The defining figures of French music have united their talents for a substantial program after a break of almost three decades since 1997, when the prestigious German record label ECM released the duo’s album Poros. Earlier this year, ECM presented the musicians’ new album Preludes and Songs, recorded in the exceptional acoustics of the Reitstadel hall in Neumarkt, Germany. Tonight’s concert is dedicated to this music.

“The idea was not to go back to where we first stopped,” Dominique Pifarély explains, “but to start from the point that each of us had reached during this long pause. Therefore, we had to really pay attention to each other’s musical personality, since we had built different ideas and forms meanwhile. We absolutely wanted to respect each other’s route and find a passage to each other.”

Preludes and Songs brings their story forward, with its program featuring their works and compositions by Duke Ellington, George Gershwin, J.J. Johnson, and Jacques Brel that have become jazz standards.

Dominique Pifarély and François Couturier met in the early 1960s while playing in Didier Levallet’s band Swing String System. Later, the violinist and pianist met in various groups of theirs. Improvisation is just one of the paths that brought these creators to where they are today. The artists’ technical mastery, broad horizons and fleeting imagination allow them to seamlessly migrate between the worlds of jazz, contemporary academic and improvisational music.

The Vilnius Jazz audience was already convinced of Dominique Pifarély’s mastery in 2015, when the violinist gave a solo recital at the festival and appeared with his quartet.

The virtuoso has been playing the violin since the age of six. After graduating from the conservatoire with honours, he began his career as a traditional jazz musician – playing in Levallet’s band Swing String System and the double bassist’s trio with drummer Gerard Marais, as well as with organist Eddy Louis.

The violinist began experimenting after joining Mike Westbrook’s group and the Vienna Art Orchestra. In 1985, Pifarély started collaborating with the prominent French clarinettist and saxophonist Louis Sclavis, and in 1992 he founded the famous Sclavis/Pifarély Acoustic Quartet with him, which also includes contemporary jazz guru guitarist Marc Ducret and bassist Bruno Chevillon. In addition, Pifarély is prominently featured in Sclavis’ quintet and sextet.

In the 1980s, the artist began to experiment with his own groups. In 1988, he released his first album as a band leader and began to make a wider impact with his quintet, which also includes pianist François Couturier and guitarist Ducret.

The violinist favours small acoustic groups, in which the fullness of his musicianship is revealed. In various trios and duets, Pifarély sided Joachim Kühn, Daniel Humair, Vincent Courtois, Michel Godard, Stefano Battaglia, Rabih Abou Khalil, Carlos Zingaro.

According to critics, Pifarély modernized the art of French jazz violin playing with his extraordinary technical skills and an inclusive idea of music-making. His mature style combines the traditions of classical violin, swing and the innovative soundscape of European jazz. His music is full of changing moods and colours, pungent and lyrical visions.

Pifarély refines his musical vocabulary and style in solo projects, which he calls “creative workshops”, and the violin – a small orchestra that demands attention to every detail. The artist exudes the history of violin; it is not a burden for the virtuoso, but a treasure that enriches his work. Interestingly, Pifarély likes to include spoken texts in his projects, collaborates with writers and actors.

His art has been immortalized in numerous ECM releases. The violinist has collaborated with this label for over three decades. On his musical journeys, he has been accompanied by Aki Takase, Craig Taborn, Stéphane Grappelli, Tim Berne, Michel Portal, François Corneloup, Wolfgang Reisinger, François Raulin and many other luminaries in addition to the aforementioned celebrities.
Pifarély has performed throughout Europe, the USA, Canada, Japan, India, the Middle East, Latin America and Africa.

Pianist François Couturier is internationally renowned for his unique abilities to walk a loose but deliberate line between modern classical music, jazz and creative improvisation in his work. This has been revealed in abundance of his recordings for ECM and other labels, participation in projects by John McLaughlin, Anouar Brahem, Jon Christensen, Pifarély and other celebrities. In 1980, Couturier’s art was recognized with the Django Reinhardt Prize of the French Académie du Jazz.

Couturier inherited his love for classical music and jazz from his father, an amateur pianist, who was his first teacher. Later, he studied classical music and musicology at the University of Tours.

In 1977, he formed his first group, Impression, and a year later joined the quintet of drummer Jacques Thollot, where he met his future longtime collaborator bassist Jean-Paul Celea. The two of them recorded several albums and together founded the large new music and jazz ensemble Passaggio.

In 1981–1983, Couturier participated in the world tour of McLaughlin’s group Translators, after which he devoted several years to composition and various experiments. Later, his discography was augmented by albums recorded with François Jeanneau, Levallet, Michel Portal, Larry Schneider, Pifarély, the trio of the virtuoso oudist Anouar Brahem, Daniel Humair and other French musicians. A large part of his discography consists of ECM releases.

The pianist’s Tarkovsky Quartet, in which he plays with accordionist Jean-Louis Matinier, saxophonist Jean-Marc Larché and cellist Anja Lechner, has become an international sensation in modern classical and jazz circles. The quartet’s repertoire includes works by J.S. Bach, G.B. Pergolesi, and D. Shostakovich, in addition to the musicians’ compositions.