Aura

CD - Creative Sources Recordings – CS628, Lisbon 2020

1. I - 31'14''

Ernesto Rodrigues - Viola

Nuno Torres - Alto Saxophone

Abdul Moimême - Prepared Electric Guitar

Recorded March 2019, Lisbon
Cover design Carlos Santos

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

Reviews

Three frequent collaborators--Ernesto Rodrigues on viola, Nuno Torres on alto saxophone, and Abdul Moimeme on electric guitar--captured live in 2019 at Logradouro da Compostinha, in Lisbon, Portugal, each using their instruments with unusual approaches through extended techniques, in a half hour set balancing subtle aural ambience with rich, detailed activity; spellbinding. Squidco

The Creative Sources label should be well known to anyone interested in "different music", with well over 600 titles in their catalogue. Label boss Ernesto Rodrigues appears on quite a few of them, and his modus is generally to work with quiet sounds and extended techniques, captured by close-miking and careful attention.

Here, abetted by alto saxophonist Nuno Torres and electric guitarist Abdul Moimeme, the game plan gets stretched a bit. The single half-hour piece begins with quiet tones and scrapes, in soft clusters connected by gritty ropes, like cotton balls hung from a diamond saw. Recognizable notes intermingle with inexplicable sounds in constant forward motion. Chattering and buzzing feature prominently. Somewhere around the thirteen-minute mark, things become decidedly more tonal, led by Torres' sax. The trio expands into the kind of quick fairly straight-ahead combining we might've heard during the heyday of British improv. There follows then an exhibition of chordal mixing dissolving into quieter, sparser ruminations studded with an occasional pop or crack or metallic whang. A folk fiddle tune slides by amid big electric clouds. A stringed storm front skirts the edges and handfuls of whistles extrude out of the center. The artwork on the cover, what could be a messy pile of wire(s) with a dark center, fits the sound rather well methinks. Jeph Jerman (The Squid's Ear)

"Aura" is another non-standard recording of Ernesto, realised in March 2019 live at Longradouro da Compostinha in Lisbon. It is recorded by the trio of Ernesto-Abdul-Nuno, and it is really a vehicle for the fantastic alto improvisations by Nuno Torres, who is one of the truly great figures of the alto saxophone in Europe and in the world. Which does not mean that Ernesto and Abdul do not do anything! Amazing stuff!!! Maciej Lewenstein

White bricks and the wooden mutes

Creative Sources – CS DIGITAL, Lisbon 2019

1. The Bridge - 22'36''
2. Th Key - 10'08''
3. Th Bend - 10'07''

Ernesto Rodrigues - Viola

Biliana Voutchkova - Violin

Rodrigo Pinheiro - Piano

Recorded June 2017, Lisbon
Cover design Carlos Santos

https://ernestorodrigues.bandcamp.com/album/white-bricks-and-the-wooden-mutes

Reviews

Nowy, prawdziwie futurologiczny rok 2020 rozkręca się, ale na łamach Trybuny czeka nas jeszcze trochę zaległości z roku 2019. Na liście 50 płyt wartych zapamiętania z tegoż właśnie roku, sformułowanej wg subiektywnych knowań Pana Redaktora, znalazły się dwa wydawnictwa, które nie były jeszcze przez nas recenzowane. Dziś prezentujemy jedno z nich.


Dwudziesty dzień czerwca 2017 roku, urocza jak najzwyczajniej Lizbona i miejsce zwane O'culto da Ajuda. Na scenie trójka niezwykle skupionych muzyków, przy okazji naszych świetnych znajomych – skrzypaczka Biliana Voutchkova, altowiolista Ernesto Rodrigues i pianista Rodrigo Pinheiro. Zagrają zmysłowy koncert, na który złożą się trzy swobodne improwizacje, czynione w duchu wyzwolonej kameralistyki, sięgające wszakże swymi ponadgatunkowymi mackami do niemal każdego zakątka muzyki współczesnej, to znaczy – muzyki współcześnie tworzonej. Jesienią 2019 roku portugalski label Creative Sources (edycja cyfrowa) umieści tę muzykę w plikach elektronicznych ku radości całego świata, po tytułem White Bricks And The Wooden Mutes. Całość zaś odsłuchu zajmie nam dokładnie 42 minuty i 51 sekund.

The Bridge/ Most. Pojedynczy akord suchego piana, szczebiot strun szykujących się do lotu i cisza otwartej przestrzeni, która drży w oczekiwaniu na rozwój wypadków scenicznych. Skrzypce podśpiewują niczym zagubiony wędrowiec na skraju pustyni, piano rezonuje czarnymi klawiszami – kameralna opowieść palona żarem zachodzącego słońca. W trzeciej minucie bystry recenzent odnotowuje ciekawy dialog skrzypiec i altówki, która brzmi jak piano, czyniony posuwistymi ruchami smyczków po gryfach. Muzycy zdają się szukać pretekstu do tańca, ale ich ruchy krępuje smutek niezdecydowania. Po chwili stawiają jednak na swoim – chamber slow dance! Pierwsza, skromna erupcja scenicznych emocji. Fortepian Rodrigo sieje post-jazzowy ferment, Biliana skrzy się instrumentalną wirtuozerią, Ernesto szuka na skraju altówki rozwiązań minimalistycznych. Opowieść nabiera gęstości w okolicach dziesiątej minuty – skrzypaczka śpiewa tuż nad powierzchnią strun, altowiolista zdaje się stać u progu czegoś hałaśliwego, pianista sugeruje masywny meta rytm wprost z czarnych klawiszy. Po niedługim czasie narracja zostaje błyskotliwie ugaszona, a violin & viola przechodzą do fazy piłowania strun. Piano czyni dokładnie to samo. Cisza wokół nabiera dronowej struktury i wiedzie muzyków na finał tej części koncertu, zdobionego krzykiem pojedynczych strun.

The Key/ Klucz. Urywane, krótkie frazy, akcenty percussion na gryfach, piano kroczące swoim wewnętrznym rytmem, wyposażone w dramaturgiczne zadziory. Po czwartej minucie opowieść zwinnie osiąga stan półgalopu, szybko jednak traci dynamikę i chwilowo wypycha muzyków na scenariuszowe manowce. Ich ruchy noszą znamiona minimalizmu i kameralnej repetycji. Reagują na siebie w estetyce call & responce. Piano jako ostatnie gasi światło.

The Bent/ Zagięcie. Koncert dumnie wkracza w fazę preparacji i wzajemnego rezonowania instrumentów. Pojękiwanie strun, skowyt klawiszy, step by step ku nieznanemu. Biliana zawodzi jak mały tygrys, któremu ktoś okaleczył stopę, altówka skrzypi niczym najstarsze drzwi w tej części świata, a klawisze fortepianu stroszą pióra. W połowie czwartej minuty narracja nabiera szczypty dynamiki. Oba strunowce szorują struny w meta tanecznym rytmie, piano szuka melodii ukrytej głęboko w pudle rezonansowym. Partia improwizacji robi się niespodziewanie głośna. Muzycy brną na sam szczyt i tkają opowieść bardzo gęstym ściegiem. Finał tego niezwykłego koncertu kipi emocjami, lśni post-freejazzowym światłem. Poszukiwanie ostatniego dźwięku urzeka akustyczną urodą – Biliana śle małe drony, Ernesto poleruje struny, a Rodrigo liczy białe i czarne klawisze. Andrzej Nowak (Trybuna Muzyki Spontanicznej)

Of the albums in the round-up, this is the one I had anticipated with the most eagerness. Two violas and a piano? Lisbon-scene stalwarts Rodrigues and Rodrigo Pinherio with Biliana Voutchkova of Blurred Music renown? What’s not to like?


Another live recording (though from a 2017 date), White Bricks and the Wooden Mutes promised to be bold (and understated) and forceful (but subtly so). This assumption may have encouraged me to listen harder or concede to it certain intentionality. That says, it is nevertheless a standout among this compelling set of releases. One viola turns to drones. The other, clicks plucks. Pinherio’s piano responds with metallic chords, flight runs, and rapid interior pizzicato. The music then glides into some of the most active and spirited exchanges I have heard Rodrigues engaged in. This approaches free jazz at its clunkiest and most energetic. But, it does this briefly. As with Rodrigues’ quieter releases, the group focuses on shaping sound out of a dialogical morass. It concentrates on dynamics, rather than melodicism or unfettered ebullience. Still, counter to my expectations, understatement and near-silent nuance are the exception, though they do appear at brief moments in the valleys. Much of the rest is composed of the layers of whistling notes, frayed crackles, nervous scrapes, and controlled dynamism that have come to characterize Rodrigues’ projects, albeit here at comparatively amplified volumes. It is an odd combination for Rodrigues, but a wholly satisfying one. Nick Ostrum (The Free Jazz Collective)

Prima pratica

CD - Creative Sources – CS621, Lisbon 2019

1. Dissonanze I - 17'38''
2. Dissonanze II - 31'55''
3. Dissonanze III - 12'17''

Ernesto Rodrigues - Viola

Luis Senra - Tenor Saxophone

Gianna De Toni - Double Bass

Luis Couto - Electric Guitar

Biagio Verdolini - Homemade Instruments

Recorded January 2019, Ponta Delgada, Azores
Cover design Carlos Santos

https://ernestorodrigues.bandcamp.com/album/prima-pratica

Reviews

Another recent album from Creative Sources, in this case taking a while to make much of an impression on me, is Prima pratica by another quintet led by Ernesto Rodrigues (on his usual viola), and recorded in the Azores this past January. Prima pratica is another long album (over an hour), and largely features musicians with whom I wasn't familiar. The exception is Gianna De Toni (double bass), who appeared e.g. on the short yet often potent quartet album Synchronous Rotation with Vasco Trilla & the two Rodrigueses (as discussed here in March 2018).... Beyond that, Biagio Verdolini (homemade instruments) is credited with zither on string 11tet+1 album Sul (mentioned here in August 2018, although not Verdolini himself), while Luis Senra (tenor saxophone) & Luis Couto (electric guitar) were unknown. (I won't assume they're all young, but they may be....) In any case, what instrument is making what sound tends toward the opaque on Prima pratica, as sounds are decontextualized (i.e. per classic musique concrète, but done live) & then used gesturally. Beyond the imposing album title, individual tracks are also titled "dissonanze" I-III (thus evoking e.g. Nashaz, on which sounds are actually far easier to place), providing an enigmatic prompt for what is otherwise rather sparse music. (And when it does emerge into a rare forte, it's usually tonal.) The sparse decontextualization involves taking another step — toward austerity or essence? — from e.g. Coluro, on which timbral spanning is rather systematic, yet also "thicker" & more individually discernible. Prima pratica is then not only more distended in its sonic materials, but adopts a more linear approach (via its gestural clarity) in order to sketch long arcs & their imputed space. It's also largely acoustic. Further, I wouldn't be discussing this album (at least in any detail) if it weren't ultimately affective, and although that affectivity does require listener investment, a potent & calming quality consistently emerges via such attention. (I'm thus unsure whether to differentiate Prima pratica from ambient music — in that, absent investment, very little seems to happen: Nonetheless, the affectivity is real.) The sparseness thus comes to suggest something essential about musical line & timbre, as well as asks one to take (often subtle) dissonance per se seriously: A plaintive quality also comes to emerge, somehow evoking its island setting (in modes seemingly allied to those of Rodrigues' work with his Suspensão ensemble...), while remaining carefully balanced. Quiet thus comes to yield transformativity, as muted colors arc like threads through invisible space.... (In this, Prima pratica is similar yet different from Stratus, which although layered in pastels, is tauter & in broader timbral strokes, featuring more general continuity....) In some ways, the sometimes mysterious origin of the sounds contributes to the impression of space, but in other ways, concerns of that sort tend to fade away: The first track is already especially satisfying in that regard, invoking a sort of kenosis that's expounded into the second (which does come to seem a bit overlong, at over a half hour by itself...) with its sometimes extended "radio signal" atmosphere. Shadows of melody do also appear, though, amid various bubbling & bouncing fluid streams. The shorter third track soon seems overlong again too, but its pulsations also continue the theme, as arcs of color continue to outline broad affective spaces. It seems that this sort of style could continue to be abstracted & elaborated quite broadly & evocatively.... Todd McComb's Jazz Thoughts

A very open free improvisation of Portuguese musicians recording in Azores, PT from the quintet of Ernesto Rodrigues on viola, Luis Senra on tenor saxophone, Gianna de Toni on double bass, Luis Couto on electric guitar, Biagio Verdolini on homemade instruments, using space amid patiently evolving conversation with an overall acoustic feeling in three movements of "Dissonanze". Squidco

Slow-motion deconstruction of bassline supported by crackles, chimes, plucks, and hollow metallics. Light wafts of half-melodies. Delicate percuss and saxophone clucks. Softly but restively screeching strings. Speaks to both the common ideas and discipline of the group dedicated to discovering the minute, dissonant idiosyncrasies of the musical moment and extending them deep into time. A second can be an instant or a prolonged meditation on a single bent tone, scraped surface, or, more often, combinations of minor events.


What makes this unique in this bunch is the primary role played by Gianna De Toni’s bass. It frequently stands out in its depth and clarity and seems the linking element between prevalent atmosphere of strange sounds (Luis Senra’s contorted sax huffs, Luis Couto’s altered guitar, Biagio Verdolini’s bag of homemade devices, and, of course, Rodrigues’ viola) and more traditional and recognizable musical elements. Nick Ostrum (The Free Jazz Collective)

Man is wolf to man

CD – Creative Sources Recordings – CS619, Lisbon 2019

1. Axial - 07'53''
2. Radial - 07'27''
3. Longitudinal - 18'47''
4. Coaxial - 14'39'' 
5. Axial - 08'16''

Ernesto Rodrigues - Viola

Olaf Rupp - Acoustic Guitar

Guilherme Rodrigues - Cello

Recorded October 2018, Berlin

Cover design Carlos Santos

https://ernestorodrigues.bandcamp.com/album/man-is-wolf-to-man

Reviews

[…] Further to the notion of an S2R trio, I mentioned in a relatively lengthy discussion of RRR & We Still Have Bodies last August how Ernesto & Guilherme Rodrigues can seem to be playing one big instrument at times, making their trios seem (almost) more like duos. Within such a context, they thus forge a sort of extended, (virtual) four-hand string articulation, and that "closeness" pairs to fine effect with Schindler's very detailed & transformative technique on horns, continuing to conflate notions of continuous & discrete (as suggested around timbre above). If this trio does continue to produce albums, then, it might catch up with the ongoing trio the Rodrigueses have with Olaf Rupp, which has itself just released a third album (after RRR, as noted, & the digital Chaotic Complex Systems as mentioned here in December): Man is wolf to man was recorded in Berlin in October 2018 (one year after RRR), and continues a relatively mellow orientation for this trio. Akin to moving from arToxin to Salon, however, it features fewer direct musical evocations, and so an increasingly personal style: Slow plucking becomes melodic at times, perhaps bustling or buzzing with dissonance at others, but usually retains a mellow vibe as rustling figures tend to come & go in ambient waves....  Todd McComb's Jazz Thoughts

Electric guitarist Olaf Rupp joins the father/son duo of violist Ernesto Rodrigues and cellist Guilherme cello, in studio recordings from Berlin in 2017, as three disparate strings intertwine in acoustics and electronics for an intensely evolving two part work, a textured tapestry of slow bowing, sustaining tones, unusual progressions, and odd percussive invention. Squidco

Guitarist Olaf Rupp recorded this trio session with violist Ernesto Rodrigues and cellist Guilherme Rodrigues, capturing five improvisations from around 8 minutes to 18 in length, the first three demonstrating intense interaction with an overall sense of restraint, closing with two more reflective works, a beautiful balance of reductionist sensibility amid superb technique. Squidco