Song of the Birds
Avi Avital with Between Worlds Ensemble
Deutsche Grammophon
★★★★★

This is the ninth recording from Israeli-born mandolinist Avi Avital. While he often performs the works of baroque composers he has also delved into other areas. Such was the case in 2014 on his first album with Between Worlds Ensemble which focused on the folklorica of Bela Bartok, Manuel de Falla, Astor Piazzolla and Villa Lobos.

He did something similar in 2017 in a duet album of folk-like pieces with jazz double bassist and Israeli compatriot Omer Avital, entitled Avi Avital meets Omer Avital. In this latest release, Song of the birds Avi Avital reunites with the Between Worlds Ensemble on a follow-up to the 2014 recording.

The music for this album was gathered from the three European regions of Southern Italy, the Iberian Peninsula and countries bordered by the Black Sea. In addition to Avital’s mandolin the recording includes the clarinet, flute, harp, percussion, a string quartet and the voices of the Georgian choir, Ensemble Rustavi; flamenco singer, Marina Heredia and Apulian folk singer Alessia Tondo.

The individual pieces selected by Avital are heartfelt and reflect his life experiences. He includes five traditional Ladino pieces which speak of the expulsion of Sephardic Jews from Spain in 1492 and works that reflect his eight years of post-graduate study of his instrument and of Italian music at Conservatorio Pollini, Padua.

Among the many highlights are:

Interpretations of the traditional Southern Italian folk songs ‘Tarantella di Sannicandro’ and ‘Bella ci dormi’, featuring Alessia Tondo.

Manuel de Falla’s ‘El amor brujo: Danza del juego del amor’,featuring the rousing flamenco voice of Marina Heredia.

‘El cant dels ocells (Song of the birds), the album’s title track, dedicated to the memory of Spanish cellist/composer Pablo Casals.

Otar Taktakishvili’s Mingrelian Songs,performed by the Rustavi Choir of Georgia.

Contemporary Turkish composer Fazil Say’s melodious ‘Black Earth’, played by Avital and clarinetist Gilad Harel.

Four traditional Ladino songs, including ‘La Petenera’, sung by Marina Heredia.

By Robert Vale