Garden After Midnight: Piano Trios
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Da Vinci Classics
Physical and Digital Release: 16 March 2018
Duo Ruggieri-Del Plato explores Claude Bolling's music through flute and guitar, tracing connections between jazz, classical writing and the melodic imagination of his film scores.
13.67€
A Life in Music, Vol. 1 · 12 tracks
Arrangements by Giuseppe Del Plato and Angelo Ruggieri. Catello Cannavale plays piano in Pour Claude Bolling. Timings follow the digital edition; services may round differently.
The Italian Duo Ruggieri–Del Plato brings together flautist Angelo Ruggieri and guitarist Giuseppe Del Plato. Its appearances in Italy and abroad include the International Guitar Festival of the Adriatic, the Tuesday Concerts at the Certosa di Padula, the International Guitar Festival Città di Lagonegro, the University of Novgorod, the Rachmaninov Academy, the State Theatre of Timișoara and the State Theatre of Arad in Romania, the International Guitar Festival of Cieux in France, Onde Sonore in Oristano, the library of the Royal Palace of Caserta, the fifteenth concert season in Cosenza, the seventeenth Festival Città di Racconigi, the ninth music season in Cassano Magnago, Casapozzano Castle, the Capodimonte Museum in Naples, Vatican Radio, the International Guitar Festival of Gubbio, the Lutheran Church in Sanremo, the Amigos solidarity concert in Madeira, and the twenty-fifth Encuentro Internacional de Guitarra of the Fundación Andrés Segovia in Linares, Spain.
Alongside works dedicated to them, they frequently perform their own transcriptions and adaptations. Composers who have written for the duo include Claude Bolling, Máximo Diego Pujol, Roberto Fabbri, Vincenzo Palermo, Giuseppe Carannante, Vincenzo Sorrentino, Antonello Grande, Catello Cannavale, Ciro Barbato, Angelo Lauro, Aniello Palomba and Vincenzo D’Ambrosio.
In 2013 their repertoire expanded with Riflessi di luce, part of the series I nuovi compositori della Via del Grano, performed at international festivals in Italy and abroad. In 2015 the recording received the award for best flute-and-guitar CD of the year at the International Guitar Festival Città di Fiuggi.
Claude Bolling wrote in its presentation: “Bravo les Amis pour ce bel album! La guitare de Giuseppe Del Plato est la base de cet enregistrement qui soutient la magnifique flûte de Angelo Ruggieri dans les interprétations de ces compositions parfaitement équilibrées qui reflètent avec bonheur tout l’esprit de l’Italie.”
The duo’s booklet for A Life in Music records Ruggieri’s work as a flute teacher at the music high school in Castellammare di Stabia and Del Plato’s work as a guitar teacher at the music high school in Eboli, Italy.
Claude Bolling (10 April 1930–29 December 2020) was a French jazz pianist, composer, arranger and occasional actor.
He was born in Cannes, studied at the Nice Conservatory, then in Paris. A child prodigy, by age 14 he was playing jazz piano professionally, with Lionel Hampton, Roy Eldridge, and Kenny Clarke. Bolling’s books on jazz technique show that he did not delve far beyond bebop into much avant garde jazz. He was a major part of the traditional jazz revival in the late 1960s, and he became friends with Oscar Peterson.
He wrote music for over one hundred films, including a 1957 documentary about the Cannes Film Festival, and films such as The Hands of Orlac (1960), World in My Pocket (1961), Me and the Forty Year Old Man (1965), Atlantic Wall (1970), Borsalino (1970), To Catch a Spy (1971), Le Magnifique (1973), Borsalino & Co. (1974), Flic Story (1975), The Passengers (1977), Silver Bears (1978), California Suite (1978), L’Homme en colère (1979), The Awakening (1980), Willie & Phil (1980), Three Men to Kill (1980), The Bay Boy (1984), He Died with His Eyes Open (1985), Try This One for Size (1989) and Chance or Coincidence (1998).
Bolling is also remembered for a series of “crossover” collaborations with classical musicians. His Suite for Flute and Jazz Piano Trio with Jean-Pierre Rampal, a mix of Baroque elegance with modern swing, enjoyed enduring international success, and was followed up by other works in the same vein. It was particularly popular in the United States, remaining on Billboard’s charts for 530 weeks, approximately ten years.
Following his work with Rampal, Bolling went on to work with many other musicians, from different genres, including guitarist Alexandre Lagoya, violinist Pinchas Zukerman, trumpeter Maurice André, and cellist Yo-Yo Ma. He also worked with, and performed tributes to many others, including Lionel Hampton, Duke Ellington, Stéphane Grappelli, Django Reinhardt, and Oscar Peterson.
Giuseppe Del Plato is an Italian guitarist, arranger and composer, and a member of the Duo Ruggieri–Del Plato with flautist Angelo Ruggieri. The duo performs in Italy and internationally, combining works written for flute and guitar with its own transcriptions and adaptations.
For Da Vinci Classics’ A Life in Music, Vol. 1, he and Ruggieri worked with Claude Bolling on arrangements of Bolling’s music for their instruments. The album also includes two original compositions by Del Plato: Pour Claude Bolling, for flute, guitar and piano, dedicated to Claude and Irène Bolling and Manuelle Pefferkorn Mazerand; and Fior di loto, which alternates C flute and G flute. The recording’s booklet also documents his teaching of guitar at the music high school in Eboli, Italy.
Album Notes To understand Bolling’s film music, one must consider the breadth and variety of his output. It ranges from jazz to crossover music, with wonderful suites for different instruments and jazz piano trio performed and recorded with leading musicians such as Jean-Pierre Rampal, Alexandre Lagoya, Maurice André, Yo-Yo Ma and the London Symphony Orchestra; from 1960s pop songs for Brigitte Bardot and Les Parisiennes to more than a hundred scores for films, cartoons and documentaries. When we first met him in his studio, Bach’s Two-Part Inventions stood on his…
To understand Bolling’s film music, one must consider the breadth and variety of his output. It ranges from jazz to crossover music, with wonderful suites for different instruments and jazz piano trio performed and recorded with leading musicians such as Jean-Pierre Rampal, Alexandre Lagoya, Maurice André, Yo-Yo Ma and the London Symphony Orchestra; from 1960s pop songs for Brigitte Bardot and Les Parisiennes to more than a hundred scores for films, cartoons and documentaries.
When we first met him in his studio, Bach’s Two-Part Inventions stood on his piano’s music desk. They immediately suggested to us a remarkable meeting between two powerful musical currents: Bach and Bolling. With humility and constant dedication, Bolling brought together counterpoint and jazz, drawing also on the musical language of the first half of the twentieth century.
The idea of bringing his film music to the classical concert stage arose from the place that Bolling’s suites had already found in programmes throughout the world, to the enthusiasm of performers and audiences alike. Our further challenge was to bring his film scores into the concert repertoire in arrangements for flute and guitar. This was a particularly demanding undertaking, since he had composed the pieces for orchestra.
Working with him on these transcriptions was a unique, moving and exhilarating experience. It allowed us to know a modest person of great humanity, as well as an artist of extraordinary sensitivity and versatility. Together with his wonderful wife Irène and his attentive collaborator Manuelle Pefferkorn Mazerand, he drew us into the countless memories of a life spent daily with great music and musicians, celebrated directors and actors: Alain Delon, Brigitte Bardot, Jean-Paul Belmondo, Duke Ellington, Alexandre Lagoya, Jean-Pierre Rampal and Yo-Yo Ma, among others.
The months in which we had the privilege of visiting Bolling’s home left a deep impression on us. Transcribing his music—and, in some cases, receiving his approval to give a piece a form different from the original—was a truly distinctive and exciting experience. It revealed the humanity and jazz sensibility of Claude Bolling: a man open to the world and an artist looking towards the future.
Notes by Angelo Ruggieri and Giuseppe Del Plato. Original English translation by Elsa Cerruti, revised against the Italian without abridgement.
La Mandarine. Édouard Molinaro’s film, released in 1972 and starring Annie Girardot, tells of a charming young Englishman named Tony who arrives at a hotel and becomes involved with members of the family that runs it. One of the young women becomes pregnant, and the story grows increasingly complicated.
Flic Story. This 1975 crime film was directed by Jacques Deray, based on Roger Borniche’s autobiographical novel, and produced by and starring Alain Delon.
La Complainte des Apaches. This music comes from Les Brigades du Tigre, the television series inspired by the history of the French police.
Borsalino: Theme by Borsalino, Exoticana, Tango Marseillais and Folie czardas. These pieces come from Jacques Deray’s crime film Borsalino (1970), starring Alain Delon and Jean-Paul Belmondo.
Pour Claude Bolling. Giuseppe Del Plato’s original piece for flute, guitar and piano is dedicated to Claude, Irène and Manuelle. It expresses the idea of musical crossover associated with Bolling. Its central section is entrusted to the piano, with an improvisation realised in accordance with the score.
La Gitane. Philippe de Broca’s 1986 film stars Claude Brasseur and Valérie Kaprisky. A banker divides his limited free time between his former wife Brigitte, his daughter Florence and his lover Elsa. Wearied by their demands, he turns his attention to his car, which is stolen; Mona, the thief, hides in the boot to escape capture.
Aux Chandelles. This piece comes from La Princesse, for harp, flute and cello, and was included on Bolling’s 1995 album Enchanting Versailles: Strictly Classical.
Jazzo Brasileiro. A transcription for flute and guitar from Bolling’s Sonate pour guitare, also included on Enchanting Versailles: Strictly Classical (1995).
Fior di loto — Lotus Flower. Giuseppe Del Plato’s piece evokes an ecstatic moment through a gentle melody that turns away from the atrocities and horrors of contemporary society. Alternating between C flute and G flute emphasises this duality.
In memory of dear Irène Dervize Bolling.
Angelo Ruggieri, flute; Giuseppe Del Plato, guitar. Piano in Pour Claude Bolling: Catello Cannavale. All arrangements by Giuseppe Del Plato and Angelo Ruggieri.
Tracks 1–7 and 12: recording, mixing and mastering by Carlo Gentiletti at Studio ELIOS Registrazioni Audiovisive, Castellammare di Stabia, Italy. Tracks 8–11: live recording by Salvatore Vangone; mixing by Lello Federico and Salvatore Vangone; editing and mastering by Angelo Lauro and Salvatore Vangone at Diffusione Teatro, Torre Annunziata, Italy.
Special thanks to Claude Bolling, Irène Dervize Bolling, Manuelle Pefferkorn Mazerand, Catello Cannavale for his piano performance in Pour Claude Bolling, and Daniele Chiariello of Studio Zork Digital Planet.
Production, design and art direction: OMK–Da Vinci. With the support of S.P.L.M., L’Aulos di Marzia and EboliMusica. Sound recording and artwork: OMK–Da Vinci. ℗ and © OMK–Da Vinci Classics. DDD; manufactured in Japan.
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