Synchronous Rotation cs499
"Synchronous Rotation" contains only one track of the same title, lasting 27 minutes. For me it ia a crowning of the series. It is to some extend a more radical record, with the ensemble reduced to a quartet.
It was recorded live at O'Culto da Ajuda, in Lisbon during the CreativeFest#11. In a sense this is the same concept as the one used on "Blattwerk" and "Zweige", but distilled to a situation in which the sound of each instrument can be identi ed and heard individually. The music again is sileny and tranquila, yet full of emotions,
sensitivity, and simply intrinsic beauty. The are more albums on the avantgarde scene combining strings with avantgarde free improvised music (such as several albums
of Agustí Fernández), but the series of Vasco with the Rodrigues family clealry belong to the most interesting and artistically most challenging ones. It is very original in fact if it reminds me stylistically of anything, then of the spectral string music of Gérard Grisey and of the musique concrète instrumentale of Helmut Lachenmann. Unbelievably beautiful stuff!!! Maciej Lewenstein
Muzyka wstaje z ciszy, dobiega z g?uchej przestrzeni. S?ucha? szelest kroków, kto? oddycha. Struny pe?ne boja?ni i dr?enia, w egzystencjalnym zawieszeniu. Koncertowe królestwo, pe?ne skupienia i umiaru. Struny wchodz? w delikatne interakcje, ledwie muskane smykami, lekkimi jak ptasie pióra. Robaczki ta?cz? w o?owianych miseczkach (Trilla!). Kameralistyka owdowia?ych przedmie?? Lizbony. Odrobina klasycznych pasa?y, konfrontowana przez bystre interakcje rzeczywisto?ci ci?g?ej improwizacji. By? mo?e jeste?my bli?ej bramy do filharmonii, ale kwa?ny odczyn d?wi?ku determinuje nasz sceptycyzm wobec wej?cia do ?rodka. Jakby na potwierdzenie przypuszcze? recenzenta - 8 minuta i pierwsze próby sonorystycznych zadziorów na gryfach i kraw?dziach werbla i tomów. Wsparcie drummingowe, to nie jest z?y pomys?. Niepokój rytmu pozorowanego. Smyki pod?piewuj? molowe pie?ni. Niekoniecznie ?a?obne, mo?e bardziej wielkopostne. Tu? potem zej?cie w g??b czarnej ziemi. Zdaje si?, ?e to Ernesto ma w d?oniach pochodni? i o?wietla drog? w?drowcom. Pi?knie snuta opowie??, bez puenty, z pok?adami lirycznych metafor na gryfie altówki. Reszta partnerów komentuje i wpada w drobn? egzaltacj?. 14 minuta, dronowy cztero?lad! Jak?e uroczy pasa?! Jak?e te instrumenty oddychaj? i szeleszcz?. Dr??! Akustyczny meta byt! G?askaj? si? z cisz?! Po uszy w ciszy, tu gdzie ka?dy d?wi?k stanowi? mo?e krwaw? rewolucj? (tak?e ze strony widowni)! 20 minuta, Trilla bierze opowie?? na swój warsztat – dzwoni i rezonuje. Obok drobne turbulencje na strunach. Wej?cie w kameralny barok, mo?e nawet ckliwy romantyzm. Ale wszystko mo?e liczy? na ci?ty kontrapunkt drummera! Narracja ro?nie w si??, a tempo przemian dyktuje Katalo?czyk. Rusza armia wibratorów! Strunowce z otwartymi ustami ?api? g??boki oddech. Ostrz? sobie z?bki na fina?! Szczypta klasycznej retoryki ze strony wiolonczeli, na pozosta?ych strunach szmer molowej zadumy. Jak?e ciekawy dysonans akustyczny. Na ostatniej prostej wytryski pojedynczych d?wi?ków i dronowych za?piewów. Andrzej Nowak (Trybuna Muzyki Spontanicznej)
[...] From later in the year, and so following the Lisbon String Trio series & others, is Synchronous Rotation, recorded at CreativeFest in Lisbon in November 2017, by a quartet of Ernesto & Guilherme Rodrigues, Gianna de Toni (double bass) & (again) Vasco Trilla. I was not familiar with de Toni, but she appears on a prior album on Creative Sources, Trees (recorded in May 2013) by a quintet including both Rodrigueses. So Synchronous Rotation forms an alternate "Lisbon String Trio" around Ernesto, bolstered once again by Trilla's imaginative percussion. It also continues the recent history of geometric cover art on Creative Sources, particularly around the String Theory series (as does, more as a hybrid, the very sparse Spiric Sections, recorded the following day, also at CreativeFest 11), and the music suggests a corresponding technical quality: Synchronous Rotation consists of one modest length (under thirty minute) track, and opens strongly, with rich counterpoint around what I might describe as post-serial thematics. It's much more forceful in its first half, evoking various string associations, but seems to become more subdued following a long, quiet interlude. (One might say that after some equivocation, minimalism decisively asserts itself, although its reign does not remain untroubled. There's even something of a spiritual, Scelsian vibe to the drone & rattle combination that arises toward the end, as distinct from the presumptively geometric evocations.) Trilla does seem more animated at times, so perhaps this is the start of him putting more of his personal vigor into these projects with Rodrigues. And perhaps the more "ethereal" results are generated as a consequence of the "rotation" (to which the title refers) — I'm not sure — but the album does fade to a close. I can't claim that either album truly distinguishes itself in the midst of Rodrigues's massive outpouring of recordings featuring himself with various other string players, but both Zweige & Synchronous Rotation present independent points of interest, documenting the ongoing development of Rodrigues's "string theory" more generally. (And the latter also includes a nice two-panel, full color photograph of the quartet in concert.) There is clearly more to explore here: I'd be keen on hearing some of the early, high energy passages of Synchronous Rotation elaborated in different directions, say. Given the pace of these releases, perhaps that's already in the works. 13 March 2018. Todd McComb's Jazz Thoughts
A live recording at O'Culto da Ajuda, Lisbon, during the 2017 CreativeFest #11 from the quartet of Ernesto Rodrigues on viola, Guilherme Rodrigues on cello, Gianna de Toni on double bass, and Vasco Trilla on percussion, a sinuous, curving extended improvisation of subtle shades, with certain rotations more forceful, but always gravitating to quietude. (Squidco)