Listen to the album : Théo Ould – Laterna Magica (lnk.to)
Théo Ould has chosen to call his new album Laterna Magica, after the magic lantern so dear to Marcel Proust: from the late 17th century on, this forerunner of the cinema projector enabled painted images to be projected onto glass plates, aided by the light of oil lamps or candles. This album is a kind of musical stained glass window, with every piece of music discovering a different artistic facet of the classical accordion – and of its performer.
Laterna Magica can also be seen as a musical ballad across the centuries, from the Baroque period to the present day. The composers Régis Campo and Tomás Gubitsch have written pieces specifically for the instrument – some especially for Théo – but here are also works from the repertoire for which almost no adaptation from the piano score was needed, thanks to the accordion’s technical abilities. Théo has intermingled historical periods, criss-crossing between them according to principles of affinity and contrast rather than mere bland chronology, to create a unique and subtle atmosphere.