Dada

CD – Creative Sources Recordings – CS739, Lisbon 2022

1. I - 34'53''

LISBON STRING TRIO & BRUNO PARRINHA

Ernesto Rodrigues - Viola

Miguel Mira - Cello

Alvaro Rosso - Contrabass

Bruno Parrinha - Alto Clarinet

Recorded November 2021, Lisbon

Collage by Dilar Pereira

Cover design Carlos Santos

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

Reviews

Turning to some other recent (& forthcoming...) Creative Sources releases, clarinetist Bruno Parrinha had already appeared there on a variety of programs — & was first mentioned here in a review of the quintet album Lithos in June 2018 — but now appears in a "series" of four albums with Ernesto Rodrigues. (Beyond those two, the albums do vary in personnel, although all musicians involved have appeared with Rodrigues previously.) And I'll be proceeding chronologically by recording date: The first album, Dada (recorded in Lisbon last November), marks the return of the Lisbon String Trio (their previous release being Isotropy with Luis Lopes, reviewed here in May 2020...), and also presents a particularly integrated performance for that ensemble. Recent releases had involved "soloists" with a broader reputation in Portuguese free jazz, while early performances brought in musicians new to the CS scene. And while Parrinha's reputation surely continues to grow, he isn't as well known (although, as it happens, he's released e.g. an album with Lopes too...) — nor is he new here. His adoption of the alto clarinet on Dada is relatively new, however (& Parrinha uses only varieties of clarinets on these albums, pace some saxophone on earlier outings...), as well as being particularly integrated into the string texture (versus a more concerto-like presentation....): As its title suggests, Dada also evokes a sort of rhetorical abstraction (or concrete anti-rhetoric...), so presents rather differently from e.g. LST clarinet favorite K'Ampokol Che K'Aay, there with more in the way of an "anthropological" (& naturalistic...) air, likewise easing into sound to open.... Dada might thus be compared to LST's first album (without guest), Proletariat (reviewed here as part of an extended series in July 2017): There's more sense of musical unity, even as figures move & replicate, with a sort of quiet pointillism to open, but slowly developing an intricate counterpoint via various twists & turns, yielding a feeling of occasionally busy "sketched" lines (or diagrams...), overlapping parallels that don't necessarily meet or develop... even as a cool lyricism might emerge at times too. In this, of course dada is now over a century old, itself refiguring a kind of late imperial nostalgia — or perhaps critiquing a sort of historicism, basic exosomatization (e.g. object relations) traditionally providing rhetorical circuits (& various justifications for bad behavior). It's thus hard to envision dada without a sense of physicality, of objects beyond the body (i.e. the exosomatic ground of the postimperial subject). But its call toward anti-rationalization, a century ago, seems just as relevant to the antisocial rhetoric dominating much of contemporary politics today, i.e. to circuits of chatter that serve to enable base desire, "rationalizing" per se as the cancellation of sociality & care. In any case, Dada can thus seem to evoke a bit of historical (if not musical) survey at times, generally subtle, but also moving through various moods. The alto clarinet also invokes a subtly different feel, including when involving the various timbral shadings & (spectral) counterpoints for which Rodrigues is known, pensive at times (but generally active), and with a wonderful sense of textural balance. Shifting registers also invoke differing plays of light, although there's little "direction" overall (rather, a more deconstructive figuration that nonetheless erects its own sort of solidity...) — except via generalized drift toward a melancholy of familiarity. Dada consequently projects a sort of (intricate) modesty, also being modest in length, but I've continued to appreciate its unresolving tensions too. Todd McComb's Jazz Thoughts

On "Dada", Lisbon String Trio is joined by Bruno Parrinha on bass clarinet. It all leads to amazingly beautiful, lyrical and touching free improvised music. For me a clear masterpiece fo this kind of music! Maciej Lewenstein

Lisbon String Trio of Ernesto Rodrigues on viola, Miguel Mira on cello and Alvaro Rosso on double bass continue their series adding a fourth player to their unique form of string improvisation, here with reeidst Bruno Parrinha on alto clarinetist for an extended expedition into highly articulate playing as they explore the dada rejection of logic, reason, and aestheticism. (Squidco)

Chiaroscuro

CD – Creative Sources Recordings – CS736, Lisbon 2022

1. I - 29'20''

Ernesto Rodrigues - Viola

Maria da Rocha - Violin

Bruno Parrinha - Clarinet & Bass Clarinet

José Oliveira - Percussion

Recorded March 2022, Lisbon

Drawing by Manuel San Payo

Cover design Carlos Santos

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

Reviews

And then with Chiaroscuro (recorded March 2022 in Lisbon), Rodrigues (viola) & Parrinha (clarinet & bass clarinet only here) turn to an ensemble formation with fewer obvious precedents, adding Maria da Rocha (violin) & José Oliveira (percussion). Rocha had appeared with Rodrigues on Iridium String Quartet (with e.g. Miguel Mira on bass, reviewed here in May 2016), but I hadn't noticed her since: Much of her work seems to involve classical music, including integrating electronics, but Chiaroscuro does appear to be an acoustic album. And Oliveira appeared on some of the earliest CS albums, but most recently on Pentahedron (along with e.g. Carlos Zingaro), another album under half an hour in length that I reviewed here in March 2020, calling it (potentially) a crowd pleaser...! It brought more of a "traditional" free jazz vibe, while more of a 20th century rhetorical balance does also maintain on Chiaroscuro, including via some "classical" figurations. Oliveira functions as a colorist on both albums, adding (especially) various metallic tones (e.g. chimes), as well as a sort of bent metal "bass" to Chiaroscuro. (The latter can be rather subtle, although the bent metal is at its most distinctive — & higher pitched — after a slowdown in the interaction about two thirds through.... Oliveira also opens the album with a tinkling figure, soon joined by pizzicati.) And then both the close coordination & independence of the quartet are remarkable, proceeding through a single track that (per the norms of free improv...) does have its slower moments, but sparkles with creative new textures & intriguing exchanges almost throughout: The title explicitly evokes the play of light & shadow, as well as (perhaps) a sort of 2d canvas, but Chiaroscuro has a significant "3d" aspect as well, its play of foreground-background forging a sort of equivocating texture overall, a mingling of solidity & space: The musicians forge such an impression via close interactions & attention to timbre & grain, i.e. technique beyond impressionism per se. One might even sense something of a café scene (pace Dada...) for instance, but also various skittering, an orientation on line that suddenly isn't line.... (One might even question what I call elsewhere segmentation, i.e. the "chunking" of perception into entities: The musical play of light & dark here can take on the character of illusion, but the segmentation-entities in our world are not given, i.e. are not "real" anyway. They are learned & culturally contingent.) There's consequently a sort of clustering sound in motion, traditional counterpoint at times, but just as seamlessly becoming unwound... sometimes sunny, maybe biological (e.g. via zoo-mimesis), but always (usually tightly) shifting perspectives. There's thus various motion through different styles, but in close (nuts & bolts) correspondence, and not really in a linear-temporal format, e.g. what I've characterized previously as travelogue style, moving onward: Maybe in that sense, Chiaroscuro can be characterized as a perspecti-logue... i.e. a tangled (nonlinear, ongoing) shifting of perspectives. (And Rodrigues does rarely seem to get bogged down in linear-temporal, i.e. narrative, progressions in general....) Such equivocation then suggests its own sort of translucency, although coloration does often appear more solid (if actually illusory) here. Yet, as the "café" remark already suggested, and the raising of "perspectives" per se only confirms, this is also human-social music: Evocations are not merely observed or narrated then, but felt & inflected. (And it's been difficult to find comparisons elsewhere, but e.g. Nauportus involves some similarly quiet & shifting counterpoint, but with more of an "anthro" feel, as well as a more soloistic horn.... And then New Dynamics, also featuring Rodrigues from 2016, suggests some vaguely reminiscent quartet counterpoint, but more in the realm of parity than spectral interpenetration....) Chiaroscuro thus ends up being short yet engrossing: Its density isn't overwhelming, but very real (making its duration seem significant...). As is its interrogation of perception, perspective & ontology per se — as figured into chamber music. And its basic sense of refined texture-in-motion, its sort of transverse intensity..., can be understated, but also relatively immediate. Todd McComb's Jazz Thoughts

Aptly described as chiaroscuro--a veritable play of light and shadow in quick-witted--through nearly microscopic and highly interactive acoustic improvisation from the quartet of Ernesto Rodrigues on viola, Maria da Rocha on violin, Bruno Parrinha on clarinet & bass clarinet and Jose Oliveira on percussion, performing live at Galeria Monumental, in Lisbon in 2022. (Squidco)

Sans oublier les arbres

CD – Creative Sources Recordings – CS 738, Lisbon 2022

Sans oublier les arbres

envahi par les orages
suspendu aux aiguilles du temps
je ferai un voeu très solennel
òu la lumière métaphorique s’impose


le départ vers l’inconnu
m'a souri avec grand soin
comme l'attente d'un regard
manquant de vocabulaire


emportant tous mes incompris
le coeur balancera à nouveau

pour toujours
                                                              en sourdine

                                                              Ernesto Rodrigues, May 2021

1. I - 13'09''

2. II - 10'09''

3. III - 13'41''

Ernesto Rodrigues - Viola

Guilherme Rodrigues - Cello

Bruno Parrinha - Clarinet (II), Alto Clarinet (I), Bass Clarinet (III)

Recorded January 2022, Lisbon
Cover design Carlos Santos

https://ernestorodrigues.bandcamp.com/album/sans-oublier-les-arbres

Reviews

And after recording with Lisbon String Trio, Parrinha turned to an even more classic Creative Sources formation, recording a trio with Ernesto & Guillerme Rodrigues in Porto Covo (e.g. title of a Suspensão album...) just this past January, Sans oublier les arbres: As the title suggests then, Sans oublier les arbres adopts a much more naturalistic orientation, rather than critiquing the human-rational side of (de)colonial thought more directly per Dada, and includes a poem from Ernesto Rodrigues to that effect. The orientation on impressionism might likewise evoke music of a century ago, though (with updated technique, of course), and the three different tracks tend to project a sophisticated, post-romantic feel.... There's also a sense in which the "trees" figuration describes the music technically, in that each track grows from a relatively small beginning, expanding & branching into sometimes thornier counterpoint, or even tending toward smooth resonance. And Parrinha adopts a different clarinet for each track as well, opening on alto, then moving to the more usual "clarinet" (a soprano) & bass clarinet: The final track, in particular, evokes a kind of night music (after a sunset to close the second?), explorations of nighttime becoming a Rodrigues standard it seems, involving a bit of a "distant radio" buzz as well, but also building a flow.... Beyond a tree-like sense of musical growth, then, Sans oublier les arbres does evoke a variety of natural settings, often with subtlety & restrained austerity (but sometimes with a more bustling mood). And within Rodrigues's output, it also recalls Setúbal rather directly for me, there with sax & a different cellist, but a similar trio & orientation, again involving (there especially watery) timbral impressionism, but building at a grander scale: Setúbal is a single track (& with a more virtuosic orientation per se, perhaps...), whereas Sans oublier les arbres resets its momentum (& timbre) for three different scenes. Again, it evokes a strong sense of color & shade, sometimes muted or breathy, but chirpier at others. Tension is also modulated in sophisticated fashion during these ensemble track "builds." (Sans oublier les arbres is the sort of album that could seemingly only come from Rodrigues, then, continuing to refine his prior efforts.... And it's well worth hearing on its own.) Todd McComb's Jazz Thoughts

Zaprezentowany chwilę wcześniej kwintet kroimy do rozmiarów tria i cofamy się w czasie o … jeden dzień. Dwa instrumenty strunowe i klarnet (w każdej improwizacji inny) prowadzą nas teraz z dala od kompulsywnego minimalizmu edycji kwintetowej, serwując więcej emocji i sprawiając, iż oniryczne wytłumienie mija jak zły sen. Sam początek nie zwiastuje jednak nadmiernych eskalacji, toczy się przy dźwiękach miasta i posuwistych long-cuts każdego z muzyków. Aura zdaje się być dalece mroczna, ale dźwiękowe przebiegi trudno nazwać minimalistycznymi. Kilka melodyjnych fraz, kilka mrugnięć okiem w kierunku ciszy, garść szumów, tudzież drobnych incydentów mechanicznych na gryfach. Narracja zmysłowo się kołysze, a jej pierwsza odsłona umiera przy uroczych, post-barokowych frazach wiolonczeli.

Z kolei druga improwizacja zaczyna się na poziomie ciszy i początkowo klei się z drobnych, niedopowiedzianych fraz. Tym, który stara się tu o należytą dawkę emocji jest zalotny klarnet. Mimowolnie śpiewa, zachęcając strunowce do bardziej melodyjnych wynurzeń. Poziom interakcji rośnie, a każde zadane pytanie może liczyć na wyczerpującą odpowiedź. Opowieść skrzy się brzmieniowymi detalami, a na jej końcu czeka nas jeszcze efektowne spiętrzenie. Ostatnia improwizacja zdaje się być budowana z pewnym zamysłem dramaturgicznym. Subtelne drony (także klarnetu basowego!) i tłuste plastry ciszy. Narracja z mozołem pnie się ku górze i konsumuje wszystkie dźwięki jednym strumieniem fonii. Nim dobije do stacji końcowej podeśle nam jeszcze garść szumów, podmuchów i mikro zdarzeń perkusjonalnych, a także plamy post-baroku i drobne preparacje. Andrzej Nowak (Trybuna Muzyki Spontanicznej

After the Lisbon String Trio for the Dada album, Bruno Parrinha on B-flat, alto and bass clarinets joins with the string pairing of violist Ernesto Rodrigues and cellist Guilherme Rodrigues to record this impressionistic 3-part work, the title translating to "Without Forgetting The Trees", each movement expanding into darkly colored branches of remarkable control. (Squidco)

Echoes in a further range

CD – Creative Sources Recordings – CS 733, Lisbon 2022

1. I - 14'41''

2. II - 10'30''

3. III - 10'28''

4. IV - 12'55''

Anna Kaluza - Alto Saxophone

Edith Steyer - Clarinet & Alto Saxofone

Ernesto Rodrigues - Viola

Guilherme Rodrigues - Cello

Ulf Mengersen - Double Bass

Recorded November 2021, Berlin

Fotolazy by Elisa Scarpa

Cover design Carlos Santos

https://ernestorodrigues.bandcamp.com/album/echoes-in-a-further-range

 

Reviews

And per the previous entry, bowed string instruments retain a fascination for me, meaning that I've surely discussed a disproportionate share in this space.... That includes albums by a prolific string player such as Ernesto Rodrigues, who besides his amazing work curating Creative Sources, continues to release a variety of stimulating & enjoyable ensemble results of his own. While that embraces a wide variety of style, there's something of an orientation on other string players there too, including of course cellist Guilherme Rodrigues. And the latter made the recording of the recent quintet album Echoes in a further range last November in Berlin: It's another substantial album from the Rodrigueses, including Ulf Mengersen on double bass, as well as Anna Kaluza & Edith Steyer on alto saxes (with the latter also on clarinet). There's also more of a classical-romantic traditional approach to the music being articulated across what can feel like a four-movement "sonata" form, including a lyrical orientation that seems to suit Guilherme Rodrigues well, but also some extended techniques & investigations of stillness. In this, both viola & cello participate regularly in the "front line" of the interaction, including virtuosic contributions (e.g. double stop passages) at times. There's still a sense of register, though, such that Echoes in a further range doesn't present as as "egalitarian" as e.g. the (D)IVO sax quartet (reviewed here last month), i.e. the bass plays a more foundational role: Upper registers thus suggest a kind of font or flowering from below, with cello-tenor at center (or as stem?). Although Ernesto Rodrigues is actually the only musician in common, the result recalls the Lisbon String Trio for me too, i.e. their inclusion of different horn players, e.g. Blaise Siwula on K'Ampokol Che K'Aay: There's a similar sort of intricacy & formal arrangement, although the albums differ thematically — & of course Echoes in a further range now involves two horns, forging a quintet. (And I was unfamiliar with Kaluza, but Steyer had been mentioned here, in April 2019, with the Bertch Quartet, in an entry around Henk Zwerver. And Mengersen had also appeared on Creative Sources already, but his previous mention here was actually with the "DIY"-vibe album, Grappling with the Orange Porpoise, in July 2020....) Per (D)IVO, the interaction also involves great clarity & spacing, i.e. often a classical sense of chromatic space & counterpoint. There's also more contrast in tempi. Indeed, Echoes in a further range projects considerable mastery around a "classical" (but extended...) string backbone, horns coming both to intensify & mellow the timbres of that backbone. There's then a relatively easy sense of melody & harmony, far ranging, but not really pushing boundaries. (And so notable for its fluency....) I thus tend to think of this configuration as developing a newly-classic idiom for contemporary improvisation around strings (i.e. still a quintet, but instead of percussion/piano). And that does include a jazzy, & certainly a rhetorical (or even languid...), feel at times — wrapped in a satisfying (overall, formal) package. A lot happens too, i.e. alluding to a wide range of human activity & feeling.... Todd McComb's Jazz Thoughts

What is the essence of Ernesto and Guilherme music? I would say is a perfect, creative, unrepeatable and irreplaceable mixture, or better to say superposition of free improvisation, free jazz, free minimalism, and last, but not leas contemporary chamber music. "Echoes in a Further Range" is a masterpiece, recorded in Berlin

with two phenomenal female read players: Edith Steyer, and my beloved Anna Kaluza½, who has already several entries in this book. There is nothing to add, just listen to this outstanding music and enjoy. Me, I have to nish version 2 of this book! Maciej Lewenstein

This string and reed quintet presents a fluid approach to chamber-oriented improv with dexterous melodic and harmonic motion, utilizing contemporary and jazz idioms as they create something masterfully unique; from Anna Kaluza on alto sax, Edith Steyer on alto sax & clarinet, Ernesto Rodrigues on viola, Guilherme Rodrigues on cello and Ulf Mengersen on double bass. (Squidco)

Cosmos

CD – Creative Sources Recordings – CS 731, Lisbon 2022

1. I - 13'22''

2. II - 06'30''

3. III - 18'04''

4. IV - 15'40''

Ernesto Rodrigues - Viola

Guilherme Rodrigues - Cello

João Madeira - Double Bass

Recorded January 2022, Lisbon

Collage by Nina Frazer

Cover design Carlos Santos

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

Reviews

Rodrigues family is very productive, so closing this book is very hard for me... Here is their recording at Cosmos, Lisbon in January 2022 with a trio with my beloved João Madeira on double bass. The music is similar to the one of the "Echoes in a Further Range", see above. It is also a suite in four movements, but the main difference is that this a pure string trio. In a sense this is "Rodriguesism" at its essence and roots: the world at the end is nothing else, but is a string ensemble. Marvellous! Maciej Lewenstein

Il trio di musicisti portoghesi all’opera in questa incisione celebra la musica per strumenti ad arco, si tratta di una lunga improvvisazione divisa in quattro parti in cui si rincorrono i fantasmi di quella che è la musica d’avanguardia di provenienza americana, lo String Trio of New York o il violinista Leroy Jenkins ed il suo Revolutionary Ensemble, e la musica europea più moderna per trio o quartetto d’archi. I tre sono João Madeira al contrabbasso, Ernesto Rodrigues alla viola e Guilherme Rodrigues al violoncello. Procedono compatti come gruppo esplorando le possibilitá dei loro strumenti, sia con l’archetto che in pizzicato, offrendo momenti molto intensi, in cui gli archi costruiscono momenti di tensione che lentamente si sciolgono, un procedere empatico fra i tre mentre i suoni si accavallano come ondate che arrivano all’ascoltatore coinvolgendolo in quello che sembra un rito. I quattro movimenti scorrono veloci, fra assoli e collettivi, fra momenti più rarefatti e altri più magmatici, in un continuo caleidoscopio di idee. Vittorio (MusicZoom)

Gravado ao vivo no Cosmos Campolide, este disco junta o violinista Ernesto Rodrigues com o seu filho Guilherme Rodrigues no violoncelo e João Madeira no contrabaixo, numa exploração da improvisação livre. A discografia do improvisador Ernesto Rodrigues é quase impossível de acompanhar. Ao longo dos últimos vinte anos, através da sua label Creative Sources, Rodrigues tem editado centenas de gravações (está a aproximar-se das 800!), e neste seu catálogo incluem-se alguns grupos regulares - particularmente o Lisbon String Trio (com Miguel Mira e Alvaro Rosso), o String Theory e o ensemble IKB - , mas sobretudo formações ad-hoc, muitas vezes com esses encontros musicais a acontecerem pela primeira vez.  A produção discográfica de Ernesto Rodrigues continua neste ano de 2022 a ser alimentada por múltiplas colaborações, sobretudo parcerias com músicos nacionais como Bruno Parrinha, Luís Gonçalves e Maria da Rocha, entre outros - como porta de entrada para este enorme universo, vale a pena espreitar a sua página Bandcamp. A música de Ernesto sempre revelou um gosto pelo detalhe, pelo pormenor, e a sua aproximação a abordagens musicais minimalistas (near silence, lowercase, reducionismo) levou-o a ser considerado um dos expoentes mundiais dessa exploração. Contudo, a sua música, embora também inclua esses elementos, não se fica por aí.  Da produção mais recente destaca-se “Affinity Suite”, registo de um concerto na SMUP, na Parede, onde Ernesto Rodrigues sai da sua zona de conforto, estando acompanhado por um grupo de músicos mais ligados à improvisação livre/free jazz: José Lencastre (saxofone), Miguel Mira (violoncelo), Hernâni Faustino (contrabaixo) e João Lencastre (bateria). Também registado ao vivo, “Cosmos” foi gravado em trio, com o seu filho (e parceiro habitual) Guilherme Rodrigues no violoncelo e João Madeira no contrabaixo. Este disco documenta uma atuação do trio no Cosmos Campolide, um espaço cultural recente que partilha instalações com o Campolide Atlético Clube, em Lisboa. “Cosmos” funciona como uma suite que se divide em quatro partes. Ernesto (violino), Guilherme (violoncelo) e Madeira (contrabaixo) formam um clássico trio de cordas e desenvolvem uma música improvisada que se aproxima da música de câmara. O trio vai trabalhando uma improvisação que assenta na comunicação e diálogo, com os três músicos a lançarem ideias, responderem, interligarem-se, fazendo a música evoluir. Sendo o disco marcado sobretudo pelo som do arco, os três músicos servem-se também de técnicas extensivas, criando outros sons, menos convencionais, que levam a música a seguir por outras direções.  O trio atravessa diferentes ambientes, de momentos de maior contenção até explosões de alta intensidade; e o ouvinte fica envolvido ao acompanhar no processo, vai ficando sempre curioso. Particularmente interessante é a parte III, nas suas variadas oscilações. Sendo impossível acompanhar toda a produção de Rodrigues, vale sempre a pena dar atenção a alguns dos seus trabalhos. Neste “Cosmos” o violinista joga em casa, num terreno musical que lhe é familiar - embora, como acontece na improvisação, exista sempre espaço para a surpresa. Nuno Catarino (Jazz.pt)

[...] Working through the four-part Cosmos suite, the Rodrigues duo and Madeira turn away from the melodic mores of their instruments to scratch, stretch and strop timbers even as the piece evolves in broken octave triple counterpoint. Halving and doubling the tempo at various junctures, the two higher-pitched instruments use spiccato jumps and jolts to advance the exposition while the bassist’s thumps and pulls steady the advancement. As the tri-layer narrative is established, all three torque the presentation with additional buzzes and strains. Energy expressed in whistling string squeaks and guiro-like ratcheting creates the discordant but open presto strokes that conclude the combinations “Cosmos III” provides the greatest improvisational scope. At 18-minute plus, the simple moderato tempo moves up to staccato sawing so that the 12 strings respond with such vigor that the bows appear to bounce off the strings into the air. Wood vibrating hard plucks from the cello and bass become so percussive that they reorient the track towards full dissonance, only to be drawn back when near-cooing lyricism from the viola transforms contrast into connection. Ken Waxman (JazzWord)

Trio alto (Ernesto Rodrigues), violoncelle (Guilherme Rodrigues) et contrebasse (João Madeira). Il n’y a rien à faire, je suis friand des groupes d’improvisation réunissant exclusivement des instruments à cordes de la famille des violons. Que ce soient les associations au tour des Rodrigues père et fils, surtout avec leur ami Madeira qui les connait si bien, que le String Trio d’Harald Kimmig Alfred Zimmerlin et Daniel Studer ou le Stellari Quartet qui réunit Phil Wachsmann, Charlotte Hug, Marcio Mattos et John Edwards, je suis toujours aux anges tant la qualité de son, l’intime proximité de chacun des cordistes, la conviction qu’il s’agit de la meilleure combinaison instrumentale pour violon, alto, violoncelle et contrebasse. En outre, l’alto, instrument, très exigeant, a cette particularité d’être plus riche au niveau textures et densité des timbres que le violon. Voilà ! On n’a de cesse de d’écouter et réécouter leurs spirales et volutes infinies, pizz puissants et sauvages, harmoniques filtrées, accents nasillards, contrepoints spontanés, et leurs assemblages mouvant d’idées et d’esquisses concertées et déconcertantes, cadences brisées, fuites en avant, tutti vibratiles, échos fébriles, col legno subtils, ralentandos touffus, cafouillages hystériques, col legno subtils, sonorités s’amplifiant par la magie des pressions plus intenses de l’archet, …. Cascades et touffus sous-bois, landes désolées et ample rivière qui s’écoule presqu’en silence. Les figures et leurs évolutions traversent bien des paysages sonores et de multiples colorations. L’auditeur en retire un sentiment d’infini, une plénitude sans nom, celui d’une écoute intense et d’un trilogue forcené où le moindre son compte même s’il est avalé par le temps. L’énergie du free primal conjoint à une science musicale raffinée. Sans doute une de leurs meilleures réalisations parmi beaucoup d’autres.

P.S. : On a entendu les Rodrigues avec Matthias Bauer et Dietrich Petzold (dis-con-sent) ou Klaus Kürvers et Julia Brussel (Fantasy Eight) ou dans l'Iridium String Quartet, pièces de choix du tout-violon-alto-cello-basse sur le label Creative Sources vers lesquels vous feriez bien de vous ruer, ça vous changera des saxophonistes testostéronés et des guitaristes destroy. Jean-Michel Van Schouwburg (Orynx)