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«Dorsal» marca o regresso a este catálogo do pianista argentino Gabriel Paiuk e do guitarrista Manuel Mota, desta vez em contexto intimista e que expõe muito mais as suas respectivas qualidades, com um Rodrigues mais comedido do que nunca, verificando-se mesmo a sua intenção de apenas “sustentar” o trabalho dos seus parceiros. E que trabalho: Paiuk é, nestas faixas, um exímio colorador, desta feita muito preocupado com a dimensão tímbrica das suas realizações, e poucas vezes Mota se terá entrosado tão bem num colectivo, ele que é um músico tão cheio de idiosincrasias, justificativas, aliás, do percurso a solo que tem desenvolvido ou das situações em que a presença de outr(o) instrumentista(s) (regra geral a contrabaixista Margarida Garcia) é apenas de acompanhamento. E quanto a Ernesto Rodrigues, observe-se como a sua viola respira lá no fundo, quase como se fosse um instrumento de sopro, envolvendo no seu bafo todos os demais sons, mas isto em pequeno, obrigando-nos a apurar o ouvido... Rui Eduardo Paes (JL)

Nemmeno una probabile fiacca, dovuta al caldo soffocante di questi giorni, è riuscita a frenare il Portogallo e la propria scena indipendente, tra le più attive musicalmente al momento in Europa. Discorso non solo concerne al jet set dei musicisti, ma anche allargato agli ambiti produttivi, con etichette sempre più emergenti nel panorama internazionale. La Creative Sources, poi, nel corso di un modesto lasso di tempo ha subito una notevole crescita (produttiva e qualitativa), acquisendo un sicuro posto di riguardo da parte degli aficionados delle musiche di ricerca.
“Dorsal” presenta un trio intarsiato da manierismi piuttosto classici. Il termine non è un eufemismo se si osserva la totale attinenza, mostrata da entrambi i componenti, al mantenimento di un suono acustico da parte degli strumenti. Manuel Mota, Ernesto Rodrigues e Gabriel Paiuk si lasciano corteggiare da un'infinità di pulviscoli sospesi nell'universo musicale e se volessimo tentare d'inquadrare il tutto sotto un'ottica più precisa, potremmo delineare due linee parallele tracciate da (impalpabili) sapori jazz(y) e scampoli di musica contemporanea. Sei attimi dove una viola, contorta e tirata, le miniature introverse di una chitarra e certe bizzarrie di un piano (preparato) indagano i diversi stati fisici / psichici del corpo umano, rendendone, così, una visione personale.
[...] Tre lavori che nascondono il sapore del ‘già detto’: questo il pensiero che balena alla mente, dopo essersi voltati ad osservare tonnellate di lavori simili accatastati sullo scaffale, ma importanti per l'etichetta, curata con passione da Ernesto Rodrigues. La possibilità di aprirsi, come in questo caso, a produzioni estranee al circuito iberico è di rilievo per un paese che, a differenza di molti, non vivendo di particolare benessere nutre una certa indifferenza nei confronti della propria comunità artistica. Sergio Eletto (Sands-Zine)

Over the last several years, the young Portuguese label Creative Sources has become one of the most intriguing out there, occupying a spot on the improvisational music spectrum similar to that of Rossbin and Potlatch. Initially focused on the Iberian scene in particular, head honcho Ernesto Rodrigues – who is a marvelous improvising violist and is featured on many Creative Sources releases – has shifted away from geographic specificity and is now attuned simply to subtle but tough improvisations which test instrumental conventions and lean gently into the bathing pool of electroacoustic music.
On this fine disc, Rodrigues meets up with the enigmatic guitarist Manuel Mota and pianist Gabriel Paiuk for a very arch set of chamber improvisations. Paiuk is the new name to me and his playing is seriously restrained – as is that of his partners – poised somewhere between the unpredictable harmonic commentary of Agusti Fernandez and the sparseness of John Tilbury: Paiuk’s punctuation of Rodrigues’ languorous, laminal statements. Mota, who favors a cryptic, almost hermetic style of guitar playing – clean tone, clipped lines, with occasional bursts of static from a brutalized input jack or pickup toggle – is the disruptive element here, harshly derailing the whisper-soft bowing or ringing piano chord here and there.
Though the trio language is fine and compelling, it’s Rodrigues who inevitably catches my attention. He is so good here, using extended techniques as creatively as violist Charlotte Hug and, though his phrasing is completely different, Mat Maneri. He effortlessly combines dirty, grainy sounds with sweeping drone-like washes.
At times, their interlocked playing recalls the excellent new music group the Abel/Steinberg/Winant Trio (when the tones become drones, I can’t help but think of that group’s marvelous reading of Alvin Curran’s “Schtyx”). They excel at huge, resounding blocks of sound whose tonality fluctuates ever so slightly, creating a hypnotic, almost psychedelic effect. Elsewhere, Mota sounds like a chorus of ringing bells – not too far off from some of Taku Sugimoto’s playing, once upon a time – with Rodrigues and Paiuk at their most percussive in contrast. And if the more staccato or pizzicato passages occasionally seem a bit tentative, that’s not much of a knock on this empathetic trio. Another fine release from one of the improv labels to watch. Jason Bivins (Dusted Magazine)

[...] “Dorsal”, with its trio of viola, electric guitar and piano, is a more open affair, more relaxed with a greater amount of “air” between instruments, and has greater immediate charm. Quiet playing with scurrying undertones is the order of the day, again with more than a nod to past exemplars of the discipline like Iskra 1903. As with the Schwimmer disc, each track works fairly well if leaving little lasting impression (perhaps that’s an aspect of the group’s conception, who knows?) other than having heard three attentive musicians communicating (perhaps that’s enough!). An exception is the piece titled “Natural”, where a wispy continuum is maintained, a tenuous thread of gurgles and brushstrokes with the occasional plink and plonk that’s mysteriously absorbing, with a depth that the remaining pieces don’t quite achieve. Would that this pathway was more intently explored. Mota has a generally lovely attack, picking up the baton dropped by Sugimoto a couple of years back and both Rodrigues and Paiuk are pleasingly self-effacing. They appear to be scratching toward some rewarding areas and if they fall a wee bit short on this particular journey, I’m certainly interested to hear what develops. This trio has the decidedly greater upside. Brian (Bagatellen)

Three honorable representers of the current free music scene are here subtly linked to a rippling yet unexploding energy that seems to organize the sound movement all by itself, with just a minimum intervention by the artists.
"Dorsal" is a pathway walked by three men looking one another with the eyes of staunch friends, persons needing just a nod to immerse themselves in thrilling combinations of vibrant acoustic catharsis, where the resonant
slipstream of a silent thought materializes itself in a percussive chord or a fluorescent wood crackle. Beauty is also obtained by abnormal use of less explored parts of the instruments - picking behind the bridge, hitting near the keys; an illusion of structure is always there, as to call the notes to their "regular" task. Luckily for us, those notes have other ideas: their close relationship with silence is cemented in an unbreakable pact. Massimo Ricci (Touching Extremes)

In the second half of the 1990s, the new "reduced" aesthetics pursued by Radu Malfatti and others threw down a fundamental challenge to the world of improvised music. Within a few years, a number of the original explorers of "reductionism" had begun to move beyond the principles and practices that had initially defined this austere musical movement. In issue 89 of Musicworks magazine (Summer 2004) the Berlin-based trombonist Robin Hayward observed that "by 2000 I was feeling in a cul-de-sac with the much reduced, static music I was producing" and explained how he subsequently sought to break his self-imposed rules by, amongst other things, including an element of narrative structure. More generally, the question of how a viable and relevant musical improvisation for the start of the 21st century should be approached in the light of the aesthetics, techniques and insights of reductionism (and their limits) has arisen not just amongst those identified (usually by others) as 'reductionists' but also a number of thoughtful musicians across the improvised music spectrum. To a degree, each of the three latest releases on Lisbon's industrious Creative Sources label can be seen as a response to this musical problem.
In the second half of the 1990s, the new "reduced" aesthetics pursued by Radu Malfatti and others threw down a fundamental challenge to the world of improvised music. Within a few years, a number of the original explorers of "reductionism" had begun to move beyond the principles and practices that had initially defined this austere musical movement. In issue 89 of Musicworks magazine (Summer 2004) the Berlin-based trombonist Robin Hayward observed that "by 2000 I was feeling in a cul-de-sac with the much reduced, static music I was producing" and explained how he subsequently sought to break his self-imposed rules by, amongst other things, including an element of narrative structure. More generally, the question of how a viable and relevant musical improvisation for the start of the 21st century should be approached in the light of the aesthetics, techniques and insights of reductionism (and their limits) has arisen not just amongst those identified (usually by others) as 'reductionists' but also a number of thoughtful musicians across the improvised music spectrum. To a degree, each of the three latest releases on Lisbon's industrious Creative Sources label can be seen as a response to this musical problem.
For me, the most successful of the new discs is Dorsal. The music is not as radical as some that has appeared on the label: Ernesto Rodrigues brings his usual startlingly extended techniques to bear on the violin, but Gabriel Paiuk's playing inside and outside the piano owes much to contemporary classical music and Manuel Mota's guitar seems relatively conventional in comparison with the work of Keith Rowe, Annette Krebs and other cutting-edge reinventors of the instrument. If music is to explore beyond the miniscule fraction of the universe of possibilities regarded as legitimate by the arbitrary presuppositions of conventional western music, it would seem necessary to adopt much more radical approaches to sound generation than Mota and Paiuk bring to their respective products of the bourgeois era. Notwithstanding this, as a collective the trio succeeds in creating some captivatingly capacious improvisations that are characterized by responsive and creative collaboration amongst the musicians. It's not all entirely successful, and Paiuk's occasional introduction of jazzy touches into his playing drags the music back towards musical ideologies the group is straining to surpass; but the best of the trio's work points to some of the improvisational virtues and spacio-temporal approaches that a radical post-reductionism would arguably do well to adopt and makes the disc well worth acquiring. Wayne Spencer (Paris Transatlantic)

Enquadrando-se na linha estética e conceptual dos seus dois últimos trabalhos, também estes editados pela Creative Sources, este novo opus de Ernesto Rodrigues não constitui propriamente uma surpresa. Com efeito, Rodrigues mantém intactos os predicados a que já nos havia habituado: uma música desafiante, imprevisível e complexa. A aversão pela linearidade ou a opção por soluções menos óbvias continua a ser um dos vectores dominantes da música de Rodrigues, embora em “Dorsal” por vezes se definam os contornos de algo mais concreto, como um drone ou uma pequena figuração de fácil memorização auditiva.
Dos três músicos desta formação, merece especial referência o pianista argentino Gabriel Paiuk. E isto pelo trabalho críptico e preciosista que desenvolve, um pouco ao estilo de um Steven Lantner, mas mais importante ainda, por desempenhar um papel de catalisador de situações e de direcções veiculadas pela entidade colectiva.
Policromas cintilações, edificação de estruturas efémeras, agregações e desagregações da matéria sonora – a música destes três artífices do som é, definitivamente, apenas para aqueles que mantêm intacta a capacidade de se deixar surpreender...
João Aleluia (All Jazz)

Since Rodrigues started his Creative Sources label somewhere in the mid-90s he put a very clear stamp on improvised music. Each new record illustrates his specific approach of improvised music and is a further enrichment of his musical world. His improvisations are very much about exploration of sound and texture, always in the context of groupimprovisation. Because of this, unconventional playing techniques in order to create new sounds are a common factor by all musicians involved. Of course they not working on a catalogue of sounds that can be draw from the violin, etc. First of all we have to deal here with delicate improvised music.
The soundworlds created by him and his mates are always more close to the abstractness of electro-acoustic music or John Cage then to improvised jazz music. This is also the case for the CD I want to introduce now.
'Dorsal' is a very fine and successfull recording . Every note fell on the right place here. Rodrigues (viola), Mota (electric guitar) and Paiuk (piano) communicate very much on the same level. All three of them just need one word instead of a whole sentence in order to understand each other. The music is relaxed but also intense and concentrated. It appears sober and subtle but it is also evident that the musicians have a very rich vocabular. Their improvisations have many little surprises. Mota has an unique fingerpicking style of playing the electric guitar. The violin in the hands of Rodrigues sounds very warm and his playing has great depth.
Music must be experienced live in order to be enjoyed at the max, which is with no doubt the case for improvised music. On the other hand, it must be said, that the improvisations on 'Dorsal' surprisingly survived their way onto CD. Very well recorded and a joy to listen to. Dolf Mulder (Vital Weekly)

To utgivelser fra portugisiske Creative Sources som gjør dypdykk i lydenes mikrokosmos. John Stevens’ S.M.E og syttitallets såkalte ”insektmusikk” er naturlig sammenligningsgrunnlag, gjennom en i all hovedsak stille, arytmisk og atonal uttrykksform. Elektronikken er rent fysisk fraværende, men påkalles ved kirurgisk disseksjon av det akustiske materialets klanglige potensial. Klamt og klaustrofobisk, nesten som å være innelukket i instrumentene; uttrykkets renskårne materialitet stenger effektivt for tankens flukt.
Ernesto Rodrigues (for øvrig Creative Sources’ grunnlegger og far til femten år gamle (!) Guilherme) spiller bratsj også på ”Dorsal”. Sammen med seg har han Gabriel Paiuk på piano og Manuel Mota på gitar (ryktet forteller at Derek Bailey holder Mota som en av Europas mest originale improvisatorer på sitt instrument). I motsetning til ”Cesura” har ikke ”Dorsal” en konseptuell overbygning. Det er vanskelig å avgjøre hvorvidt dette er årsaken til at platen oppleves som mindre intens og fokusert. Samtalen musikerne imellom er ikke mindre konsentrert og behersket, men den er ikke like kompromissløs. Likevel, ”Dorsal” er et intelligent og raffinert stykke improvisert kammermusikk. Og krevende. Begge disse platene forlanger lytterens fulle og hele oppmerksomhet, et øyeblikks distraksjon kan være skjebnesvangert. Frank Messel (http://www.disquietingduck.blogspot.com/)

Dorsal zrazu nie zachwyca - z mozolem odnajduje sie w niej, skrywane pod szorstka powierzchnia nietypowych technik artykulacji, piekno ulotnych melodii, wysmakowane zawilosci harmonii, subtelna kolorystyke brzmienia - jednak juz kilka uwaznych przesluchan wystarcza, by ta muzyka osaczyla i podbila sluchacza. Co dziwne, wlasciwie nie wiadomo, w jaki sposób sie to dokonuje, bowiem Dorsal to przeciez tylko szesc utworów, rózniacych sie przede wszystkim rozlozeniem akcentów; Dorsal to tylko (az ?) niespelna trzy kwadranse oszczednej, miejscami nawet surowej, muzyki.
Muzyki - co przyznac niewatpliwie nalezy - z jednej strony nadzwyczaj sugestywnej, z drugiej przeciez, w jakis specyficzny sposób, niezwykle intymnej, z lekka tylko uchylajacej drzwi prowadzace na zewnatrz. Ernesto Rodrigues, Manuel Mota i Gabriel Paiuk poruszaja sie w obrebie obszaru, który, nieco nieudolnie, okreslic bym mógl terminem: "improwizowana kameralistyka". Wydaje mi sie, ze owo zaszufladkowanie w niczym nie umniejsza zalet Dorsal, a moze byc wielce pomocnym, ulatwiajac wyobrazenie sobie muzyki, która równie dobrze czulaby sie w towarzystwie AMM, jak i Johna Cage'a. Muzyke tria Rodrigues/Mota/Paiuk równie dobrze mozna zwiezle podsumowac okresleniem: "badanie mozliwosci sonorystycznych instrumentów w kontekscie grupowej improwizacji". Oto nieustannemu mamrotaniu altówki, przechodzacej od jeków pudla poprzez ciche popiskiwanie gryfu do dronowych westchnien oraz skargom fortepianu, który jednakowo przekonuje zarówno plynacym z preparowanych strun lamentem, czy cichym wolaniem opukiwanych drewnianych czesci, jak i szlochem pojedynczych nut dobywanych z umeczonych klawiszy, towarzyszy gitara objawiajaca swoja obecnosc raz to w naglych, jedno-, dwusekundowych erupcjach ostrych jak brzytwa akordów, to znów w wolno plynacych, jakby bolesnie pulsujacych, pasazach.
Wszystko to, bedac niezwykle spokojnym, wyciszonym i delikatnym, nadzwyczaj przemyslnie skladane jest w calosc. Calosc, której zostaje jeszcze dosc czasu i miejsca do podjecia owocnego dialogu z cisza. Sluchajac Dorsal, odnosi sie wrazenie uczestniczenia w czyms niezwyklym, a jednoczesnie w jakis paradoksalny sposób przedziwnie bliskim i zwyczajnym, w czyms znanym nam od dziecka.
Niewielu artystom - i nie mam tu na mysli wylacznie muzyków - udaje sie osiagnac podobny efekt, wiec chocby z tego powodu warto siegnac po te plyte. Trzy kwadranse spedzone w jej towarzystwie z pewnoscia nie zostana zapomniane. Tadeusz Kosiek (Diapazon)

Pour mener à bien sa tâche difficile, le violoniste Ernesto Rodrigues a décidé un jour de fonder Creative Sources, label consacré à la musique improvisée la plus contrariante. Pour l'auditeur, certes ; pour le musicien plus encore, qui a accepté d'aborder une musique qu'il faudra purger de tout artifice, débarrasser de référents mélodiques, infiltrer jusqu'à l'organe.
Car c'est là plus qu'ailleurs qu'on suppose la présence des intervenants. A force d'efforts, Ernesto Rodrigues, Manuel Mota et Gabriel Paiuk, disparaissent respectivement derrière un violon, une guitare, un piano. A l'intérieur, même, mettant tout leur coeur à gratter, frapper, tirer, chercher toujours d'autres moyens d'établir quelques preuves d'existence. Les cordes intègrent la section rythmique sans avoir le sens du rythme, quand les musiciens ne préfèrent pas tout simplement effleurer crin, nylon et bois (Tension).
Sur Lesion, l'archet ose une expression à laquelle répondra un piano servi à la cuillère. Une suite d'accords timides à la guitare, et c'en sera fait du remarquable jusqu'à Visceras, où l'on dissociera une autre fois le rythme des inspirations assumées en solo, qu'on aimerait d'ailleurs un peu moins frileuses, histoire de rendre moins monotone le défilement des secondes.
Une musique vague qui ne connaît pas le ressac. Une couleur, presque, troublée par les ruptures d'Espinal, javellisée enfin par un archet assidu que soutient une guitare-berimbau à l'exotisme extrait (Inflamacion). Un disque inconseillable, faute d'amateur prêtant l'oreille et pas gêné de miser sur l'inconstant. Prêt aussi à parier, s'il veut avoir une chance d'être charmé par le combat que mène le trio contre les chimères mélodiques et les regrets d'y vouloir échapper. Grisli (Infratunes)

Comme dans Cesura, la prise de son très proche créé un halo sonore irréaliste. Le duo piano / alto explore un champ musical paisible et la guitare de Manuel Mota nous ramène au prosaïque avec une certaine violence musicale sinon sonore. S'il n'est pas le plus intéressant du label, ce disque confirme pourtant son ambition qui pourrait être de concourir à la création d'un nouveau langage musical basé sur l'utilisation multiforme des instruments, en inventant au fur et à mesure de l'improvisation à la fois le lexique (les sons) et la syntaxe musicale. Noël Tachet (Improjazz)

Violon alto d'un côté, guitare de l'autre, et le piano au centre créant lien et résonances avec les sons courts des deux autres. Morcellement de cordes frottées et pincées. Jerôme Noetinger (Metamkine)

Released by Ernesto Rodrigues label Creative Sources, whose catalogue is one of most interesting, radical and essential in the world of free music, “Dorsal” comprehends Ernesto Rodrigues on violin, Manuel Mota on guitar and Gabriel Paiuk on the piano.
The players use extended techniques to explore not only the possibilities of each instrument as a source of sound but essentially as a search to create a new vocabulary, exploring infinitesimal portions of sound, with a microscopic attention to texture. Silence and time are the key elements of this music – each player ponders his speech, tension is created and then dissipated, in a very organic way.
It´s improvised music that recalls more composers Helmut Lachenmann and Morton Feldman than improvisers like Derek Bailey or John Stevens, although the inner attitude of this music could be considered, in my opinion, as a natural evolution of the last ones. Mississippi Blind Joe (O Bom Garfo)