Evan Parker Electro-Acoustic Ensemble
The Moment's Energy
(ECM)
With The Moment's Energy the Evan Parker Electro-Acoustic
Ensemble appears to arrive at a (definitive?) condition one could maybe
define as "modern classicism". A definition that looks a bit
strange for a line-up that's so unusual when it comes to its goals and
its mixture of instruments, and that was conceived by a saxophone player
whose name in many ways - first, but definitely not only, for his innovations
when it comes to the language and the dynamics of the solo saxophone, mainly
soprano, and for his
"elastic" approach to improvisation - for a long time now has been
synonymous with "modern". The fact is - if one only plays down
a bit some of its timbral traits (and not that many at that, if one only
remembers all that "modern classical avant-garde", starting
with Ligeti) - The Moment's Energy makes so natural a use of such things
as
"crescendo", "smorzando", "tutti" and
"soloist plus ensemble" that it could easily be presented in any
Festival of Contemporary (Classical) Music worth its name. Which is definitely
something few would have expected (this reviewer not being among them), five
albums ago.
The
Moment's Energy is the fifth album by the Ensemble, whose line-up today
consists of (let's take a deep breath): Evan Parker, soprano saxophone;
Peter Evans, trumpet, piccolo trumpet; Ko Ishikawa, shô; Ned Rothenberg,
clarinet, bass clarinet, shakuhachi; Phillip Wachsmann, violin, live electronics;
Augustí Fernández, piano prepared piano; Barry Guy, double bass; Paul Lytton,
percussion, live electronics; Lawrence Casserley, signal processing instrument;
Joel Ryan, sample and signal processing; Walter Prati, computer processing;
Richard Barrett, live electronics; Paul Obermayer, live electronics; Marco
Vecchi, sound projecting. The "new names"
here are Evans, Ishokawa, and Rothenberg, the latter being the one whose
work this writer knows best (I also recall a duo album he recorded with Evan
Parker, Monkey Puzzle, about ten years ago).
Commissioned by the Huddersfield Contemporary Music Festival, recorded
in November, 2007 at the Lawrence Batley Theatre, Huddersfield, mixed in
February of the following year at New Gateway Studios, London, The Moment's Energy is a work in seven parts, followed by the brief Incandescent
Clouds. While a couple long mo(ve)ments focus on the Ensemble, it appears
to me that, more often than in the past, here Parker has highlighted the
work of the soloists, who quite often play solo during the first part of
the tracks: bass clarinet on Part II, trumpet on Part III, trumpet again
on Part IV, piano and percussion on Part V, violin and double bass on Part
VI. The electronic instruments are featured quite successfully everywhere,
the only thing I regret is my not being able to tell who's who: in so differently
from acoustic instruments, where the "accent" of the player plays
a large part in making the listener identify who's doing the playing, here
I can't really tell the "silicon soloists" (watching them live
is not the answer, either, the laptop being the instrument whose sound
is quite separated from physical gesture).
Part I has a lively development, quite similar to those stochastic distributions
one can find in beehives, gases, and some of Evan Parker's soprano solos
played with circular breathing; rich with variety, percussive, sometimes
quite booming, the track fades out in electronic tones. Part II has the
bass clarinet as its main soloists, followed by an
"electronic storm" rich with different layers. Part III features
a
"mellow-sounding" trumpet, then modified and filtered; then a
"tutti", a sax arpeggio, electronics, and "cut". Part
IV has a meditative trumpet enveloped by "ambient" sounds, in the
end sounding like a bizarre, up-to-date version of In A Silent Way. PING!
(cut).
Part V features for the most part (prepared) piano, and percussion. While violin
(also sampled?) and double bass are the main soloists of Part VI. Part
VII has a "tutti", saxophone, trumpet, shakuhachi, muted trumpet,
an "heroic" choir from the synths, with the second part of the
piece featuring a fine close of synthetic "wide stripes". A "synth-percussive" mix
opens Incandescent Clouds, a track that - though rich with variety - doesn't
really sound to me as being the album's complete, appropriate, definitive,
ending - more like Part VII being the real close, with this track working
as a kind of encore, perhaps?
In closing, I think it can be said this is a work of merit, whose
crystal-clear recorded sound and fine degree of availability, when compared
to a lot of music of a similar kind, could make one logically hope for
a fine commercial success.
The
only thing that puzzled me was the very different recorded sound of both
Part IV and Incandescent Clouds, compared to the rest of the album. The
CD booklet lacking any real liner notes, I decided to access the record
company's Web site, where I found the album notes, featuring this sentence: "On
the present recording, only “Incandescent Clouds” , and Part IV of The
Moment’s Energy are from the Huddersfield concert, the majority of the
music being drawn from sessions in the days leading up to it". Just
as it had happened with the Ensemble's previous CD, material that could
definitely be useful to listeners' understanding of the music is not featured
in the CD booklet. Sure, it could be said that this stuff is not really
necessary to one's understanding of the music, but if so, why is this online
(and also featured in the Press Release?)? I do believe that nowadays anybody
forking 19 euros deserves a bit more.
Beppe Colli
© Beppe Colli 2009
CloudsandClocks.net | Dec. 7, 2009
