Music can be compared to radiation - analogous to descriptions by the German writer Ernst Jünger. In his diary entries of the same name, Jünger refers to light, but his observations can also be applied to the auditory world - especially that of improvised music. The musicians capture sound that reflects on the listener. In this sense, they perform preparatory work. The abundance of sounds must first be selected and then evaluated - in other words, given the sound that corresponds to their rank according to a secret key. Sound means life, which is hidden in the tones. A flawless improvisation then has an effect beyond the pleasure it gives the listener. It would be a decision between the played and the discarded, a delicate balance that transcends to the other areas of life and society. Thus musicians would be far more important in their significance than they are generally given credit for. When they transform tones into sound, the future is seen, it is conjured up or banished in the best sense. Perhaps this gives music a little too much weight, but I thought of this analogy when I listened to Sophie Agnel’s and John Butcher’s latest album, RARE.
The very first notes of the opening piece sound like a small homage to György Ligeti’s “Atmospheres”, with their improvisational rigor on the one hand and relaxed, variable and aleatoric moments on the other. However, the two apparent extremes coincide in Agnel and Butcher’s music. The improvisation is then more a state than a contour or shape, the timbre is the decisive element, the actual carrier of the form, which - detached from the musical shapes - becomes an intrinsic value. Agnel’s notes seem to be dabbed on, Butcher’s saxophone casually hisses past them or his lines pop up only to disappear again immediately. Much could be played here, but the two decide not to. The pause is the crucial element. If RARE were an ECM recording, euphony would probably take center stage. But Angel’s and Butcher’s music is roughened, bulky and accessible at the same time, atonal but quite audible, rugged and dark, but also plainly beautiful. Both are masters of their instruments, and there are also wild passages on RARE, as well as stark contrasts such as Butcher’s birdsong in “RARE 2”, which Agnel accompanies with notes from the lower register. Pure life here: The awakening of nature in the early morning, but the dark clouds on the horizon already herald a coming storm.
The music on RARE lives from these fundamental tensions, it even thrives from them. You can lose yourself in the sounds created by two of the great improvisers of our time, let yourself fall into it, reel in it. RARE celebrates this creativity, it’s a high mass of improvisation. Agnel and Butcher manage to uncover the life (the sound) that is hidden in the notes. It’s a vision of a better future. Marvelous!
RARE is available as a download.
You can listen to some excerpts and buy it here:
1 comments:
An excellent album and a great review.
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