London by Ernesto Rodrigues, Angharad Davies, Guilherme Rodrigues, Alessandro Bosetti & Masafumi Ezaki

Recorded live by Adrian Lewis at the Spitz on November 29th 2005 as part of the Atlantic Waves Festival, London, UK.
Graphic design by Carlos Santos.
Production by Ernesto Rodrigues.

REVIEWS

Recorded at Atlantic Waves 2005, London is a 33-minute improvisation for viola, violin, cello, soprano sax and trumpet. Ezaki's short intro initiates a subdued collective crawl towards timbral oblivion, the raggedy quality of this poor man's invocation defining a division of the whole into a series of comfortless substructures and paint-stripping stretchings symbolized by continuous shifts in the introversion/extroversion ratio. As so often happens when the Rodrigueses are involved, scrape'n'squeal becomes a fundamental ingredient, in this case counterpointed by [violinist] Davies' approach – here ecstatic, there nervous. Bosetti adds an ambiguous kind of pulse, airy spurts and barely audible wheezes at the basis of a radiant indetermination. String drones appear at times, pulling the music towards a dirty staticity. About 17 minutes in, Ezaki is heard again via tranquil, if dissonant lamentations, yet the dominance of rattle and pluck remains established throughout. The final section is coloured by sounds ranging from ritualistic to nerve-stinging: prominent, predictable in a way, always welcome. These artists strain many ropes without snapping one. Massimo Ricci (Paris Transatlantic)

Another episode of the sequel belonging to live recordings realized by Creative Sources, I'm really glad to review it since among the other I see there's Alessandro Bosetti of which I've a couple of releases here in my personal collection. This cd presents a single suite of which consisted the whole performance of this ensemble: electro-acoustic/contemporary music is still the keyword which means abstraction took place from the very beginning to the end, even if here and there they barely play something the sounds just about quasi-melodic. The ensemble builds up tension and erupts in coral climax that soon after awhile decreases leaving some spectral sounds which repetition keep obsessive high. As you probably imagined this cd features some of the typical repertoire of sounds you've heard on the label and so you've saliva's "white noises" of the brass section, you've some bowed chord from the strings and so on. But right when you don't expect it to happen, they scratch the surface of melody leaving it untouched by managing to caress some interesting unisons. When they leave diminuendos for sudden breaks I like it, above all when they take some silent turn around the twenty minutes and something. I think it's interesting how they started again building a track and later slowly everything moves again facing more and more abstraction and fades leaving a desolated landscape. Andrea Ferraris (Chain DLK)

London parce qu’enregistré à Londres lors de l’Atlantic Waves Festival 2005, soutenu par des institutions culturelles portugaises. Ernesto Rodrigues est le directeur artistique de Creative Sources et un altiste (viola en anglais) singulier, genre tortionnaire ébéniste, mais du meilleur effet. Tout comme son fils Guilhermo au violoncelle, il prépare son instrument et utilise tous les bruitages délicats que son instrument lui permet. La violoniste galloise Angarhad Davies n’est pas en reste avec ses frottements d’archets et ses coups secs grincés. Toujours aussi concentrée. Alessandro Bosetti est un sax soprano milanais émigré dans le Berlin du réductionnisme des Axel Dörner et Burkhard Beins et qui a travaillé avec Michel Doneda ( Placés en l’Air /Potlatch). Le trompettiste Masafumi Ezaki est l’antenne japonaise de cette conspiration du silence. Ah oui, comme on est à Londres, c’était du New London Silence vers 2002. La musique se répand avec lenteur dans le silence dans l’attente d’événements sonores. Les tiges placées entre les cordes du violoncelle se balancent sur un fond d’archet qui fait sussurer une corde du violon. Des souffles éventuels se propagent comme un gaz rare. Le silence se fait plus présent. La durée de London (l’unique pièce) n’est pas indiquée, mais comme on est dans un état de recueillement approfondi, indispensable pour graviter dans un tel état d’apesanteur, on ne s’en soucie guère. Alessandro siffle doucement dans la colonne d’air (comment fait-il ?). Le temps est aboli. Aucune virtuosité, seulement la maîtrise du timbre, même le plus ténu. Une scansion s’insinue à notre insu et les sons de chacun des cinq s’agrègent comme par enchantement. On finit par enfin découvrir les effets de tuyaux d’Ezaki. Cette manière a le mérite de nous faire entendre une dimension réelle du silence que ces musiciens révèlent au creux de la matière instrumentale distillée dans la douceur la plus clinique. Le silence après la fin fait partie de la musique. Ecoute étonnante. Nouveau ? Bof ! Certains trouvent des inspirations depuis les travaux d’Alvin Lucier et de Phill Niblock, des artistes reconnus depuis fort longtemps. Donc ! Mais une expérience révélatrice. Jean-Michem van Schouwburg (Improjazz)

Musique horizontale façon musique improvisée d'ces dernières années, ça couine, ça grince, des matières, des matières, des faux-départs... Jerome Noetinger (Metamkine)

Skipping ahead a few years to 2005, tp the extent this could be considered representative (a dubious assertion, perhaps), one hears large strides having been made. No doubt some of this is due to his compadres here: aside from son Guilherme (cello), there are Angharad Davies (viola), Alessandro Bossetti (soprano saxophone and Masafumi Ezaki (trumpet), forming an attractive strings/winds quintet. It has its scratchy and overcrowded moments, to be sure, but there's a far greater sense of space, of sounds unfurling. They get into a very nice, sandpapery drone area about midway through, the pops of the strings contributing an especially fine layer. At about 33 minutes, it also lasts for just the right duration--a good recording all around. Brian Olewnick (Just Outside)

Some catching-up: a short record (barely over 30 minutes) released in 2007 and recorded at the Atlantic Waves Festival in 2005 in - you guessed it - London. An all-acoustic line-up (violin, viola, cello, soprano sax, trumpet), a quintet of free improvisers with extended techniques based on textural sound, silence, microsound. A subtle listening arc - not static. A convincing performance. François Couture (Monsieur Délire)

Ernesto Rodrigues, Angharad Davies, Guilherme Rodrigues, Alessandro Bosetti, Masafumi Ezaki : London (Creative Sources, 2005). En quelques lignes, « faire le tri » parmi les références Creative Sources, et de même dans la discographie du violoniste qui anime le label, Ernesto Rodrigues. Commencer par cet enregistrement d’un concert donné à Londres en 2005 : en compagnie d’Angharad Davies (violon), Guilherme Rodrigues (violoncelle), Alessandro Bosetti (saxophone soprano) et Masafumi Ezaki (trompette), l’alto peint un de ces paysages de craie qui l’obnubilent. Les techniques instrumentales, à bout de souffle, révèlent par le soupçon des confidences qui font tanguer tout décor, et enfin vous chavire. Guillaume Belhomme (Le Son du Grisli)

"London" was recorded five years later, at The Spitz, as a part of Atlantic Waves Festival in London. Family business became in the mean time mature, and the album is really a master piece. It contains one, 33 minutes long track, "London", which already has the typical Rodrigues' family free minimalism form, except that here it is still mixed with noise music and perhaps even industrial. The most beautiful aspect, however, is the synergy of strings with soprano saxophone and trumpet. Wonderful stuff!!! Maciej Lewenstein

Tracklist

1.	London	33:23

Credits

released May 5, 2007

Ernesto Rodrigues - viola
Angharad Davies - violin
Guilherme Rodrigues - cello
Alessandro Bosetti - soprano saxophone
Masafumi Ezaki - trumpet

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