Violinist
Anne Akiko Meyers' Koch release Smile continues, to some extent, from her previous Avie issue Birds in Warped Time in that she is attempting to expand beyond the constraints of typical classical CD programming -- combining a couple of big works, or collecting a bunch of little ones, "encores" -- into something more imaginative and in more keeping with her own taste and personality. With that,
Meyers has invested some measure of muscle into developing repertoire that fits her generous, yet transparent tone with the same degree of comfort as one of her designer-made concert gowns. Here we have an arrangement of the Japanese melody "Kojo No Tsuki," made by
Meyers herself in collaboration with
Shigeaki Saegusa, for solo violin. With all apologies due to accompanist
Akira Eguchi, this solo violin track is one of the loveliest things that
Meyers has ever done. Not that
Eguchi does not get to shine, which he does in
Meyers' performance of
Franz Schubert's C major Violin Fantasy, a work dating from a gloomy period in
Schubert's life all too often written off as a succulent bonbon designed to please the Viennese public -- indeed,
Meyers locates the work's dark side. Yet she likewise finds the sunlight peeking through the stained glass window of the cathedral in
Olivier Messiaen's Fantaisie (1933), a violin and piano piece wholly unknown until it was discovered in 2007 and recorded for American audiences here for the first time. It is early, but recognizable as
Messiaen's from the first bar and even hinting at some of his later tendency towards eclecticism, referencing as it does a twisted-up line of chant melody in its opening and borrowing a figure from
Richard Strauss' "Till Eulenspiegel's Lustige Streiche." Elsewhere we have a reading of
Arvo Pärt's Spiegel im Spiegel that is as smooth and undisturbed as the surface of a mirror, or perhaps a particularly motionless pool of water, sparkling renditions of a pair of tasty
Piazzolla tangos and tasteful, respectful recastings of popular songs,
Harold Arlen's "Over the Rainbow" and the title track,
Charlie Chaplin's "Smile" as arranged by Claus Ogerman.