributes this tendency to his mixed French/Ukrainian parentage, reflected in the occasional Russian titles. Interestingly the string musicians both come from jazz backgrounds, an unusual and refreshing contrast in the recipe.
Dancers may like to know that the music covers waltzes in 3, 5 and 8-time, mazurkas, rondeau (couple), an dro, tango and beguine.
Jessica Abrahams, 1997/07/25
Released in mid-July 1997. Available in France from:
Stephane Delicq, 2 rue de mairie, BARJAC 48000, France Tel/Fax: 33 + 4 66 47 10 36
for 130FF, or in England from Jessica Abrahams, email: J.Abrahams@lancaster.ac.uk at £14.00 incl. p+p.