Jane Birkin

Birkin/Gainsbourg: Le Symphonique PARLOPHONE. CD/DL/LP

A new slant on the Gallic provocateur’s songbook from his supreme champion.

With Chopin core to Serge Gainsbourg’s songwriting sensibility, the arrival of a suite of orchestral versions of his compositions should come as no surprise. That the voice singing the songs in their original French is Jane Birkin’s is also unsurprising. She was his muse and wife and, following his death in 1991, has remained his highest-profile torchbearer. Fittingly, and belatedly, Birkin/Gainsbourg: Le Symphonique recasts 21 Gainsbourg classics. The orchestrator is composer/ pianist Nobuyuki Nakajima, who Birkin first worked with in 2011. Lush and filmic rather than classical, the arrangements evoke Howard Shore, especially his score for the Martin Scorsese film Hugo. The grandiosity means Baby Alone In Babylone’s essence and Birkin are swamped by the orchestra, but where there is a firm rhythmic base – La Javanaise, Manon, Requiem Pour Un Con – the reimaginings bring new perspectives on the songs’ melodic complexity. Serge would smile.