GANG-FLOW, Anne-Sandrine Di Girolamo

Virgil Boutellis-Taft unveils the incantatory powers of his violin. In a program where music reveals its magnetic and bewitching powers, this Aparté CD reveals the work of a virtuoso who transforms this hour of listening into an instant of pure reverie. The soloist and the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra conducted by Jac Van Steen here offer an intellectually and musically accomplished album… We are not far distant from the Dance Macabre of Saint-Saëns, masterfully performed by Virgil Boutellis-Taft … Music from an album where each piece responds to the previous one, and gives us profound moments of lyricism and unbridled imagination. Incantation is the album of a violinist who shapes the magic power of music, one who magnifies these fascinating works with his intense and stirring playing… The charming, dark raging or violent violin of Virgil Boutellis-Taft sings magic and bewitchment … This brilliant violinist knows how to capture the chaotic, unreasonable and oblivious part that is in the depth of each of us. Here in itself is the superior power of music. But only such a performer of the greatest talent can carry a wild virtuoso score up to transfiguration.