TARKOVSKY QUARTET - Nuit Blanche
ECM 572 9067
François Couturier (piano); Anja Lechner (cello); Jean-Marc Larché (soprano saxophone); Jean-Louis Matiner (accordian)
Recorded April 2016
This is the third outing from the French pianist François Couturier's Tarkovsky Quartet for ECM following on the story from Nostalgia - Song for Tarkovsky (2205) and the simply titled Tarkovsky Quartet in 2009. As one would imagine from the group's name, taking their cue from the work of filmmaker Andrey Trkovsky the music retains a very visual approach to sound, with each piece creating an imagery that carries the listener along with the flow of the composition.
Working from the same core principles set out in their previous releases, the quartet create music of startling and occasionally stark beauty and draw their compositional frameworks from modern composition, baroque and improvisation with seven of the pieces being freely improvised in the recording studio. These miniatures all turn in at under the three minute mark create a wonderful series of interlocking interludes that link the formally composed music seamlessly whilst retaining a life of their own, and are ostensibly based around textures. In contrast, through composed miniatures from the pen of Couturier also grace the set, with the emphasis on the melodic and harmonic content, with the delightful 'Daydream' and darkly hued 'Nightdream'.
Other notable compositions from Couturier are 'Urga' which evolves from Couturier's piano motif, with some gently soaring cello from Lechner, and bitter sweet commentary from the soprano saxophone of Larché, before building in intensity under the pianist's fingers to tell of a darker tale, and the fragile beauty of Couturier's piano imbues 'Soleil sous la pluie' with a sense of melancholy calm behind the plaintive cry of the soprano saxophone. 'Dakus' is another evocative piece that mixes opposite of light and shade, and is based on Nostalghia by Tōru Takemitsu and 'Fantasia' that plays out a childhood story, revelling in an imaginary world of childlike innocence and naivety in much the same way as Chick Corea's famed Childrens Songs.
Two remarkable pieces from the tradition from which Tarkovsky Quartet draw their inspiration can be heard in the anonymously composed 'Quant ien congneu a ma pensee' (c15) and Antonio Vivaldi's 'Cum dederit delectis suis somnum' which sit most agreeably among the original compositions in a set full of drama and hidden delights.
Reviewed by Nick Lea
ECM 572 9067
François Couturier (piano); Anja Lechner (cello); Jean-Marc Larché (soprano saxophone); Jean-Louis Matiner (accordian)
Recorded April 2016
This is the third outing from the French pianist François Couturier's Tarkovsky Quartet for ECM following on the story from Nostalgia - Song for Tarkovsky (2205) and the simply titled Tarkovsky Quartet in 2009. As one would imagine from the group's name, taking their cue from the work of filmmaker Andrey Trkovsky the music retains a very visual approach to sound, with each piece creating an imagery that carries the listener along with the flow of the composition.
Working from the same core principles set out in their previous releases, the quartet create music of startling and occasionally stark beauty and draw their compositional frameworks from modern composition, baroque and improvisation with seven of the pieces being freely improvised in the recording studio. These miniatures all turn in at under the three minute mark create a wonderful series of interlocking interludes that link the formally composed music seamlessly whilst retaining a life of their own, and are ostensibly based around textures. In contrast, through composed miniatures from the pen of Couturier also grace the set, with the emphasis on the melodic and harmonic content, with the delightful 'Daydream' and darkly hued 'Nightdream'.
Other notable compositions from Couturier are 'Urga' which evolves from Couturier's piano motif, with some gently soaring cello from Lechner, and bitter sweet commentary from the soprano saxophone of Larché, before building in intensity under the pianist's fingers to tell of a darker tale, and the fragile beauty of Couturier's piano imbues 'Soleil sous la pluie' with a sense of melancholy calm behind the plaintive cry of the soprano saxophone. 'Dakus' is another evocative piece that mixes opposite of light and shade, and is based on Nostalghia by Tōru Takemitsu and 'Fantasia' that plays out a childhood story, revelling in an imaginary world of childlike innocence and naivety in much the same way as Chick Corea's famed Childrens Songs.
Two remarkable pieces from the tradition from which Tarkovsky Quartet draw their inspiration can be heard in the anonymously composed 'Quant ien congneu a ma pensee' (c15) and Antonio Vivaldi's 'Cum dederit delectis suis somnum' which sit most agreeably among the original compositions in a set full of drama and hidden delights.
Reviewed by Nick Lea