Fleuve

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Fleuve
Studio album by the Pierre Favre Ensemble

Publication
(s)

2006

Label (s) Edition of Contemporary Music

Format (s)

CD

Genre (s)

Modern creative

Title (number)

7th

running time

52:03

occupation
  • Percussion, drums: Pierre Favre

production

Manfred Eicher

chronology
Crisscrossing
(2004) 		Fleuve Albatross
(2010)

Fleuve ( German river ) is an album by the Pierre Favre Ensemble , which was recorded in October 2005 at the Volkshaus Basel and released in 2006 by ECM .

The album

The drummer, percussionist, composer and arranger Pierre Favre returned to the Munich ECM label after around ten years after productions in the 1990s such as De la nuit ... le jour and Window Steps . In his ensemble, two bassists, Bänz Oester (double bass) and Wolfgang Zwiauer (bass guitar) played in the low frequency range , as well as the tuba and serpent player Michel Godard . The instruments in the middle and high registers are played by the guitarist Philipp Schaufelberger , soprano saxophonist and bass clarinetist Frank Kroll and the harpist Hélène Breschand .

The music that Favre wrote "for his unusual occupied ensemble developed from the tones, the pulse and breathing 'of his percussion play out;" it also contains a few pieces that he originally created for the musical drama Ciel d'Orphee has composed . While Michel Godard's serpent “gives the music an archaic flavor in places, Hélène Breschand's harp gives it a touch of renaissance . Sometimes the music - despite the free contrapuntal play - is reminiscent of the jazz of days long past, but basically it is always contemporary, ”wrote the critic of JazzEcho.

The first title, Mort d'Eurydice, has a freely played part with harp and percussion, followed by the main part in which the theme is played in unison by soprano saxophone, bass, guitar and harp. Mort d'Eurydice and Decors , which are reminiscent of Renaissance music , are strongly rhythmical, as is the Panama waltz . Budd Koppman names four characteristics of the light musical texture: the arrangements , the use of the unison playing of various instruments, the woofer instruments, which generally play in their higher registers, and ultimately the touch of the bassist. The worn Albatros is shaped by Schaufenberger's guitar playing, while Reflet Sud is dominated by fast rhythms. Nile is shaped by a bass drum to which the other instruments play; Nile "exudes arpeggio waves and the majestic flow of a current, while Decors creates tension through continuous shifts between Renaissance dance [music] and African polyrhythms ."

The filmmaker Pio Corradi accompanied the musicians of the Favre ensemble during their recording session in the recording studio under the direction of producer Manfred Eicher , documented in the film Poetry in Motion - The Drummer Pierre Favre .

Bänz Oester at the Unterfahrt jazz club (Munich 2009)

Track list

  • Pierre Favre Ensemble: Fleuve (ECM 1977)
  1. Mort d'Eurydice 5:33
  2. Panama 6:35
  3. Albatross 7:57
  4. Reflet Sud 6:03
  5. Fire Red - Gas Blue - Ghost Green 7:55
  6. Nile 8:24
  7. Decors 7:30

All compositions are by Pierre Favre.

Reception of the album

Fleuve was received favorably in the specialist press; " This is a gratifying listen, " ( BBC ), " Subtle, with lovely dynamics and beautifully balanced colors, ultimately it burns with more light than heat " ( Irish Times ), " [Favre] is a poet who plays with drums and cymbals , Gongs conjures up delicate sound poems ”( Jazzthetik ),“ Far away from any hectic pace, seven filigree pieces with magical melodies and rhythms develop. "(Audio)," This poetry isn't cozy, it's sharp. A magical breath wafts over all the deep sounds. "( Peter Rüedi , World Week )

Thom Jurek gave the album 3½ stars in Allmusic and judged:

" Fleuve is an album of gorgeous, flowing textures and sound colors that seduce the listener toward them, bringing them slowly along through the recording. The space in Manfred Eicher's production encourages this, providing an unhurried sense of time's stasis and making the recording all the more appealing. Beautiful . "

Budd Kopman wrote enthusiastically in All About Jazz :

" It is fascinating to listen to the music unfold, observing the tension between composition, arrangement and improvisation, while the texture remains light as the instrumentation changes. [...] Fleuve is timeless, despite its allusions, with each track adding its own charm and excitement. Favre has created music of many layers that exists totally outside of any specific genre. By turns profound, exciting and overtly beautiful, Fleuve is art of the highest degree. "
Tubist Michel Godard at a concert in the Treibhaus Innsbruck, 2009

Steve Futterman said in JazzTimes :

“Favre rigorously shapes Fleuve in a kaleidoscope of surprising musical colors. Well, really surprising. While the inventive combinations of electric and acoustic bass, harp, electric guitar, bass clarinet, tuba, [...] percussion characterize the project, the use of the soprano saxophone (played by the expert Frank Kroll, who shines on the bass clarinet) brings the quirky Group sound back in overly familiar ECM territory. Perhaps a petty complaint, but Favre demonstrates masterly skills in arranging, although small mistakes spoil the landscape. If Favre is present, however, everything is taken. [...] Favre's own minute playing and his selfless clinging to the balance of the big picture make the drummer the linchpin of the album [...]. "

The critic of the jazz newspaper qualifies:

“ First of all, Pierre Favre's seven-person ensemble opens up an unheard of sound space. Transparency as you know it from the producer Manfred Eicher. [...] What dazzles in beguiling facets of electric guitar, bass guitar and double bass soon flows into orderly melodic and rhythmic movements. Soprano saxophone and tuba in lyrical passages. Unison lines. Here and there hints of playful Renaissance ornamentation. Has Pierre Favre, equipped with a jazz broom, really been dignified for 500 years? Sometimes the solos by Schaufelberger and Kroll don't seem particularly inspired by changing tonalities that are more or less fascinating. Ultimately, this knitted, but definitely top-class music with Serpent is able to dip the listener into a pre-Christmas atmosphere, so that it smells cozy. "

The critic of Culture Jazz said that Fleuve gained "more of its importance than" sound production ", the creation of musical free spaces that arise when an ensemble of seven musicians from different disciplines comes together and each of them is given a certain margin of improvisation. This recorded sound, in its self-chosen diversity, helps to create this impression of infinite space, typical for the style of the ECM label. "[...]" Because this record surprises with the special emphasis on the space, the music flows clear and transparent, without any particular style or group. Undoubtedly meditative, at times cheerful, it certainly represents a direction in the modern music landscape that should not be underestimated and which has yet to be explored. Almost seventy years old, Pierre Favre signs a work full of wisdom here. "

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ a b Review of the album at JazzEcho (2006)
  2. ↑ a b c Budd Kopman: Review of the album at All About Jazz
  3. ↑ Poetry In Motion - The Drummer Pierre Favre A film by Pio Corradi
  4. ↑ Press comments at ECM ( Memento of the original from January 22, 2011 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice.  @1@ 2Template: Webachiv / IABot / www.ecmrecords.com
  5. ↑ Review of Thom Jurek's Fleuve album at Allmusic (English). Retrieved July 3, 2012.
  6. ↑ In the original: “ Favre rigorously transforms Fleuve into a kaleidoscope of surprising musical colors. Well, nearly surprising. While the imaginative combinations of electric and acoustic basses, harp, electric guitar, bass clarinet, tuba, percussion and the aforementioned dragon distinguish the project, the use of piping soprano saxophone (as played by the adept Frank Kroll, who shines on bass clarinet) can land the quirky group sound back in overly familiar ECM territory. A niggling complaint perhaps, but Favre demonstrates the kind of masterly arranging skills in which even small steps mar the landscape. When Favre's on, however, all is forgiven. [...] Favre's own meticulous playing and selfless adherence to big-picture equilibrium — that the drummer is the album's linchpin would come as a shock in a blindfold listening — is matched by each member of his finely balanced ensemble. Is this lean toward scrupulous craft emblematic of Favre's Swiss background? May future recordings from this bracing septet provide further clues. "
  7. ↑ Steve Futterman: Review of the album in JazzTimes
  8. ^ Review in Jazzzeitung 2006
  9. ↑ Meeting at Culture Jazz (French)
  10. ↑ In the original: Fleuve serait plutôt un disque de "metteur en sons", de scénographe agençant les espaces musicaux qui vont se construire dès lors qu'on réunit un ensemble de sept musiciens venus d'horizons variés en laissant à chacun des marges de liberté . La prize de son, voluntary distanciée, développe cette impression d'espace dans un style propre au label ECM. [...] Si ce disque peut surprendre par son agencement particulier des espaces, la musique y circule, limpide et claire, sans contraintes de styles et de chapelles. Méditative sans doute, empreinte de sérénité, elle n'en est pas moins une voie à explorer dans le paysage des musiques currentuelles. Bientôt septuagénaire, Pierre Favre signe ici une oeuvre empreinte de sagesse.