Sukasaptati cs305

Avec le majestueux contrebassiste berlinois, Klaus Kürvers, le quartet de Sukasaplati prend une dimension orchestrale, amplifiée par la conjonction des deux altos qui se rengorgent réciproquement. Impossible de deviner qui joue quoi : il vaut mieux se concentrer sur l’ensemble et suivre les méandres des improvisations, la vibration des cordes, le grondement léger de la flûte basse. Sur le cinquième morceau se détache un morceau épuré, ample, mystérieux et lunaire : encore une pièce importante au dossier Ernesto Rodrigues. Magnifique ! Jean-Michel van Schouwburg (Orynx)

Live recordings at Exploratorium, in Berlin, Geremany in 2010 from the quartet of Klaus Kurvers on double bass, Andrea Sanz Vela and Ernesto Rodrigues on violin, and Micha Rabuske on dlute, bass clarinet, and soprano sax, collective improvisation with complex interplay and a bright spirit as the group follows their instincts in interesting dialog. (Squidco)

In February 2023, Ernesto sent me two rarities from the early days of Rodrigues operation. The first one was "Sukasaptati", performed by a quartet with two violas, double bass and reeds. The music is inspired by the classical Sanscrit text of the same title. As Wikipedia explains: "Sukasaptati, or Seventy tales of the parrot, is a collection of stories originally written in Sanskrit. The stories are supposed to be narrated to a woman by her pet parrot, at the rate of one story every night, in order to dissuade her from going out to meet her paramour when her husband is away. The stories frequently deal with illicit liaisons, the problems that ow from them and the way to escape those crises by using one's wits. Though the actual purpose of the parrot is to prevent its mistress from leaving, it does so without moralising. At the end of the seventy days, the woman's husband returns from his trip abroad and all is forgiven. Most of the stories are ribald and uninhibited, with some verging on the pornographic. The situations depicted in the stories not only test the bounds of marriage, some stray into taboo areas of incest and, in one case, zoophilia."
The music has indeed some Indian touch, nicely and discretely supported by the two violas. The quartet plays 6 tracks, corresponding to diferent tales of the "Sukasaptati". As typical in Ernesto's music there is a mix of everything here: free improvisation, minimal music and contemporary chamber music. I personally dig the opening "Tales I-XI", with wonderful chamber music lines of the violas, and great reeds parts. But the double bass bowing and finger picking is also phenomenal. Another favorite track of mine corresponds to "Tales XLVIII-LXI". It last 13 minutes and is the most abstract and dramatic piece of the album. Very highly recommended! Maciej Lewenstein