Nunatak

CD - Creative Sources Recordings – CS905, Lisbon 2026

1. I - 19'33''

2. III - 09'01''

3. II - 14'33''

Ernesto Rodrigues - Viola & Crackle Box

Chris Jonas - Soprano Saxophone

Irene Aranda - Piano & Objects

Guilherme Rodrigues - Cello

Kriton Beyer - Daxophone

Recorded October 2025, Berlin

Cover design Carlos Santos

https://ernestorodrigues.bandcamp.com/album/nunatak

Reviews

Quintet assez hard dans l’univers des Rodrigues père et fils ( Guilherme cello et Ernesto viola + crackle box) en compagnie du souffleur lunaire Chris Jonas (sax soprano), de la pianiste Irene Aranda fourrant des objets parmi les cordes de son instrument et de Kriton Beyer au daxophone, l’instrument créé par Hans Reichel qu’il transforme en objet sonore bruitiste. J’aime à la fois l’emportement collectif du quintet que les interventions individuelles précises qui se croisent hardiment dans des registres et des dynamiques diversifiées ou même contradictoires. Celles-ci sont le sel des échanges interactifs qui veillent systématiquement à courir plusieurs lièvres à la fois avec brio, un certain activisme ludique intense qui s’imbrique adroitement jusque dans de magnifiques dérapages assez fous. Un praticien de l’improvisation qui aimait autre fois les théories avait avancé il y a longtemps le « concept » de musique heuristique. On y est. Ernesto m’a fait un clin d’œil pour cette nouvelle production Creative Sources. Il a bien raison …. Ce Nunatak en trois parties est en fait une toute nouvelle occurrence dans l’odyssée Créative Sources/ E&G Rodrigues et cie qui ne ressemble à rien à ce que j’ai déjà écouté parmi leur production exponentielle. Il y a d’ailleurs des passages du coq à l’âne qui valent leur pesant de canard… ça canarde parfois allègrement . Absolument fantastique, surtout si vous connaissez mal toute l’étendue des possibilités et des enregistrements de free – music « totalement » libre. Jean-Michel Van Schouwburg (Orynx)

Lop Nur

CD - Creative Sources Recordings – CS900, Lisbon 2026

1. Equinoxe I - 28'08''

2. Equinoxe II - 16'49''

Ernesto Rodrigues - Viola

Olaf Rupp - Electric Guitar

Guilherme Rodrigues - Cello

Roman Stolyar - Piano & Recorders

Recorded March 2026, Berlin

Cover design Carlos Santos

https://ernestorodrigues.bandcamp.com/album/lop-nur

Reviews

CD - Creative Sources Recordings – CS897, Lisbon 2026

1. Bico Pena - 09'13''

2. Coração Binário - 04'22''

3. Memória de um Voo - 12'53''

4. Seres do Mundo - 05'00''

5. Sobre a Mulher Pássaro - 04'07''

Sofia Freire - Poetry & Voice

Ernesto Rodrigues - Viola & Crackle Box

Flak - Electric Guitar & Electronics

Recorded November 2024 - February 2025, Alfarim

Cover design Carlos Santos

https://ernestorodrigues.bandcamp.com/album/o-manifesto-dos-p-ssaros

Reviews

 CD - Creative Sources Recordings - CS900, Lisbon 2026

1. I - 02'18''

2. II - 01'37''

3. III - 02'29''

4. IV - 02'51''

5. V - 02'58''

6. VI - 04'11''

7. VII - 03'59''

8. VIII - 02'36''

9. IX - 04'14''

10. X - 04'25''

11. XI - 03'11''

12. XII - 03'28''

13. XIII - 03'11''

14. XIV - 03'43''

Floros Floridis - Clarinet, Bass Clarinet

Ernesto Rodrigues - Viola

Guilherme Rodrigues - Cello

Tomás Becket - Piano

Recorded March 2026, Berlin

Cover design Carlos Santos

https://ernestorodrigues.bandcamp.com/album/morphological-changes

Reviews

CD - Creative Sources Recordings – CS896, Lisbon 2026

1. Éveil - 27'08''

Ernesto Rodrigues - Viola

João Silva - Trumpet

Carlos Santos - Modular Synthesizer

Recorded February 2026, Lisbon

Cover design Carlos Santos

https://ernestorodrigues.bandcamp.com/album/jardin-s-mantique

Reviews

Taking up some threads from my thoughts in the previous three entries, Jardin Sémantique — recorded in Lisbon this past February — finds Ernesto Rodrigues (on viola only) in the musical company of João Silva (trumpet) & Carlos Santos (electronics). Silva appeared for a while in a variety of larger groupings with Rodrigues, being mentioned here explicitly with Stratus (reviewed January 2019) — there featuring a series of "open air" calls & hazy, pastel colorings — & then in trio for the quietly nocturnal Nightwalk (recorded in 2021), emblematic of windswept pandemic-era solitude.... And Rodrigues hasn't involved trumpet as much in his smaller ensembles (pace reeds especially, but also e.g. flute & voice...), but per e.g. Parcours d'Impulsions (also from Lisbon, reviewed here last month), the instrument has much to offer for quieter or more resonant (spectral) textures. So the renewed collaboration with Silva can make for a striking listen on the short Jardin Sémantique, including e.g. passages recalling classical violin — as articulated through a generally loose, three-way flow. And of course Santos has collaborated extensively with Rodrigues, but much like Thomas Lehn (per Critical Values & the previous entry here...), it can be difficult to summarize his sonic contributions. He's often been more quiet & in the background (including e.g. on Stratus...), e.g. manipulating harmonics. But he's also been increasing his foreground participation, e.g. already with trio Rotor with Rodrigues & Nuno Torres, their prior work there (their first release Impulses and Signals being noted in the June 2024 review of Santos' album with the Lisbon String Trio, Cobra...) serving as a ready comparison for the trio interaction on Jardin Sémantique — i.e. now with trumpet instead of alto sax. (Santos was specifically named here most recently with Suspensão, for a December review, and also appeared e.g. on the more recent quartet album — likewise with more readily audible electronics — Untitled Dream, noted already in March.) There're indeed then naturalistic evocations, i.e. as associated with various Creative Sources productions, but also sometimes perhaps a sense of being (pace Where the Stars from last month...) inside an industrial space (or even spaceship): Jardin Sémantique is close-mic'd with plenty of presence in general (even becoming aggressive at times...), some high picking to open, soon a ghostly howl... sounds often remaining relatively mutually sparse, with their interactions twisting into different shapes via shifting frames & foregrounds. Senses of anticipation thus develop (including via calls...), the three instruments blending into unusual or unclear timbral combos at times too, i.e. continuing onward in a sense of intertwined (i.e. quasi-linear) unfolding. Another Rodrigues trio with Torres (& with cello rather than electronics) is thus recalled, Setúbal (reviewed May 2020), with Jardin Sémantique sometimes suggesting as well a sort of burbling, eventually watery flow around Silva on trumpet... figured now (per the accompanying poem, from 2000) as an awakening. Todd McComb's Jazz Thoughts