French guitarist Noël Akchoté has a restless (and perhaps a little mad) musical mind. He has a Bandcamp page that sports more than 575 releases, averaging one weekly since first releasing eBook - Eye Drow in 2016. Progressing from this first release to the present Wiener Walzer – (Johann Strauss II, For Guitar), the reader and listener will be exposed to Akchoté’s devilish disregard for categorization that often manifests as a truly exceptional recording. But, this is a matter for a separate article.
On Wiener Walzer, Akchoté takes head on the Viennese waltzes of Johann Strauss the Younger. This release is a collection of 10 of Strauss’ better waltzes. These are short pieces, running between 01:14 (“Kaiser-Walzer”) and 03:20 (“Schatz-Walzer”). They are quaint vignettes that, Romantically speaking, could be imagined heard on a Vienna street corner, the scene in black and white, the guitarist a unique eutection of Django Reinhardt and Joe Pass having just left a 1930s opium den.
While “An der schönen blauen Donau” and “G'schichten aus dem Wienerwald” get fine workouts, Akchoté saved his best for last on the two lengthiest pieces, “Tausend und eine Nacht,” “Schatz-Walzer,” and the sublime “Wiener Blut.” Here is solid nostalgia for anyone exposed to the Lawrence Welk Show that aired from 1951 to 1971.
Akchoté plays his Gibson ES-175-D, his go-to guitar for these recordings. He strips the music down to its small clothes and allows the organic Strauss to be liberated. Devoid of artifice, these waltzes are as comfortable as your grandmother’s sweater and as encouraging as your grandfather’s pipe tobacco.
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