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Review

Ben Harper, Boring Like A Drill, 22 avril 2022
lundi 25 avril 2022 Presse

Quatuor Bozzini’s set of Michael Oesterle’s Quatuors opens with a nice comfy chorale that almost immediately drops away to a near-inaudible skein of harmonics. This piece, Oesterle’s String Quartet No. 4, is the latest and longest of the four pieces heard here (but not the entirety of his output for string quartet). The piece moves casually back and forth between slow pulses of alternating chords and scurrying patterns of harmonics, before returning to chorales and whispers. Oesterle gives no programme other than to assert that his musical materials are always “geometric, expressive, and puritanical”. It is the most subtly disorienting piece in the collection, as each passage yields to the next without any formal structural division, while beguiling sounds are tempered by a secretiveness as to where, if anywhere, the music may be directed. Quatuor Bozzini’s style of playing ideally evokes that shrouded expressivity, never loud but each phrase always indelible, however softly it is played.

The remaining three pieces are more easily apprehended, each falling into neatly digestible sections. String Quartet No. 3 “Alan Turing” from 2010 explores patterns, gestures and textures with an appropriate sense of wonder and discovery mingled with loss and regret. The Bozzinis bring out the gentle playfulness of each movement, slightly darkened by the melancholy of its subject. The harmonic language and gestures at times recall the freshness of a previous generation’s “post-minimal” tonality in its first flowering, before it was worked in harness to the service of Hollywood soundtracks. The titles of 2016’s Three Pieces for String Quartet evoke various animals but Oesterle’s notes again cite geometrical puzzles as each piece’s prime mover, claiming inspiration from Stravinsky and Cage. I can hear a kinship with Ruth Crawford in here, which is the highest of praise. The earliest piece here, Daydream Mechanics from 2001, is the most extended and hushed movement in the collection, with genuine whispering, searching out unexpected consequences from an otherwise confined grid of chordal patterns. Quatuor Bozzini’s championing of this composer, matching his language with a refinement of style that moves from rapid filigree to near-stillness in the same mode of emotion, reveals depths slowly swirling below the undemanding surface.

Quatuor Bozzini’s championing of this composer, matching his language with a refinement of style that moves from rapid filigree to near-stillness in the same mode of emotion, reveals depths slowly swirling below the undemanding surface.

Review

Andrew Timar, The WholeNote, no 27:6, 21 avril 2022
vendredi 22 avril 2022 Presse

In the last years of his prolific creative life, iconic experimental composer John Cage (1912-1992) composed some 40 number pieces. For titles, he coined a unique system in which numbers indicate the number of performers or the number of instrumental parts in each work. Superscripts were added when compositions shared the same number of performers.

Cage’s notation of these pieces features two time-based categories: fixed and flexible “time brackets.” Fixed-time brackets indicate when the musician/s should precisely begin and end a tonal event. Flexible-time brackets however, allow musicians choice in the matter, admitting into the performance, a) chance and b) the anarchic harmony of sounds and silences simply co-existing, two key Cagean notions.

Both works on this album belong to that corpus. One7, “For any pitched instrument able to play sustained notes,” is the seventh piece in a series of compositions for one musician. Except, in this performance the polished Montréal group Quartetski have decided to interpret the open score with all four member musicians: Isaiah Ceccarelli (percussion, synthesizer), Bernard Falaise (electric guitar), Philippe Lauzier (bass clarinet, synthesizer) and Pierre-Yves Martel (electric bass, sine waves).

Four6, also for unspecified forces, also lasts a leisurely half hour. The four musicians are asked to “Choose 12 different sounds with fixed characteristics (amplitude, overtone structure, etc.) ” producing a mellower soundscape than the dramatic musical moments generated in One7.

Quartetski’s nuanced realization of these two autumnal Cage works admirably animates the scores, imbuing individual character which belies their apparent abstract appearance. Marked by attention to timbral richness well-represented by this refined recording, the quartet displays a spirit of sonic discovery that’s aurally refreshing while respecting the composer’s musical aesthetics.

… the quartet displays a spirit of sonic discovery that’s aurally refreshing while respecting the composer’s musical aesthetics.

Review

Yoshi Maclear Wall, The WholeNote, no 27:6, 20 avril 2022
vendredi 22 avril 2022 Presse

Sometimes, the smallest tidbit of context can make a world of difference when it comes to interpreting art. One illustrative example that comes to mind is the powerful 1997 Derek Bailey and Min Tanaka Music and Dance album, where the listener is primarily attuned to Bailey’s guitar playing but even just a working knowledge of Tanaka’s presence helps establish a real-world setting in the mind of the listener.

Similarly, Ensemble SuperMusique’s 2019 Montréal Sonne l’image performance is also one of a multidisciplinary nature, and there is something about that framing that feels critical. Even if one doesn’t get their hands on a CD where the visual scores themselves are provided, the music takes on a new shape when the imagination can vaguely infer the imagery that is being responded to. This phenomenon speaks to a desire the spectator has to feel connected to the process itself, where the stage almost seems to disappear and the hierarchy of a concert hall vanishes. But what happens when one chooses to listen ignorantly, fixating on what we’ve been given rather than extrapolating?

The music itself has a definite determinate sway to it in terms of duration and select composed passages, but this is an inspiring display of collective improvisation. Throughout three movements, all individual elements are interwoven but there is never overt disruption. Everyone breathes together, and nobody takes a solo. Communal contributions take precedence over individual objectives. Patience and timing ensures fluidity.

… this is an inspiring display of collective improvisation.

Review

Dolf Mulder, Vital, no 1331, 11 avril 2022
jeudi 14 avril 2022 Presse

Discovering the work of Fred Frith and René Lussier, Falaise chose a similar direction in developing his own voice as a guitarist. From early on, he was interested in extending the possibilities and sounds of the electric guitar. For more than 25 years, he has been a prominent force in the scene of Québec and played with groups like Papa Boa, Klaxon Gueule, Subtle Lip and many other projects and played with many other musicians from Québec. One finds his name on dozens of albums recorded in the last twenty years, from pop and Avant rock to improvised and modern composed music. He records a solo effort now and then, and G(o) sol(o) is the fifth one in this series. In his earlier solo statements overdubbing, editing, and other post-production procedures were essential constitutive elements. Not for his new recording, where Falaise kept these at a minimum to create music played as it is heard. It is hard to believe that sometimes all is played by Falaise simultaneously, but looping and other devices easily create this impression. His experimental and exploring music is beyond recognizable styles and idioms. It is a very original, rich musical world on its own. The opening track Slogan starts with rock-based sensibilities. It is the first of two lengthy improvisations (12 minutes), whereas the other pieces stay 4-5 minutes. The work goes through different stages and feels like a journey, encountering many different textures and patterns. Olga en gondole has a laid back and open atmosphere. On the contrary, Gogol à vélo is a freaky and experimental improvisation built from short movements and interruptions. Galop starts from percussive-like sequences. The sounds change in intensity and colour. Closing track L’ocelot d’Oslo is created from looped sounds of an ambient and keyboard-like nature, with nervous high-pitched sketchy interruptions moving towards a culminating point. His abstract sonic adventures for prepared guitar are varied and intense. Lively and far from academic.

His abstract sonic adventures for prepared guitar are varied and intense. Lively and far from academic.

Kritik

Frank P Eckert, Groove, 16 mars 2022
lundi 11 avril 2022 Presse

Die Kompositionen des US-Amerikaners Tom Johnson haben eine ähnliche Qualität. Vom Montréaler Streichquartett Quatuor Bozzini eingespielt, haben die Tom Johnson: Combinations (Collection QB) durchaus einen modernistisch neutönenden Charakter, finden aber in aller Grenztonalität doch immer wieder zu Songs von melancholischer Schönheit zusammen.

… des chansons d’une beauté mélancolique.