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Title:  Et Tournent Les Sons Ensenble Laborintus & eRikm Artist:  Luc Ferrari Label:  cesare. Format:  CD Price:  € 12.50   Mp3 samples: none

other Titles by.. Luc Ferrari Les Anecdotiques (CD)

Title Description:
From the recently deceased composer Luc Ferrari a CD with two pieces, which are for a small ensemble and tape/electronics. The small ensemble here is the Ensemble Laborintus: five people playing harp, percussion, clarinet, cello and flute. In 'Et Tournent Les Sons Dans La Garrigue' (meaning 'and sounds are spinning in the garigue') I believe the score is somewhat open ended. Musicians are asked to communicate with each other along the lines of what is presented on tape. It's hard to figure what it is exactly on the tape and what is played. We recognize the percussive sounds for sure, but the other sounds aren't easily to separate from the instruments. I believe the tape is rather made of organ like sounds, which are sometimes in drone position (the beginning of the piece) and gradually move into a very hectic form of playing. Instruments follow easily in all of this and everything is woven together in a very harmonic way. The ensemble also performs the second piece, but with guest player eRikm on CD player. Originally Ferrari was supposed to play eRikm's part, but he died six days before recording it. The CDs contain sounds over which the instruments improvise, while it 'must stay together' and occasionally they are allowed to play quotes from 'Patajaslocha', a dance suite from 1984. This gives the whole piece a circus music like character with sounds swirling around, from the total abstract to rather joyous music, but somehow it lacks a bit of tension.
On the same label is 'Noord Five Atlantica' by Lionel Marchetti, the self-taught master of musique concrete. Liner notes are all in French, and so is the labels website, which is a pity, since I am a bit in the dark what it is all about. It's a relatively long Marchetti piece, just over thirty three minutes, and throughout it breaths a solemn atmosphere. Its almost drone like, composed of sustained sounds from instruments or field recordings (the latter being more likely), but interrupted by spoken word (by people such as Yoko Higashi and Greg Kelley) which is likewise hard to follow what it is about and radios tuning in and out. Despite all this vagueness, there is a great deal of tension around this piece. It's like some anger is always lurking around the corner, waiting to attack. Sudden outbursts in sound makes this even more scarier. The whole piece is quite narrative, even without having an exact understanding what it is about. A powerful piece, almost hšrspiel like. Great listening but be careful with it in a dark room at night. (FdW)

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