Thierry Deleruyelle’s ambitious series of major compositions that will eventually span the chronological arc of the 20th century have already seen him take inspiration from a 1906 French mining tragedy (‘Fraternity’) as well as a heroic escape from a 1935 aviation crash in the Sahara Desert (‘Sand and Stars’).

‘Crazy Twenties’  is set in the Paris of 1920 – a city of excitement and heady optimism, where art and culture were about to explode in remarkable artistic intensity.

Coco Chanel and Josephine Baker

High fashion met ‘danse sauvage’ via Coco Chanel and Josephine Baker, Art Deco clashed with Le Corbusier, whilst Picasso jockeyed for a left bank cafe table with Ernest Hemingway as the music of Ravel and Stravinsky floated in the air over the River Seine. Montparnasse become the artistic hub - an area described by painter Fernand Leger as “euphoric”. 

High fashion met ‘danse sauvage’ via Coco Chanel and Josephine Baker, Art Deco clashed with Le Corbusier, whilst Picasso jockeyed for a left bank cafe table with Ernest Hemingway as the music of Ravel and Stravinsky floated in the air over the River Seine.

Deleruyelle distils this essence into a colourful sound portrait of time and place; a recuring principal leitmotif cell embossing the scene setting opening movement. 

Thereafter the clearly defined structure (much like his other works) evokes ‘les années folles’ (the crazy years) - from the nostalgia of a past never to return (‘Interwar’), the present (‘Montparnasse’), to the creation of the famous ‘Bloody Mary’ cocktail drink and the popularity for the 'Charleston'  dance craze.

It's clever and historically cosmopolitan, a joyful melange of Parisian cultural iconography delivered with stylish understanding. 

Refined artistry

A slightly more oblique journey of time and place is also evoked with the cornet concerto ‘Crossing Worlds’  performed with a refined sense of artistic authority by it commissioner, Kathleen Gaspoz.

Her musical travels are condensed into a triptych of contrasting styles – the opening ‘Getaway’  urgent and exciting, the central ‘Skylights’  reflective and settled, the finale, 'Welcome Parade' a joyful expression of acceptance in a new home.  It is a work of substance played as such.

Her musical travels are condensed into a triptych of contrasting styles – the opening ‘Getaway’  urgent and exciting, the central ‘Skylights’  reflective and settled, the finale, 'Welcome Parade' a joyful expression of acceptance in a new home.

Elsewhere, Deleruylle’s eclecticism is shown with the energised mini overture ‘Columbus’  and the big band jazz swagger of ‘Superjet’. 

‘Keystone’  (a 15-minute First Section work that tells the story of a Dutch village Odeon cinema) though owes more than a nod of appreciation to ‘Fraternity’  than to the frenetic silent movie antics of Mack Sennett’s hapless ‘Cops’ who Parisians would have enjoyed on the screen at the 6,000 seater Gaumont-Palace in 1920.

Iwan Fox

To purchase: http://www.parisbrassband.com/fr/boutique/crazy-twenties/

Track list:

1. Columbus (Thierry Deleruyelle) 

2. Crazy Twenties (Thierry Deleruyelle) 
i. Paris 1920
ii. Interwar 
iii. Montparnasse
iv. Bloody Mary
v. Charleston

3. Crossing Worlds (Thierry Deleruyelle)
Soloist: Kathleen Gaspoz 

i. Getaway
ii. Skylights
iii. Welcome Parade

6. Keystone (Thierry Deleruyelle)
7. Superjet (Thierry Deleruyelle)