MARC SINAN / OĞUZ BÜYÜBERBER - White
ECM 671 7054
Marc Sinan (guitar, electronics); Oğuz Büyükberber (clarinet, bass clarinet, electronics)
Recorded October 2016
This is the guitarists third album as leader for ECM, and with this recording presents a rather unforgiving soundscape of guitar, clarinets and electronics that is interspersed with melodic fragments with a very open harmonic and textural framework. Within this framework Sinan provides a often subtle use of electronic manipulation of sound, along with his guitar that leaves his companion to decorate and elaborate with clarinet and bass clarinet. Often austere there are glimmers of light that present themselves throughout the programme, as well as the tightly controlled tension in the explosive 'There II.
The music is broadly split into separate areas of exploration. Both are abstract in nature, but have a completely contrasting outlook and feel. Te guitarist's 'Upon Nothingness' is the more austere approach and is based on the filed recordings of Armenian prisoners of war made in detention camps in Germany in 1916. With these recordings incorporated into the tapestry of the improvised lines of clarinet and guitar, and the addition of the electronics that serve to further darken the music, giving an aural commentary on the bleakness of war and the plight of the prisoners that is quite harrrowing.
By comparrison the five pieces that make up 'There I-V' have a lighter and more free flowing feel in which the duo improvise around pre-determined pitch sets, which produces some superb interplay between the pair, for example the deeply lyrical bass clarinet on 'There III' which is reminiscent of John Surman's solo soliloquies on the instrument.
A tough listen at times, that throws up tantalising glimpses of how the duo work within the narrower confines of darker hued improvisations of 'Upon Nothingness', and how they have the ability to broaden the soundscape in the less dense and more melodic playing heard on 'There I-V', with both approaches suggesting further possibilities for the duo.
Reviewed by Nick Lea
ECM 671 7054
Marc Sinan (guitar, electronics); Oğuz Büyükberber (clarinet, bass clarinet, electronics)
Recorded October 2016
This is the guitarists third album as leader for ECM, and with this recording presents a rather unforgiving soundscape of guitar, clarinets and electronics that is interspersed with melodic fragments with a very open harmonic and textural framework. Within this framework Sinan provides a often subtle use of electronic manipulation of sound, along with his guitar that leaves his companion to decorate and elaborate with clarinet and bass clarinet. Often austere there are glimmers of light that present themselves throughout the programme, as well as the tightly controlled tension in the explosive 'There II.
The music is broadly split into separate areas of exploration. Both are abstract in nature, but have a completely contrasting outlook and feel. Te guitarist's 'Upon Nothingness' is the more austere approach and is based on the filed recordings of Armenian prisoners of war made in detention camps in Germany in 1916. With these recordings incorporated into the tapestry of the improvised lines of clarinet and guitar, and the addition of the electronics that serve to further darken the music, giving an aural commentary on the bleakness of war and the plight of the prisoners that is quite harrrowing.
By comparrison the five pieces that make up 'There I-V' have a lighter and more free flowing feel in which the duo improvise around pre-determined pitch sets, which produces some superb interplay between the pair, for example the deeply lyrical bass clarinet on 'There III' which is reminiscent of John Surman's solo soliloquies on the instrument.
A tough listen at times, that throws up tantalising glimpses of how the duo work within the narrower confines of darker hued improvisations of 'Upon Nothingness', and how they have the ability to broaden the soundscape in the less dense and more melodic playing heard on 'There I-V', with both approaches suggesting further possibilities for the duo.
Reviewed by Nick Lea
