After a long series devoted to classical composers (Ravel, Debussy, Satie), to which we can add an album on Da Vinci, it is no exaggeration to say that the Cordâme ensemble (a play on words in French between cordes (strings) and âme (soul)) is currently in a ‘feminist’ cycle. Following on from 2023’s very fine Fabula femina, here is Déesses mythiques (Mythical Goddesses), an opus featuring eleven portraits of Greek goddesses, from Aphrodite to Artemis, including Demeter, Athena, Hera, Thalia…
The ensemble’s leader and double bassist Jean-Félix Mailloux is surrounded by faithful musicians : Marie Neige Lavigne on violin, Sheila Hannigan on cello, Guillaume Martineau on piano, Éveline Grégoire-Rousseau on harp and Mark Nelson on percussion. Everyone gets on famously, musically speaking (and in life, too, I imagine), and the product is running like clockwork.
There’s nothing to say about the pretty arrangements and melodies – the usual quality is there. There are discreet modal intonations and percussive colours that are clearly reminiscent of ancient Greece (or so what we imagine of it). That said, compared with previous albums such as Fabula femina and the masterly Da Vinci Inventions, which featured the magical voice of Coral Egan, I wonder why this one, devoted to women, divine at that, doesn’t have a vocal section. I find myself missing Mailloux’s excellent vocal writing in these two previous opus numbers. It seems to me that the match would have been perfect. Descriptions of the various goddesses would also have been useful, to make the connection with the music easier to feel.
We quibble, we quibble, but Déesses mythiques remains a highly enjoyable album and another happy cross between classical, jazz and a few subtle ‘world’ pigments from this unique ensemble, which celebrates its 20th anniversary in 2024.
