Richard Galliano Quartet - If You Love Me

This album by accordionist Richard Galliano is entitled If You Love Me ( L'Hymne à l'Amour ) and it marks the beginning of a significant collaboration with Gary Burton, an outstanding vibes player who, like Galliano, is a musician of extraordinary poetic feeling. The rhythm is made up of the vastly experienced bass player George Mraz and drummer Clarence Penn, one of the best drummers of his generation.
In If You Love Me ( L'Hymne à l'Amour ) there are five tracks by the magnificent Argentine composer and bandoneon player Astor Piazzolla: Milonga Is Coming, Triunfal, Soledad, Operation Tango and Romance del Diablo. Besides the splendid melody that gives the CD its title, written by Edith Piaf and Marguerite Monnot, there are Waltz For Debby by Bill Evans, the beautiful theme from the film Il Postino by Louis Bacalov and Para Jobim by Galliano. To complete this fine picture is a piece by Bach, taken
from his Symphony No. 11 in D Minor. Richard Galliano affirms This album evokes, I believe, an intense emotion and profound feeling of Peace and Love, a chiaroscuro like a Rembrandt painting or a poem by Lamartine. The vibraphone s blades vibrate with the keys of my accordion and will, I hope, make your soul vibrate to this Hymne à l'Amour that raises itself, more than ever, against violence, terrorism and war. Words to which there is no need to add more. Product Description

Over-rated

I had heard a really good CD of accordions playing classical works... and was amazed. Then I heard an excerpt of this CD (the "sinfonia" track) which turned out to be, easily, the best track. It's not bad, but it didn't move me. January 20, 2008

European Jazz for the European In You

I've purchased a half dozen of Galliano's CDs with various ensembles and orchestras, but this one is ODD. It's just very Euro-Progressive-Jazz flavored and gets lost in Cacophonia sometimes. Galliano's offerings from a few years ago, with him and others, including Toots Theilmanns, are more palatable for me....Unless you are a European, and used to the Euro-Frantic attack, this might be unsettling. It was for me, now I just avoid playing it. November 27, 2007

Hymn To Love

Richard Galliano, the world's no. 1 accordian player, seems to be in a very productive period lately, as he is issuing several new albums in a relative short period of time, in different settings. This new album is right up there with the best of his impressive and increasingly substantial discography and a wonderful addition to it, as it unites the beautifully blending sounds of Mr Galliano's accordion with Mr Burton's vibraphone on a gorgeous set of tunes, half of which coming from their common late friend Astor Piazzolla, most of which were recorded by Astor Piazzolla together with Gary Burton on a live album some 20+ years ago.

Both living artists, who always put the melody first instead of showing their mere virtuosity, have already previously released tributes to Mr Piazzolla, but none of their individual tributes has reached the heights of this collaboration. The album's opener is certainly one of the album's highlights and is sure to send shivers down your spine and will surely not be the last this happens while listening to this album. Special mention deserve also the subtle rhythm tandem, consisting of two other masters of their art, George Mraz on bass and Clarence Penn on drums, who know how to support this music optimally. As Richard Galliano rightly notes in his liner notes, this album provokes "an intense emotion and profound feeling of Peace and Love", or as I would call it, this music soothes the soul. Therefore, my only criticism towads this album is that instead of "If You Love Me" it would have been more appropriate to name it "Hymn To Love", which would have been a literal translation of the French title song contained in this marvelous collection. Not to be missed.
September 7, 2007

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