The Vienna Art Orchestra Plays for Jean Cocteau

Recorded Jun 4, 1994-Jun 6, 1996 Amadeo Records

The brainchild of composer and arranger Matthias Ruegg, and founded in 1977, the VAO attemmpt to forge a synthesis between jazz and 20th-century compositional language, between the avant-garde and popular music.

Not a conventional big band in section terms, the ensemble favour an open, improvisational sound rather than massed instruments.

links :

• VAO official site

• VAO at all music guide

Georges Auric is to be remembered for his unique collaboration with Jean Cocteau, including six films that were directed by Cocteau himself

(Le Sang d'un Poéte, La Belle et la Bête, Les Parents Terribles, L'Aigle à deux Têtes, Orphée and Le Testament d'Orphée)

and three directed by others, but with Cocteau as a script-writer

(L'Eternel Retour, Ruy Blas and Thomas l'Imposteur):

• Auric at classics on line

• Jean Cocteau website

• Jean Cocteau at Senses of Cinema

• Jean Cocteau at IMDB

• watch the trailer