Cinéma

Description

Cinéma offers new unique arrangements of major hits such as Naruto, Demon Slayer, The Witcher and The Hunger Games, as well as iconic French music like Amélie and Les Choristes, and beloved classics by Pjotr Tchaïkovski, Dmitri Chostakovitch and Astor Piazzolla. The album also includes two world premiere recordings by OSCAR-winning composers Anne Dudley and Rachel Portman. Anne Dudley wrote her new work especially for Esther Abrami, and Rachel Portman reworked her music for Le Petit Prince with Esther in mind. Esther Abrami came to the violin through her grandmother, has Jewish roots, and formed a particularly emotional connection in childhood with the films La vie est belle and Le journal d'Anne Frank, hence their inclusion in Cinéma. Another particularly moving piece on the album is a new arrangement of the protagonist Zeyn's theme from the Lebanese social drama Capernaüm. This Oscar-nominated film from 2018 tells the story of a young boy's survival in the slums of Beirut. Film composer and producer Khaled Mouzanar wrote this new arrangement especially for Esther Abrami. Esther Abrami worked closely with various arrangers to create her own arrangements for Cinéma. With stunning clarity, virtuosity and expression, she brings this repertoire to life with the Prague City Philharmonic Orchestra under the direction of Ben Palmer. For two of the pieces on the album, Esther Abrami chose a very different type of instrumentation. In one of them, Comptine d'un autre été, l'après-midi, from Amélie and originally written for piano, Esther incorporated a loop station and accompanies herself on the violin. In another piece, young guitarist Marcin is her duet partner in Astor Piazzolla's Libertango, from Le Pont du Nord. For the recording of Cinéma, Esther Abrami chose the legendary Smecky Studios in Prague, one of the busiest soundtrack recording studios in the world. Over 80 years of existence, many famous composers have recorded soundtracks there, including Rachel Portman, Daniel Pemberton, Philip Glass, Howard Shore, Alexandre Desplat, Bear McCreary, Johann Johannsson and Brian Tyler.