Joan Gómez Alemany/Josep Lluís Galiana

Udo Schindler/Michel Wintsch
Toute L’âme résumée
FMR CD 696-024

Moving far past the standard reeds-piano duo with its usual emphasis on lilting melodies are these duos from northern and southern Europe who subvert expectations with extended techniques, multi-instrumental shifts and a pinch of electronics. Interaccions Sonnores 20 matches València-based academic Josep Lluís Galiana, who plays soprano and baritone saxophones here with the piano and electronics of Joan Gómez Alemany, which whom he has previously recorded in trio form. Another duo which has recorded together in the past is Krailling-based Udo Schindler, who has recorded with everyone from Paul Rogers to Olaf Rupp, and here plays B and bass clarinets, alto saxophone and tubax, and Swiss pianist Michel Wintsch, known for his music with Gerry Hemingway and Bänz Oester among others, Adding further internationalism the five selection’s titles are based on the poems of French Symbolist Stéphane Mallarmé (1842 -1898).

Working up from a near soundless piano rumbles, Interaccions Sonnores 20’s six-part suite soon blends a tincture of whooshing oscillations with crackles from inside piano strings and slaps on the instrument’s wood with pedal point keyboard discursions. Meanwhile Galiana uses his baritone to create an unyielding line whose vibrations move from nephritic snorts and honks to gaunt cries that seem to  be scraped foe the side of his horn’s body tube.

With tones as often challenged as connected, the saxophonist moves between his two horns yowling, biting, moaning and whimpering as he sucks on or bites his reeds, using a variety of pitches and tempos. In contrast Alemany extrapolates two keyboard variations, as well as regularly diving inside the piano mechanism to stretch or vibrate implements on the strings or scratching those attached strings to emphasize their metallic properties. Hands on the keys, he thumps percussively, rumbles extensively, clips abrasively and pushes out torrents of emphasized patterns at prestissimo speeds. Alternately during sequences in the second and fourth tracks, he tinkles his way to pseudo romantic interludes and dexterous shakes that owe more to Swing than Serialism.

As dexterity marks the transformations from nearly impenetrable and concentrated timbres to sparse and distributed ones, both improvisers resonate tones at a variety of speeds and pitches. Eventually the final section of “Interaccions Sonnores  Part V” calms down to intermittent tongue slaps, then picks up speed as the pianist extends the horizontal line to undulating ripples that reflect reed reflux. Circular breathed reed notes and high-pitched keyboard clanks finally dovetail and combine into an almost opaque undulating tone, leading to a coda consisting of a single woody piano clank.

The same sort of rotation between high and low pitches plus harsh and gentle timbres characterizes Toute L’âme résumée, with similar thick and thin patterns that encompass prickly as well as pliable timbres. At the same time the constant shifts among pitches, tempos and even instruments didn’t prevent the program from moving forward.

Although Wintsch like Alemany is no slouch when it comes to peppering his contributions with repeated percussive patterns, stopped key clips and single key emphasis, an undercurrent of melodicism pervades his playing. Almost every piece includes an interlude – often quite brief  – that pivots from conflict to concord. It can be almost lyrical and melodic (“Les Sons Ne Sont Pas Trop Forts”, jolly and jerky (“Le Chœur Des Chansons”) or even approximately Bop phrasing (“De Tes Lèvres S’élève”).

This doesn’t faze Schindler though and he maintains probing reed protrusions no matter which  horn he’s playing. Equivalency leads to elation as on “Le Chœur Des Chansons De”, where the thickening snorts and smears from the basement-pitched tubax alternate with altissimo screeds in order to amplify the passion engendered by the pianist’s splayed and jerky keyboard currents.  In other instances like during the extended “Les Sons Ne Sont Pas Trop Forts” the dissected glissandi and tongue stops issuing from his clarinet speedily whine, bite and yowl as they arch and then slowly descend to counter Wintsch’s keyboard smashes, spiky stabs and soundboard echoes.

Schindler’s confident ability in not avoiding expressing reed flatulence from his horns means that the renal sounds create both noise provocation as well as a contorted personalization through his instruments. That the pianist can respond in kind with strings, keys, wood and pedals jolts intensifies cooperation. Unafraid of mixing harsh and ugly tones with those which  extend the parameters of free expression only somewhat pinpoint the advantages of their ongoing partnership. Following their experiments and those of  Alemany and Galiana is what makes both discs fascinating and should encourage others to do the same.

–Ken Waxman

Track Listing: Interaccions: 1. Interaccions Sonnores  Part I 2. Interaccions Sonnores  Part II 3. Interaccions Sonnores  Part III 4. Interaccions Sonnores  Part IV 5. Interaccions Sonnores  Part V 6. Interaccions Sonnores Part VI

Personnel: Interaccions: Josep Lluís Galiana (soprano and baritone saxophones) and Joan Gómez Alemany (piano and electronics)

Track Listing: Toute: 1. Toute L’âme résumée 2. … Le Chœur Des Chansons De 3. De Tes Lèvres S’élève 4.  … Les Sons Ne Sont Pas Trop Forts 5  Dérange Les Chants Suspendus

Personnel: Toute: Udo Schindler (B and bass clarinets, alto saxophone and tubax) and Michel Wintsch (piano)