Chaos

CD – Creative Sources Recordings – CS 759, Lisbon 2022

1. I - 05'10''

2. II - 05'02''

3. III - 04'45''

4. IV - 04'26''

5. V - 02'22''

6. VI - 05'56''

7. VII - 09'10''

8. VIII - 17'25''

Ernesto Rodrigues - Viola

Guilherme Rodrigues - Cello

João Madeira - Double Bass

José Oliveira - Percussion

Recorded September 2022, Lisbon

Collage by Nina Fraser

Cover design Carlos Santos

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

Reviews

REVIEWS

According to the Greek mythology, Chaos (kháos) was the first created being, from which came the primeval deities Gaia, Tartarus, Erebus, and Nyx. In Christian theology, the same term is used to refer to the gap or the abyss created by the separation of heaven and earth. In contemporary physics, or better to say contemporary science one uses the concept of deterministic chaos or chaos theory, popularized by "Jurrasic Park"

movies. Wikipedia says: "Chaos theory is an interdisciplinary area of scientific study and branch of mathematics focused on underlying patterns and deterministic laws of dynamical systems that are highly sensitive to initial conditions, and were once thought to have completely random states of disorder and irregularities." Note that deterministic

chaos deals with classical Newtonian physics, where in principle everything is deterministic, according to Pierre-Simon, marquis de Laplace!

For me as a theoretical physicists there are four most important properties of chaos:

1) Unpredictability. Trajectories of individual particles, when observed in time, seem to be unpredictable.

2) Sensitivity to initial conditions. Two trajectories that start infinitesimaly close one to another diverge exponentially in time. This is the famous butterfly effect. A buttery moving its wings in Australia might afect weather in Europe decisively on a few days time scale. The exponent controlling the speed of divergence of such close trajectories is called Lyapunov exponent, after Aleksandr Mikhailovich Lyapunov (1857-1918), a Russian mathematician, mechanician and physicist.

3) Strange attractors. Chaotic trajectories move typically on a very strange manifold with fractal dimension.

For instance a systems with 3 coordinates (i.e. three dimensional) might have a strange attractor, on whihc chaotic trajectories live, of dimension

say, 2.5, not not 3 and not 2!

4) Islands of regularity. In many systems transition to chaos occurs by the appearance of growing island in the space of trajectories, where chaos rules, but with still existing islands of regularity, where trajectories are regular and predictable.

Amazingly, all of these properties of chaos theory, find interpretation in the fantastic album of the quartet.

"Chaos" is a suite in 8 movements. Obviously, there is plenty of, at least apparently unpredictable moments free improvised parts. Obviously, each of the musicians sometimes enter a trajectory, corresponding to regular islands, with full coherence, regularity and consonance.

Yet, this situations are unstable and thus sensitive to initial conditions, and the "close" trajectories of two instrumentalists start to diverge. Of course, it is difficult to say how does it happen in the quantitative way, i.e. determine the Lyapunov exponent. Neither is possible to determine a strange attractor.

Wonderful, inspiring music!!! Maciej Lewenstein

I quattro portoghesi sono ormai veterani non solo dei loro strumenti, ma anche dell’avanguardia, di cui sono alfieri all’estremità occidentale dell’Europa.

Ernesto Rodrigues alla viola, Guilherme Rodrigues al violoncello, João Madeira al contrabbasso e José Oliveira alle percussioni sono autori di una suite divisa in otto movimenti e che a ragione prende il nome di ‘Chaos’

Sì, perché si tratta di una musica caotica, fatta di suoni irregolari estratti da strumenti che conosciamo solitamente sotto un’altra veste, ma con un suo fascino che emerge dal groviglio di suoni, di corde che si incontrano e scontrano, di percussioni che dialogano ora con l’uno ora con l’altro strumento o ponendosi come voce narrante contro tutti gli altri

Non ci sono vie di mezzo, o li si apprezza o li si odia, o ci si lascia coinvolgere dal caos o si cerca subito una via di uscita, di sicuro non li si ascolta in sottofondo senza prestargli la dovuta attenzione

La lunga parte VIII che chiude l’album si dispiega per quasi diciotto minuti, aggressiva, selvaggia, free nel senso più puro del termine, fuori da tutti i canoni.

È un album importante per la musica improvvisata in Europa, che sembra avere tratto energia da una fonte sconosciuta dopo la pausa dovuta al Covid. Vittorio Loconte (Kathodik)

Trois cordistes et un percussionniste portugais nous disent construire – déconstruire un Chaos. Ernesto Rodrigues à l’alto, son fils Guilherme au violoncelle, Joao Madeira à la contrebasse et José Oliveira à la percussion nous offrent ici une manière de tourbillon interactif dense, hérissé, tout en cisaillements, zébrures hyperactives toutes cordes enflées par les frottements pressurant les cordes enflées par ces vibrations forcenées, saturant l’espace tout en maintenant une bonne lisibilité de chaque instrument. Et cela dans les trois premiers (I, II, III) « Chaos » numérés de I à VIII. Il semble loin le temps où les deux Rodrigues et leurs acolytes incarnaient le minimalisme bruiteur et grinçant et le réductionnisme. Avec José Oliveira , Ernesto avait gravé Sudden Music en 2001 (Creative Sources cs2cd), au début de leur aventure avec ce label. Des dizaines et dizaines d’albums jalonnent leur parcours et leur association présente avec Madeira et Oliveira pour ce n° 759 du catalogue CS est tout sauf fortuite : ces quatre-là jouent comme les cinq doigts de la main dans un gant … multidimensionnel comme le démontre le Chaos IV où les échanges sont dosés, alternés avec glissandi, moirages désarticulés, harmoniques irréelles, et les frappes précises et sélectives du percussionniste. Au fil des morceaux, la musique collective se diversifie et l’invention ludique monte en graine avec forces détails, mouvements fugaces, imbrication de frottements, col legno, suraigus, grondements qui s’enlacent et se charadent poétiquement, le bassiste poussant les graves charnus sur la touche avec ses gros doigts. Les deux Rodrigues jouent en tandem comme si leurs centres nerveux étaient en osmose totale, reliés par les fils d'une écoute transitive organique comme de très rarement. Il faut noter le jeu affairé mais discret et ouvert, crépitant et pointilliste du batteur qui laisse tout l’espace aux aiguillonnements des archets virevoltant sur les cordes. Sonorités frissonnantes et cascades de vibrations boisées, chœurs multiphoniques, utopie du jeu « ensemble ». Une ivresse nous surprend, les Chaos révèlent un ordonnancement naturel qui s’échappe de la rationalité et bouleverse nos perceptions. Jean-Michel Van Schouwburg (Orynx)

W pierwszej dziś ekspozycji kwartowej znajdujemy rodzinę Rodrigues w Lizbonie, w towarzystwie kontrabasu i perkusjonalii. Spotkanie wydaje się nad wyraz ciekawe, nie pierwszy raz bowiem altowiolinista Ernesto i wiolonczelista Guilherme zdają się toczyć zaciekłe spory dramaturgiczne, sięgając po elementy, które łączą swobodną kameralistykę i post-jazz, zwłaszcza ten, który zgłasza inklinacje ku eskapadom free jazzowym. Naszym bohaterom w dziele kreacji na styku dwóch estetyk bardzo pomaga doskonały kontrabasista, Joao Madeira, który nieustanie stawia pytania o gatunkowe granice.

Pierwsze kilka improwizacji skonstruowanych jest w formie 4-5 minutowych opowieści. Muzycy budują tu narracje zarówno z zadziornych, preparowanych dźwięków, jak i cierpliwie cedzą czyste, bardziej delikatne frazy. Mamy zatem na scenie trzy kreatywne smyczki, które liczyć mogą w każdym momencie na wsparcie delikatnych perkusjonalii, niepozbawionych warstwy rytmicznej, ale nade wszystko ilustracyjnych. Muzycy nie silą się tu na żadne przystawki, od razu kreują umiarkowanie dynamiczną sytuację, są też w stanie w krótkim czasie uzyskać niemal post-industrialne brzmienie, które puentują potem sporą porcją melodii. W drugiej części improwizacja nabiera pewnej intrygującej taneczności, a frazy niebanalnej śpiewności. Kameralistyka buduje tu emocje, a akcenty post-jazzu udanie ją przyozdabiają. W trzeciej odsłonie dostajemy jeszcze elementy post-barokowe, upstrzone wieloma nerwowymi akcjami. Zaraz potem artyści biorą głęboki oddech i bawią się dźwiękami w okolicach ciszy. Preparowane i rezonujące frazy dość szybko dostają się we władanie dynamiki, choć całości bliżej do free chamber niż do jazzu. Piąta historia kontynuuje wątki, stawia też na działania w trybie call & responce. W szóstej części każdy ze smyczków zdaje się frazować w swoim indywidualnym stylu, a zwinne perkusjonalia kleją zwartą narrację w całość. Garść coraz większych emocji udanie podprowadza nas pod dwie ostanie improwizacje, które trwają na albumie zdecydowanie najdłużej. Pierwsza z nich budowana jest wieloma akcjami perkusjonalnymi, zarówno na werblu i talerzach, jak i gryfach instrumentów strunowych. Dobre tempa, oceany emocji, to prawdziwy hard-core chamber, także dzięki mnogości ostrych, zgrzytliwych zagrań ze strony każdego z muzyków! Ostatnia opowieść, to niemal trzecia część płyty i zdaje się reasumować wszelkie plany artystyczne, jakie mieli muzycy przystępując do nagrania. Nerwowe preparacje na starcie, wsparte na deep drummingu. Dynamika tym razem ściele się wedle reguły up & down. Mamy efektowne, post-jazzowe spowolnienie, potem festiwal kameralnych didaskalii. Równie urokliwa zdaje się być faza dronowego slow-motion. Na finał artyści puszczają wodze fantazji i szyją nam niemal free jazzową intrygę. Andrzej Nowak (Trybuna Muzyki Spontanicznej)

All Portuguese, Chaos’s eight sections feature the father and son team of Ernesto Rodrigues viola and Guilherme Rodrigues cello, joined by bassist João Madeira and percussionist José Oliveira. The Rodrigues have a long affiliation with Free Music, while Madeira and Oliveira move between pure improv and Free Jazz.

Pressure and percussiveness are emphasized on Chaos. But with the stressed accents coming from four directions, lyrical motifs also enter the performance. Layering is as important as linear motion as high-pitched string arcs are stacked up with double bass strokes in the middle and Oliveira’s woody clips and pops on the bottom. As Madeira’s andante pumps advance the exposition, viola and cello interjections break up the exposition to prevent passivity. Encompassing tropes include speedy string stops and strums, squeezed staccato runs, positioned bell-ringing, cymbal scratches and rim shots. These motifs are emphasized for extended or briefer interludes that sweep along until culminated in the elongated penultimate and final tracks. With multiple tones soaring from the bassist and rugged ruffs from the drummer, the andante density of “Chaos VII” is challenged by stridently pitched strings. Yet as a harbinger of what entails on the nearly 18-minute final selection, the kinship among  supple drums pushes and intense arco shrilling serves its purpose. Nearly every motif that has been proposed during the preceding seven track is expanded on “Chaos VIII”. But, also as before, the chaos described in the track titles is moderated by the narratives’ broken octave balance. Swift sul ponticello cello stops abut moderato double bass plucks, and later on a concentrated lilting interlude is interrupted by col legno string pops and woody drum emphasis. Winding each players’ timbres together into swells and stops, Madeira’s and Oliveira’s gradual lessening of tension leads to a rounded, almost lyrical finale. Ken Waxman (JazzWord)

Uranium

CD – Creative Sources Recordings – CS 754, Lisbon 2022

1. Electroacoustic - 41'32''

2. Acoustic - 31'22''

Ernesto Rodrigues - Viola (I, II)

Maria Do Mar - Violin (II)

Miguel Mira - Cello (I, II)

Helena Espvall - Cello (I)

Hernâni Faustino - Double Bass (I, II)

Bernardo Alvares - Double Bass (II)

Luisa Gonçalves - Piano (I ,II)

Miguel Almeida - Classical Guitar (II)

Flak - Electric Guitar (I, II)

Luis Lopes - Electric Guitar (I)

Abdul Moimême - Electric Guitar, Objects (I, II)

Tiago Varela - Fan Organ, Melodica (I)

Armando Pereira - Accordion (II,)

Sei Miguel - Trumpet (II,)

Pedro Almeida - Trombone (II)

Noel Taylor - Clarinet (I, II)

Bruno Parrinha - Bass Clarinet (I, II)

Radim Hanousek - Soprano Saxophone (I ,II)

Nuno Torres - Alto Saxophone (II)

José Lencastre - Tenor Saxophone (I, II)

Carla Santana - Electronics (I)

Recorded November 2021, Lisbon

Cover design Carlos Santos

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

 

Reviews

Continuing their exploration of isotopes, here focusing on the unstable element Uranium, the Portuguese Isotope Ensemble led by violist Ernesto Rodrigues presents two stunningly detailed concert performances from the 2021 CSFest XV at O'Culto da Ajuda in Lisbon, with some of Europe's leading improvisers taking on U92 in both "Electroacoustic" and "Acoustic" properties. (Squidco)

Distilling Silence

CD – Creative Sources Recordings – CS 756, Lisbon 2022

1. Part 1 - 17'00''

2. Part 2 - 09'35''

3. Part 3 - 13'36''

4. Part 4 - 07'52''

Ernesto Rodrigues - Viola

Carla Santana - Electronics

Emídio Buchinho - Electric Guitar

Bruno Parrinha - Bass Clarinet

Recorded May 2022, Amadora

Cover design Carlos Santos

https://ernestorodrigues.bandcamp.com/album/distilling-silence

 

Reviews

Then (presumably) even more recent, Ernesto Rodrigues continues to record together with clarinetist Bruno Parrinha in 2022: The provocatively titled Distilling Silence comes from this past May, i.e. prior to Definitive Bucolic (as reviewed here in July, after being recorded in June...), and turns to a different guitarist: Emídio Buchinho had recorded with Rodrigues already, back in 2016 for the trio album Fall, itself evocatively titled, very sparse & quiet music. (This was also a period when I was lamenting that many "silence"-themed albums were simply too quiet, i.e. quieter than the ambient noise of my apartment & neighborhood, i.e. too quiet to be useful....) That album was also rounded out by electronics, and here that's accomplished by Carla Santana — new to me, but also already on the new Uranium (recorded last November) by Isotope Ensemble — to form a quartet. While "fall" (i.e. autumn) & "bucolic" suggest outdoor scenes, though, Distilling Silence evokes more in the way of the indoor & its smaller spaces: There's a sense of "lowercase," i.e. of amplifying the smallest, everyday sounds — the sounds of a quiet home (& e.g. Jeff Shurdut had already released an entire series of albums on this theme...) — i.e. of bringing (the potentially ignored) to presence, but not simply as amplified per se, rather as arising reworked by collective instrumental expression.... (In its sense of the everyday, Distilling Silence thus projects an immanent affective quality, contrasting e.g. with the transcendental-metal yearnings of the previous entry....) One might even recall e.g. Rodrigues' A late evening in the future (noted here in June 2019), a sort of sparse urban outdoor interrogation, but pace the "absolute" orientation here, perhaps a more direct comparison comes from the quintet album Prima pratica (reviewed here in November 2019, and with no other musician in common...), more atmospheric or "outdoor" in its inspirations & perhaps more rambling too.... These covers actually seem to suggest a sequence with Nor, askew now for Distilling Silence (itself lit not unlike A late evening in the future...), another intriguing quartet album (originally discussed here in September 2015) with a frustrating tendency to vanish.... But back to Distilling Silence, a much tighter album than these earlier efforts: There's indeed a real sense of presence brought to the fore here, although one wouldn't call it a foreground, yielding a coherent "musical sweep" that's nonetheless beneath any sense of genre. (In comparison to Metaculture, then, that group employs a more conscious virtuosity or sense of expression, but both can suggest a sort of ambient vibe, rather less naturalistic than is typical for Rodrigues.... And pace notions of "anthropology music," various sounds of the environment have certainly been inspirational for "music history," but there's still a notion of human selection at work, and so specifically of human thought. (And I should also mention the intervening releases including both Rodrigues & Parrinha, the etudes-like quartet album D'Improvviso, featuring new-to-me horn player Michel Stawicki, and a strange experiment in a sort of flat or "unexpressive" virtuosity in the quintet album (with percussion) Unpoem, both including João Madeira on bass as well — & both actually recorded in June 2022 too, i.e. subsequent to Distilling Silence.... (The latter was also recorded in multitrack, if that's worth noting, but not HD.))) Moreover, opening with breath, Distilling Silence develops a sort of post-Cage "sound," a sort of fluttering timbre, slightly echoing, perhaps likely to fade away, but also a sense of deep throbbing (drone?) at times too, forging an ongoing kind of (elevated?) continuity for the space... or for time (& its presencing). There's an intimacy (as canonical lowercase...), and a sort of flow, a feel for pacing... a (non-rhetorical, becoming unconscious...) repose. In short, while nothing is striking, and the album isn't sparse or particularly quiet, there's indeed a sense of distilling silence, i.e. of bringing "everyday silence" to presence. Moments don't stand out, expression doesn't stand out, but one's sense of situation & time are thereby slowly transformed. (And "outside" everyday sounds seem almost charming when they do return.) Todd McComb's Jazz Thoughts

With an album such as Distilling Silence, an emphasis on spontaneous reaction here can work against doing a more thorough review. Of course, that's true in general. And sometimes I do feel more occupied with other thoughts (& although I try to bring the same perspective & openness to each release, I'm not sure that's always possible). Or sometimes, it just takes more exposure, or else some other kind of slippage or breakthrough in my other interactions to yield a new perspective.... For Distilling Silence, though, I did already think I might return here when I wrote the other review: One thing about reviewing so many albums from Ernesto Rodrigues over the years is that there're so many albums from Ernesto Rodrigues. (I mean, that's obviously fine. It's only an artifact of what I'm doing here that I need to "sort" into buckets, whether to review, etc.) So what stands out above other projects? (It's the sort of question I ask around various prolific musicians, but they often have releases rather outside my interests. Rodrigues always seems to be intersecting with something relevant here....) And with an album such as Distilling Silence, it was always going to be about random hearings at random times, i.e. to form a more thorough impression, so that took a while. (And it was also about continuing to think about what Rodrigues is doing. Like e.g. Anthony Braxton or Evan Parker in recent entries here, he seems ready, in the "post"-pandemic world, to continue forging new music. Unlike some other arenas where it seems that everyone is stuck in 2019....) Well, it turns out that it's become one of my favorites, so I'm indeed back here for a few more remarks. I'd talked before about cultivating a sort of blandness, which is part of what took me a while with this recording, as it didn't stand out at first.... But what's strange in hindsight is that various passages are quite intense, including rumbling bass & searing high tones, i.e. general framing of audible space, while there're also various held resonances & an overall tendency to vary attacks. (I'm often looking for something to obliterate earworms & other general noise, but Distilling Silence was more subtle about its effectiveness in this domain. It provides more of a "reset" than a frontal assault on jingles.... One might even suggest that it targets "mental noise" more broadly, i.e. the main political tactic of our era, figuring generally overwhelming sensation & emotion — here retuning dissonance itself in order to quiet the mind.) The opening has already taken on a "classic" feel for me, the sense of breath, the unfurling braided timbres, the inviting sense of space.... As already noted (as "tight") in the prior review, there's also a sense that this music is rather refined & so has been "produced" — i.e. akin, perhaps, to some other prominent (& more "jazz"-based) releases discussed here recently, Xaybu & Stepping Out: As usual, there's no real discussion of how Distilling Silence was created, but it fits apparently under "improvisation," even as there was presumably some prior discussion as well as electronic processing. However, Rodrigues has actually moved into composed music at this time as well, or at least has decided to release a recording: The string quartet from Dis/con/sent recorded an album last November of four compositions, one by each member, graphic scores that were then rehearsed & released recently as Kompositionen. (This is actually the group's fourth album, without personnel changes, so that's already unusual for Rodrigues. Various organizational ideas & string techniques of the 20th & 21st centuries are deployed.) And it's not only the opening to Distilling Silence that impresses, as there're four distinct tracks, each seemingly separately conceived & articulated. Of course, including per the title, they seem to be something out of a post-Cage school, and so it's probably worth recalling Cage's famous disdain for improvisation... but then his complaints were also specific & practical: The situation is very different since the development of non-idiomatic improvisation, including moving beyond note-focused music into varying timbral combos. Particularly since Cage's late music often includes a sense of filling intervals of time, these basic notions also lead me into ideas around "coloring" time itself, i.e. beyond the coloring of different beats in rhythmic music (e.g. by a pioneer of the previous generation of European free jazz such as Baby Sommer...), to a more general coloring of interval & temporality. There's thus a sense of sculpting timbral combos here as well, with viola & clarinet fusing with guitar & electronics in different shades (& shifting foregrounds, what I call braiding...). And for me, upon further reflection, the result specifically recalls Coluro (another album from Rodrigues, first reviewed here in July 2018...), a very substantial album by length, also less "economic" in its forces (there as a sextet), but with a similar vibe around timbral combos, and what I called the "spanning" of space thereby. That album long made an impression on me, but ends up seeming rather more rough than Distilling Silence, almost a trial run — although the only musician in common is Rodrigues himself. And then another influential album for me from his recent catalog was Setúbal (recorded shortly before lockdown in February 2020, and reviewed here at the height of lockdown in May 2020), an album with a superb sense of flow (& flowing timbre), part of a much wider trend (perhaps) of flowing water inspirations.... So that sense (& technique) of "flow" seems to inform Distilling Silence as well, coming & going, serving to color time per se. (The other recent album from Rodrigues that I've especially enjoyed this year, Chiaroscuro, uses "flow" passages as well, there packaged more classically — & vertically — into a play of shadows....) But then, it's not only Rodrigues on Distilling Silence: I'd already noted how Bruno Parrinha has contributed to so many projects this year, and I still haven't found anything else about Carla Santana, but Emídio Buchinho (b.1963, Angola) does have more of a media presence, working theater/film music (& via various technology...), sound installation, etc. He doesn't release many albums, and is surely a major factor here (& his prior album with Rodrigues, Fall, although tending to be very quiet, is precise & clear in its conception as well, as noted here last month), i.e. contributes to the singularity of the result. (Buchinho has been collaborating with electronics artists his entire career....) And the result really ends up doing something for me, i.e. the album is useful. As noted, sometimes the passages are intense or even shrill, but somehow, a sense of soothing seems to emerge overall, I guess highlighting the nuances of time, but not in an overbearing way.... Perhaps the key to success here is also its sense of envelopment, i.e. the very low & very high (not to mention the basic timbral variety...) subtly framing-shaping space. Maybe the ringing guitar can even come to suggest the beach (as well) at times. And much like Cage, maybe it can feel emancipatory without being loud or even expressive. Todd McComb's Jazz Thoughts

An immersive album of understated but incredibly detailed free improvisation from the quartet of Ernesto Rodrigues on viola, Bruno Parrinha on bass clarinet, Emidio Buchinho on electric guitar and Carla Santana on electronics, performing live at Escola Superior de Teatro e Cinema, in Amadora, Portugal for a four part concentration on silence through sound. (Squidco)