CHRISTIAN VANDER 'A TOUS LES ENFANTS'

(Seventh A XIV, Distr: Harmonia Mundi)

Bruno Heuzé (Keyboards Magazine, Février 1995)

This disc is essentially beautiful. Christian Vander has suffered anguish and torrents of fury, in order to find the child within himself - which he offers here, exposed and vulnerable - that which has always been at the root of his music: the ingenuousness. In the void between 'To Love' and Stella Vander's 'D'épreuves d'amour' album, 'A Tous les Enfants' unfolds as a complete picture book of stars, where birds come to spin, to turn the ferris wheels and sorceresses to dance. Nursery rhymes in rounds, the arrangements with their mystery, the songs full of fervour and keyboards that have the roundness and brilliance of bells. The tales of Christmas and of Kobaïa are laid before you. They have the ineffable charm of these unclouded and crystalline melodies, that softly fly away from a musical box that one opens, and that one shuts in order that their treasure does not escape.