Fiona Monbet - Maelström (2022) Hi Res

If we believe the definition, the word Maelstrom means: sea current forming whirlpools, Maelstroms. This is perhaps what drives Fiona Monbet for her creation. Currents that mix and come together to make whirlpools. This is what we remember from this album with various currents for such a personal result. We had the chance to discover his new album at the Café de la Danse. We'll give you a little report.

Fiona Monbet is a violin superstar as much as one can be a violin superstar these days. A conductor from the National Conservatory of Music in Paris, she is best known for her style as a violinist. An expert violinist, who mixes styles. Sometimes Jazz, sometimes Classical, a little Celtic too, these three styles form her touch, her own style. Thus, in her creation, Fiona Monbet often changes style during the same piece.

Confident on stage, sure of herself, often funny, with a lot of self-mockery, the violinist explained to us her creation, her approach. She says she writes and not composes. Write, as if she were singing. Besides, she compared her creation to songs without words. It is true that, especially on the Jazz part, one has the impression that his violin is a voice. A voice that sings gospel, that sings joy, sadness, a kind of blues too. The artist explains that he wrote this album as a research. A search for spaces between reality and dreams. This search for spaces, a notion that has become so important today.

In his creations we find mixtures that are sometimes a bit redundant. Which is a shame because on several titles, especially those with very marked Jazz accents, we don't get bored, nor do we get tired of the emotion it manages to make us feel. This mixture which is based on different but complementary styles. Between the requirement of classical knowledge and that of jazz, which also requires a perfect knowledge of her instrument, Fiona Monbet is a violinist who, with her musicians on stage, masters her scores to perfection. There is talent on stage. There are also some on the tracks of the album because the group of eleven musicians is the same as that of the album. This explains their knowledge and their complicity. Fiona Monbet is an excellent violinist and also a conductor and it shows in her gestures and the way she moves on stage.