The Peasant Girl

Don't be put off by the contrived photo on the cover of this eclectic double CD: much love has gone into its execution. Gypsy music is its guiding thread, but its long gestation reflects the journey that its protagonists have made. Matthew Barley is a classical cellist with a parallel life as leader of a jazz combo. Viktoria Mullova started her musical career as a prize-winning classical violinist in Moscow, defected to the West at the height of the Cold War, and eventually married Barley. His hang-loose approach to his art began to infect her and this CD is the latest fruit of their ongoing collaboration. In some respects it's fusion in the best sense of the word, as Barley's arrangements of everything from Weather Report to Youssou N'Dour numbers harness Mullova's classical virtuosity to genres on the other side of the conventional divide. Substantial works by Bartók (‘Duo with Improvisations’) and Kodály (‘Duo for Violin and Cello Op.7’) sit side-by-side with Russian folk themes and high-octane Gypsy jazz.

They take their time: in their version of Florian Hermann's ‘Dark Eyes’, it's two and half minutes before the theme even comes in. And the playing is superb. Mullova's purity of intonation gives John Lewis’ ‘Django’ a magical aura, while Julian Joseph's pianistic dexterity regularly galvanises things. If the CD can be said to have an emotional core, it's a track called ‘Yura’. This is dedicated to Mullova's late father, and is an Arvo Part-like rumination in which piano and cello prepare the way for the violin's entry with a Russian lament.