KRISTIN NORDERVAL - Parrhésie
Losen LOS 145-2
Kristin Norderval: voice, laptop [live processing]; Ida Heidel: flutes, small percussion, voice; Nusch Werchowska: piano, inside and out.
This set of live, improvised pieces by experienced experimental musicians is divided into three sections. The title of these sections are ‘Mercury Sunrise’ (consisting of 4 pieces with titles relating to environmental concerns); ‘Sonic Orbits’ (consisting of 6 pieces with titles relating to the orbit of a planet); and a final piece ‘This is the old song’. The word ‘parrhesie’ means to speak candidly or to ask forgiveness, and one could interpret this in terms of the trio seeking forgiveness for humanity’s treatment of the earth. As the set was being planned, climate change talks were underway in Paris, and 10 years previously the International Council of 13 Indigenous Grandmothers had petitioned the Vatican through chanting and drumming to repeal Papal bulls of discovery and conquest. Together with the poetry of Dina von Zwick, whose epic poem 'FLUDD: virtual polar icecap meltdown' is extracted in some of the pieces, these events provide a foundation for the themes of the pieces here.
As well as the desire to communicate their fears, frustrations and anger at environmental damage, the trio work through the musical possibilities of voice, piano and flute. Norderval refers to the process of creating sounds in this way as ‘spontaneous, combustible collaborative composition’. The opening piece begins with staccato sounds which might be whistled or sung and the sounds that the trio produce with voice, flute or piano are equally difficult to place. The flute is popped, sputtered and blown across rhythmically and the piano, played ‘inside and out’ produces a variety of menacing sounds. The use of the laptop to record, remix and playback the sounds with echo or distortion maintains their mysterious nature. Norderval’s singing is classically trained, enunciating the words with operatic clarity but she is also keen to use her voice emotionally to convey an inarticulate rage or an animal’s bewilderment at its loss of habitat. Throughout the session, Dani Castelar’s production maintains a clarity of sound that brings out a richness from the trio and provides them with a sure environment in which to stretch their improvisation. The liner notes end with the words ‘This our truth and our risk and our hope. Enjoy.’ While the music is, perhaps, a little too challenging to ‘enjoy’, it is rewarding to hear how three committed musicians push themselves to explore their truths and hopes.
Reviewed by Chris Baber
Losen LOS 145-2
Kristin Norderval: voice, laptop [live processing]; Ida Heidel: flutes, small percussion, voice; Nusch Werchowska: piano, inside and out.
This set of live, improvised pieces by experienced experimental musicians is divided into three sections. The title of these sections are ‘Mercury Sunrise’ (consisting of 4 pieces with titles relating to environmental concerns); ‘Sonic Orbits’ (consisting of 6 pieces with titles relating to the orbit of a planet); and a final piece ‘This is the old song’. The word ‘parrhesie’ means to speak candidly or to ask forgiveness, and one could interpret this in terms of the trio seeking forgiveness for humanity’s treatment of the earth. As the set was being planned, climate change talks were underway in Paris, and 10 years previously the International Council of 13 Indigenous Grandmothers had petitioned the Vatican through chanting and drumming to repeal Papal bulls of discovery and conquest. Together with the poetry of Dina von Zwick, whose epic poem 'FLUDD: virtual polar icecap meltdown' is extracted in some of the pieces, these events provide a foundation for the themes of the pieces here.
As well as the desire to communicate their fears, frustrations and anger at environmental damage, the trio work through the musical possibilities of voice, piano and flute. Norderval refers to the process of creating sounds in this way as ‘spontaneous, combustible collaborative composition’. The opening piece begins with staccato sounds which might be whistled or sung and the sounds that the trio produce with voice, flute or piano are equally difficult to place. The flute is popped, sputtered and blown across rhythmically and the piano, played ‘inside and out’ produces a variety of menacing sounds. The use of the laptop to record, remix and playback the sounds with echo or distortion maintains their mysterious nature. Norderval’s singing is classically trained, enunciating the words with operatic clarity but she is also keen to use her voice emotionally to convey an inarticulate rage or an animal’s bewilderment at its loss of habitat. Throughout the session, Dani Castelar’s production maintains a clarity of sound that brings out a richness from the trio and provides them with a sure environment in which to stretch their improvisation. The liner notes end with the words ‘This our truth and our risk and our hope. Enjoy.’ While the music is, perhaps, a little too challenging to ‘enjoy’, it is rewarding to hear how three committed musicians push themselves to explore their truths and hopes.
Reviewed by Chris Baber
