VERS L’ÎLE PARESSEUSE
Martine Altenburger . cello
Frédéric Blondy . piano
Bertrand Gauguet . alto & soprano saxophones
La montagne ne porte pas les nuages | 16.28
Dans les plis du vent | 04.22
Vers l’île paresseuse | 15.57
Hypnotisé sur une arête | 15.05
Enclave nocturne et transitoire | 06.21
total time | 00:58.09
Creative Sources. CS182, 2011
Reviews (select)
Three voices generating acoustic materials whose high quality does not diminish for a minute over the course of an almost full hour. Magnificent sounds, exemplary coordination of the single parts, perceivable humbleness, admirable equilibrium between reverberating percussiveness, quiet collective percolations and abrasive dynamism. Substances spreading around without caring if you understand or not, but once the actual nature of the improvisation becomes a little clearer there’s no looking back to weaker stuff. A masterpiece, that’s what it is. >> Massimo Ricci, Touching Extreme
Let’s get to the point: Vers l’île paresseuse (“Toward the lazy island”) is one of Creative Sources’ finest productions. This Paris session from January 2009 is simply gorgeous. Pianist Frédéric Blondy and saxophonist Bertrand Gauguet have worked together previously and share a subtle form of chemistry. Cellist Martine Altenburger wedges herself between them with a high level of intelligence and feeling. The one-hour session consists of five free improvisations made of careful actions measured as much with the head than with the heart. You know it: this kind of improvisation project succeeds or fails following rules that depend more on the disposition of everyone involved – some called it magic. Well, the magic sure works on this superb album. >> François Couture, Monsieur Délire
The playing here is exceptional, and the musicians seem to know each other well, and appear to have set off with the general mood already settled, the palette and brushes in place and just the canvas to fill. I am reminded of the recent Looper album, not just because of shared instrumentation but because of the sense of melancholic, and yet thoroughly beautiful atmosphere. Once again, because it is on the Creative Sources label this is a CD that will possibly go unnoticed, but it would be a travesty if this was allowed to happen. Of the hundred or so discs on CS I have heard this one would make my top two or three. A beautiful hour of music. >> Richard Pinnell, The Watchfull Ear
Cinq esquisses naturalistes qui peignent à chaque fois un paysage nouveau et précis: qu’il soit sombre et serré; clair, ouvert et espacé; contrasté ou homogène; la convergence des intentions appuie la clarté et la précision de chaque couleur ou caractère désiré. La grande diversité des configurations et des structures permet une multiplicité des modes de jeu et de composition: bourdon, écriture cyclique ou cellulaire, jeu rythmique, textural ou timbral, etc. cette multiplicité déploie à son tour des couleurs et des reliefs variés, précis et originaux. Le voyage Vers l’île paresseuse, paradoxalement onirique (par sa nouveauté) et naturaliste (par sa précision et sa clarté), nous entraîne sur des territoires beaux, délicats et poétiques, parfois sombres ou languissants, mais en tout cas toujours intenses, riches, profonds et neufs. >> Julien Héraud, http://improv-sphere.blogspot.com
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