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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)
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