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The “Dance with Bartok” project saw the light
when France Musique, a French national radio affiliate
commissioned me to write a musical creation.
The concept behind this ‘carte blanche’
was to initiate a project involving jazz musicians
and classical soloists.
The choice of Bela Bartok’s “Romanian dances”
came from my personal interest
in traditional folk musics.
I have always been touched by the powerful impact
of the intense melodies that belong to our music heritage,
the timeless songs that are part of the collective unconscious.
When I write music, I am largely inspired
by my search for new sounds and unusual combinations.
The atypical instrumental form of this septet
allowed me to compose in this direction.
I kept Bartok’s Romanian dances in their original form
while adding developments inspired by specific passages
opening new spaces for improvisation.
“Dance with Bartok” was a way for me
to bridge the gap between jazz, the world of improvisation,
and classical music,
making it possible to involve musicians who normally work
in separate musical fields.