Album review: The Kristjan Järvi Sound Project – Balkan Fever

Estonian conductor Kristjan Järvi is seriously into fusion. And the Balkan-connected names drop big and fast in Franck Mallet's notes for this CD – Mozart, Liszt, Mahler, Schubert, Brahms, Dvorak, Janacek, Kodály, Bartók, Ligeti, Sumera, Adams, Ellington, Mingus, Zawinul, Zappa. But Järvi seems to have come to Balkan music through Goran Bregovic, who's written the music for three of Emir Kusturica's films, and the major classical presence on Balkan Fever is Enescu's First Romanian Rhapsody, colourfully done by the MDR Leipzig Radio Symphony Orchestra. If you like the sound of breathy flute (Theodossi Spassov on kaval) and the intermingling of folk flavours with jazz and orchestra, this may be just the thing for you. Myself, I was underwhelmed. See url.ie/8fjv