Various: Various

Various: Various

A peculiar mish-mash of a disc which, if nothing else, demonstrates the downside of artist-controlled labels, Shape of My Heart is a mixed bag of mainly duets and solo pieces gathered magpie-fashion from the classical repertoire (Chopin, Satie), the jazz fake book (Rodgers & Hart), the rock back catalogue (Beatles, Radiohead) and so on.
 

Our rating

4

Published: January 20, 2012 at 4:26 pm

COMPOSERS: Various
LABELS: KML
WORKS: Various
PERFORMER: Katia Labèque (piano), Sting (vocals), Chick Corea (piano), Herbie Hancock (piano), Gonzalo Rubalcaba (piano), David Chalmin (vocals & guitars)
CATALOGUE NO: KML 2119

A peculiar mish-mash of a disc which, if nothing else, demonstrates the downside of artist-controlled labels, Shape of My Heart is a mixed bag of mainly duets and solo pieces gathered magpie-fashion from the classical repertoire (Chopin, Satie), the jazz fake book (Rodgers & Hart), the rock back catalogue (Beatles, Radiohead) and so on.

It’s hard to fault either the performances or the recording quality, but the relentlessly middlebrow crossover programming is nondescript, as if all the disparate elements somehow cancel each other out.

The answer might be to add this disc to a CD changer that plays tracks at random, as taken individually several would bear an occasional hearing.

Even then, though, it’s Labèque’s take on Chopin’s poignant prelude that stands out, rather implying that this is what she’d rather be doing. Roger Thomas

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