Trees

CD – Creative Sources Recordings – CS252, Lisbon 2013

1. Ancient Trees - 12'41''

2. Whistling Trees - 05'15''

3. Lonely Trees - 12'29''

4. Moonlit Trees - 08'17''

5. Tree of Life - 03'37''

Ernesto Rodrigues - Viola

Guilherme Rodrigues - Cello

Gianna De Toni - Double Bass

Christophe Berthet - Soprano Saxophone

Raphaël Ortis - Electric Bass, Objects

Recorded in May 2013, Lisbon

Cover design Carlos Santos

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

Reviews

Trees [cs252] brings together an unusual quintet of string trio—viola (Ernesto Rodrigues), cello (Guilherme Rodrigues) and double bass (Gianna de Toni)—with soprano saxophone (Christophe Berthet) and electric bass/objects (Raphael Ortis). The five tracks contain a deep range of sounds from all of the instruments: Sparse textures evoking creaking wood and the rustling of dry leaves (Ancient Trees); long bowed tones from the cello and double bass and suspended harmonics (Whistling Trees); rattling metal and pizzicato electric bass (Lonely Trees); low density layering and stillnesses (Moonlit Trees); siren-like sustained dissonances over a resonant, low foundation (Tree of Life). Daniel Barbiero (Percorsi Musicali)

Au Tcha3, où Creative Sources et Ernesto Rodrigues ont leurs habitudes, fut enregistréTrees le 22 mai 2013. Auprès du violiniste, le violoncelle de Guilherme Rodrigues, la contrebasse de Gianna De Toni, la basse électrique de Raphaël Ortis et – pour contrebalancer peut être le poids des cordes – le soprano de Christophe Berthet. 

De part et d’autre du trébuchet – taillé peut-être dans un des arbres dont il est question –, on trouverait ainsi le saxophoniste opposé à ses camarades. Le jeu de bascule commande précision et patience, qui ménage bruissements (violon interrogé de l’ongle, graves soignés à l’archet, partitions mécaniques étouffées) et souffles voilés. Habilement suspendus, les éléments sonores forment bientôt dans l’espace une composition que se disputent impression de louvoyer et expression affranchie. Cinq improvisateurs s’en trouvent lévitant. Guillaume Belhomme (Le Son du Grisli)

A dupla Rodrigues – o pai Ernesto na viola, o filho Guilherme no violoncelo – encontra-se neste Trees com três parceiros internacionais: os suíços Christophe Berthet (saxofone soprano) e Raphaël Ortis (baixo eléctrico e objectos) e a italiana Gianna De Toni (contrabaixo). Os cinco temas que constituem o disco debruçam-se sobre árvores: “Ancient Trees”; “Whistling Trees”; “Lonely Trees”; “Moonlit Trees”; “Tree of Life”. Apesar da aparente imobilidade, a música aqui está viva e flui, embora sem grandes sobressaltos. Trabalhando numa metódica e rigorosa construção sonora, este quinteto transnacional não se deixa ficar, como no livro de Mário Ventura, à sombra das árvores mortas. Nuno Catarino (Bodyspace.net) 

It would almost appear that while small tonal leaves detach from their axis, the quintet of improvisers were getting into the act of collecting helical wood shavings, scraping the trunks out, breaking some spines, clearing the deadwood away, piling sawdust and exploring other bizarre dissonances by means of their own instruments: Ernesto Rodrigues (viola) and his son Guilherme (cello) - well known to our readers -, Gianni De Toni (double bass), Christophe Berthet (soprano saxophone) and Raphael Ortis (electric bass and objects) planted five improvisations in between layered stillness ("Moonlit Trees"), shady poised harmonies ("Whistling Trees") and resonances on the edge ("Tree of Life", the track - I think it's not accidental -, which sounds more mysterious and somehow dizzying), which gradually become elements of a soundscape where extended techniques and the unusual clippings that they produce are like giant trees within an open spot. Vito Camarretta (Chain DLK)

“Trees” volta a colocar os termos que no actual período de existência da improvisação minimal estão em causa. Com Guilherme Rodrigues, Gianna de Toni, Christophe Berthet e Raphael Ortis, este outro disco de Ernesto Rodrigues congrega bordões e dissonâncias, padrões repetitivos e ocorrências puramente intuitivas. Privilegiam-se a diferenciação de recursos e materiais e a variedade de abordagens e léxicos, com a música a beneficiar em riqueza e em imprevisibilidade. Outro aspecto formal contribui para os bons resultados obtidos: o saxofone soprano de Berthet é colocado “contra” as quatro cordas do quinteto, agindo como um “joker”, uma carta fora do baralho. Rui Eduardo Paes (Jazz.pt)

Five trees interpreted through electroacoustic improv from the quintet of Guilherme Rodrigues (cello, Gianna de Toni, double bass), Raphael Ortis (electric bass, objects) Christophe Berthet (sax), and Ernesto Rodrigues (viola); mysterious and compelling music. (Squidco)

Alba

CD – Creative Sources Recordings – CS248, Lisbon 2013

1. Alba I - 15'53''

2. Alba II - 10'22''

3. Alba III - 09'57''

4. Alba IV - 12'36''

Ernesto Rodrigues - Viola

Louis Laurain - Trumpet

Guilherme Rodrigues - Cello

Ricardo Guerreiro - Computer

Recorded in June 2012, Lisbon

Cover design Carlos Santos

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

Reviews

Neste trabalho com as presenças, também, de Louis Laurain e Guilherme Rodrigues ouvimos o que poucas vezes sucede nos domínios da informática musical: um “laptop” gestualista. Lá está esse precioso elemento de ambiguidade – o gesto sonoro “imagina” um gesto corporal, mas este é teatralizado. Na realidade, o “laptoper” fica imóvel diante do ecrã. Rui Eduardo Paes (Jazz.pt)

[...] Begin with Alba, which contains four improvisations by Ernesto Rodrigues on viola, Louis Laurain on trumpet, Guilherme Rodrigues on cello and Ricardo Guerreiro on computer. All four pieces exist within a sonic space of subtle movement. The basic sound shape running throughout most of the recording is a slowly mutating, ambiguously dissonant chord wrapped in an outer shell of electronic white noise. Although the identity of individual instruments is largely submerged, here and there their signature traces emerge, such as slow, pressure-heavy bowstrokes; a rush of breath; the scrape of hair or the tap of wood against strings. Somehow, it’s hard not to hear Alba through the impressions suggested by its title. “Alba” is Portuguese for “white”, and the four improvisations individually and collectively bring to mind Kandinsky’s or Ryman’s white-on-white paintings. As with the paintings these four tracks seem at first to be monochromatic, but on closer attention they reveal a spectrum of shadings in their details. With this recording, one can almost visualize the plasticity of sounds as they respond to each other across the surfaces of audio space. A rewarding listen individually and taken together. Daniel Barbiero (Avant Music News)

I’m starting to think that no free improvisation group that includes Ernesto and Guilherme Rodrigues could displease me. Alba is a session from June 2012. The instrumentation (in the order above) is: viola, trumpet, cello, and computer. Perfect chemistry, sonic molecules meet, briefly fuse, then go their own ways. Fine, subtle, sustained playing, and there’s no real dichotomy between acoustics and electronics (Guerreiro’s work is remarkable). Four 10-to-16-minute pieces, four highlights. François Couture (Monsieur Delire)  

O trompetista francês Louis Laurain é o principal ponto de destaque de um quarteto que reúne colaboradores regulares, que se conhecem muito bem, de muitas gravações e muitas actuações. Ao lado de Laurain estão Ernesto (na viola), Guilherme (no violoncelo) e Ricardo Guerreiro (no computador). Mais uma vez apontando a um registo de extrema sobriedade, com o trompetista a integrar-se facilmente no alinhamento sonoro do grupo, as contribuições de cada elemento são precisas. O laptop de Guerreiro volta a destacar-se entre o quarteto, com uma prestação sólida. Nuno Catarino (Bodyspace.net)     

I have lost count of the number of collaborative releases on Creative Sources where Ernesto and Guilherme Rodrigues got involved, but I'm often surprised about the fact I have not get bored by them yet as they maybe managed to involve many different collaborators. The two other musicians who took part to the four long-lasting improvisations they recorded on 9th June 2012 at Tch3 by Joel Conde are Louis Laurain on trumpet and Ricardo Guerreiro whose computer darned the sounds so masterfully that it's really difficult to understand when each instrument got filtered or not. The introduction of each track sounds like the awakening of an instrument after some centuries of hibernation and each musician could act like a cronics technician so that you are not going to listen to a series of abstract detained impulses, but the four parts of "Alba" sounds like the troublesome rescue of the decreased metabolism of improvisation after excessive sedation which often results in trembling tonal muttering that each instrument manages to find as if it renders an almost completely trophied muscle which begins to move again after endless seasons of idleness. Vito Camarretta (Chain DLK)

"Alba" (Portugese for "white") presents 4 improvisations by Ernesto Rodrigues on viola, Louis Laurain on trumpet, Guilherme Rodrigues on cello and Ricardo Guerreiro on computer, slowly building subliminal works of subtle dialog using extended techniques and white noise. (Squidco)        

Asteres Planetai

CD – Creative Sources Recordings – CS246, Lisbon 2013

1. Asteres Planetai I - 14'18''

2. Asteres Planetai II - 09'32''

3. Asteres Planetai III - 08'39''

Ernesto Rodrigues - Viola

Nuno Torres - Alto Saxophone

Mike Bullock - Analogue Synthesizer

Recorded in June 2013, Lisbon

Cover design Carlos Santos

https://ernestorodrigues.bandcamp.com/album/asteres-planetai

Reviews

Curiosamente, ou nem tanto assim, é menos gestual o sintetizador de Mike Bullock em “Asteres Planetai”, registo em que Nuno Torres completa o trio. A qualidade bruitista da música repete-se, desmistificando a ideia de que a electrónica analógica cria mais grão, e mais uma vez aplicam-se perspectivas não literais de movimento. O que, de resto, favorece a envolvência onírica desta incursão. Rui Eduardo Paes (Jazz.pt)

The title of this release is Greek for “wandering stars,” the name the ancient Greeks gave the planets, whose orbits appeared irregular compared to the observed circular motion of the so-called fixed stars. It serves as a nice metaphor for the sounds created by these three instrumentalists which, like the observed paths of the planets, converge and diverge in patterns that resist reduction to simple figures.

Recorded in June 2013 in Lisbon, the three improvisations presented here feature Ernesto Rodrigues on viola, Nuno Torres on alto saxophone, and Mike Bullock on modular synthesizer. All three tracks consist of sound construction built up of quiet textures and drones interspersed with moments verging on silence. The subtle dynamics are occasionally broken by upsurges in volume, which are all the more dramatic given the general understatement of the playing. The twittering, humming and burbling sounds of Bullock’s modular synth act as a sort of frame within which Rodrigues and Torres set out their own sounds. Both approach their instruments as material to be broken down into constituent parts: Rodrigues anatomizes the viola through exploratory string tapping, plucking, and a skittering bow, while Torres somehow makes reed, breath and metal tube audible as separate sound sources. In sum, this is improvisation of a gratifyingly nuanced

kind. Daniel Barbiero (AMN Reviews)

Nice title... :-) From June, 2013, a trio with Rodrigues again on viola, Torres on alto saxophone and Bullock eschewing bass in favor of his modular synth. As one might expect, quite different from the above, more visceral including the in and out usage of drones or drone-like passages effected, I think, both by the alto and the synth. It's not frenetic by any means just a few notches higher on the urgency scale than "Late Summer" as well as sporting an expanded sonic palette. Torres does a welcome job of allowing the listener to forget that there's a saxophone present while, on the other hand, Rodrigues engages in a tad more "traditional" technique extensions on the viola. Bullock seems to supply much of the material here, unless I'm confusing sources (quite possible), issuing metallic bubbles here, static there and various shades of sine-age throughout and interpolating a surprisingly loud and "inappropriate" noise on occasion which is much appreciated. It closes with watery gurgles...Not as captivating as the Malfatti trio but solid enough and well worth hearing. Brian Olewnick (Just Outside)

Os astrónomos gregos utilizavam a expressão “asteres planetai” - “estrelas errantes” - para classificar os objetos que aparentemente se movem no céu. Ao longo das três faixas deste disco o trio constituído por Ernesto Rodrigues (viola), Nuno Torres (sax alto) e Mike Bullock (sintetizador modular) desenvolve uma música que parece viajar na atmosfera sideral. Não é um voo tumultuoso, é um trajecto planante em piloto automático, sem surpresas, sem grandes desvios de rota ou obstáculos de maior. De uma forma geral o trio revela estar muito focado e coeso. Os pontuais momentos de maior intensidade partem do sintetizador de Bullock. Rodrigues, Torres e Bullock podem não ser estrelas, mas vão-se movendo, ainda que de forma tranquila. Nuno Catarino (Bodyspace.net)

The rich but understated improvising trio of Ernesto Rodrigues on viola, Nuno Torres on alto saxophone, and Mike Bullock on modular synthesizer, named after the Greek term for wandering stars, an apt description of their balance of space, acoustic, and electronic sound. (Squidco)