EVE RISSER / WHITE DESERT RCHESTRA - Les Deux Versants se Regardent
Clean Feed CF 399
Eve Risser: pianol Slyvaine Helrary: flutes; Antonin-tri Hoang: alto sax, clarinets; Benjamin Dousteyssier: tenor and bass saxophones; Sophie Bernado: bassoon; Elvind Lenning: trumpets; Fidel Fourneyron: trobome: Julien Desprez: guitars; Fanny Lasfargues: bass guitar; Sylvain Darrifourcq: drums, percussion.
Recorded Studio MidiLive, Villetaneuse, 18th to 20th August 2016.
Still in her 30s, Parisian-based Risser has developed a formidable reputation for her work with prepared piano (her ‘Des Pas sur la Neige’ is an astonishing work) and this collection of pieces provides her with a larger and more varied palette to explore some of the themes, sounds and moods that inspire her work.
The title of the CD is inspired by two cliff faces, either side of a canyon in the south west of America, that look at each other for all time but can never touch. Perhaps this could be a metaphor for unrequited love and the title track certainly has a melancholy feel of a dance without a centre. Other pieces are inspired by geological features (‘Tent Rocks’, ‘Fumeroles’, Earth Skin Cut’) or stones ‘Eclats’ and ‘Jaspe’. In the press release, Risser says that she is interested in the ‘tension created by the vibrant air’ and ‘powerful places where the earth reveals her old scars’. The mix of instruments and sounds here, together with the ways in which the pieces are so well structured, can provoke a visceral as much as cerebral response and Risser’s skill as a composer produces pieces which layer upon layer build challenging but exciting works. This layering has, of course, its analogy in the sedimentary features of the landscapes that inspired her. It also, I think, owes as much to ways in which a piano is ‘prepared’ by adding, adjusting and playing with its internal structures.
At times, this is like listening to the found sounds on a musique concrete recording rather than any of the instruments listed; but one can hear the breath across mouthpieces making sounds like a match being struck or like the rattling of elevator cages or like wind blowing through rocky outcrops. As each piece develops so one or two lead instruments emerge to pick up and expand on the musical motif. The orchestra as a whole is studded with some of the best French musicians of their generation and their interplay on these pieces is extremely impressive. The set is somber but ultimately uplifting that sits comfortably in the intersection between modern jazz and contemporary composed music.
Reviewed by Chris Baber
Clean Feed CF 399
Eve Risser: pianol Slyvaine Helrary: flutes; Antonin-tri Hoang: alto sax, clarinets; Benjamin Dousteyssier: tenor and bass saxophones; Sophie Bernado: bassoon; Elvind Lenning: trumpets; Fidel Fourneyron: trobome: Julien Desprez: guitars; Fanny Lasfargues: bass guitar; Sylvain Darrifourcq: drums, percussion.
Recorded Studio MidiLive, Villetaneuse, 18th to 20th August 2016.
Still in her 30s, Parisian-based Risser has developed a formidable reputation for her work with prepared piano (her ‘Des Pas sur la Neige’ is an astonishing work) and this collection of pieces provides her with a larger and more varied palette to explore some of the themes, sounds and moods that inspire her work.
The title of the CD is inspired by two cliff faces, either side of a canyon in the south west of America, that look at each other for all time but can never touch. Perhaps this could be a metaphor for unrequited love and the title track certainly has a melancholy feel of a dance without a centre. Other pieces are inspired by geological features (‘Tent Rocks’, ‘Fumeroles’, Earth Skin Cut’) or stones ‘Eclats’ and ‘Jaspe’. In the press release, Risser says that she is interested in the ‘tension created by the vibrant air’ and ‘powerful places where the earth reveals her old scars’. The mix of instruments and sounds here, together with the ways in which the pieces are so well structured, can provoke a visceral as much as cerebral response and Risser’s skill as a composer produces pieces which layer upon layer build challenging but exciting works. This layering has, of course, its analogy in the sedimentary features of the landscapes that inspired her. It also, I think, owes as much to ways in which a piano is ‘prepared’ by adding, adjusting and playing with its internal structures.
At times, this is like listening to the found sounds on a musique concrete recording rather than any of the instruments listed; but one can hear the breath across mouthpieces making sounds like a match being struck or like the rattling of elevator cages or like wind blowing through rocky outcrops. As each piece develops so one or two lead instruments emerge to pick up and expand on the musical motif. The orchestra as a whole is studded with some of the best French musicians of their generation and their interplay on these pieces is extremely impressive. The set is somber but ultimately uplifting that sits comfortably in the intersection between modern jazz and contemporary composed music.
Reviewed by Chris Baber
