Dérive by Ernesto Rodrigues, Guilherme Rodrigues, João Madeira, Bruno Parrinha & Monsieur Trinité

Recorded on December 28th 2022 in Lisbon.
Recording, mix and master by João Madeira.
Graphic design by Carlos Santos.
Production by Ernesto Rodrigues.

REVIEWS

When it comes to collaborative, timbral-spectral musical investigations though, it seems that no one is really more prolific than Ernesto Rodrigues, and he's been very ready to articulate his ideas across a variety of social & environmental relations in the post-pandemic space, producing an ongoing series of notable new releases, even relative to his already imposing discography. Dérive — recorded in Lisbon in December 2022 — continues that trend, both "pairing" with Aeon (recorded one day prior, and reviewed here in January) to interrogate a sort of spatial (versus temporal) relationality, and addressing the Situationist tradition in particular. The album Dérive itself then suggests a series of nonlinear interactions & interrogations — or "strolls" per the flâneur track titles — via the music per se, but also through an array of potential opening remarks here: Staying with the Situationist theme, the psychogeography entailed in this (multi-)instantiation of a Dérive doesn't conform e.g. to literal geographic space — pace e.g. Psychogeography, an Improvisational Derive (reviewed here in March 2019) by a quartet around Marco Scarassatti & Otomo Yoshihide, which specifies actual latitudes & longitudes — but more to an abstract exploration of psychic space. (This might obviously be characterized as an inner space, pace Rodrigues' frequent naturalistic inspiration, although a more acoustic spatiality does also present itself.) And I should note moreover my favorite late composition by Pierre Boulez, Dérive 2 itself being a single long-form tapestry, various ideas (contrapuntally) taking off in all directions: Instead, this new Dérive both includes a variety of (timbral, deconstructive) restarts, rather than a single movement, and involves spectral counterpoint, i.e. beyond the twelve-tone space. And although it aims at a specific philosophical-historical method, Dérive also involves a continuation of Rodrigues' main recent collaborations, i.e. with Guilherme Rodrigues (of course...) & Bruno Parrinha (here notably on flute, as well as bass clarinet), both e.g. also on Aeon, ultimately projecting a folksier sound there, but also already forging the core trio album, Sans oublier les arbres (as reviewed here in the massive May 2022 entry introducing the newly ongoing series of collaborations between Ernesto Rodrigues & Parrinha...) — itself just reprised by Signes Émergents (also "only" that trio), a shorter & more recent (& less naturalistic) issue, recorded five days prior to that earlier (by release) trio.... All three had already appeared together for the quintet album Quelque chose prie la patience des nuages (reviewed in the same entry here...) too, itself more linear-distended around piano (& electronics), versus the tighter (& less minimalistic) new quintet on Dérive, now featuring three strings — adding João Madeira on bass — as well as Monsieur Trinité on percussion. The latter was reviewed here (in October 2016) in trio with the two Rodrigueses on Aether, and is sometimes credited (more specifically) with "small" percussion: Trinité often seems to be accenting the proceedings here, i.e. rather than navigating the intricate microtonal counterpoint per se himself, but does add distinctly to the timbral combos. And then Madeira (who made this recording, also doing the mixing & mastering...) has been an increasingly frequent collaborator for Rodrigues lately himself, e.g. with the étude-like quartet album Chaos (with percussionist José Oliveira & the same three string players) having been mentioned here in a January 2023 entry, that quartet itself being a followup to the string trio album Cosmos (recorded in January 2022) — plus e.g. other formations (with Parrinha as well) as noted in the first review here (in September 2022) of Distilling Silence.... So Dérive can actually come off rather aggressively, and is certainly mixed with a great deal of presence — not unlike Distilling Silence, to which it might otherwise be compared, not least for their two senses of liminality. And although the strolls can be quite atmospheric, and indeed highly multi-dimensional in their senses of spatial counterpoint, as already suggested, there's also no concrete sense of location. (Although there're certainly outdoor allusions, these don't tend to be figured into outdoor scenes: Perhaps they figure more as partial memories....) And so there's no concrete, physical sense of moving — but rather an internal, mental sense of movement... prospectively, of breaking out of mental ruts. (I found the full sequence of nine flâneurs to be quite disorienting initially.) So the sort of spatial nonlinearity (& abstraction) sets this exploration apart for me in the technical-planning sense, but the execution is also superlative, tautly articulated & frequently intense. There's a suggestion of electronics at times too, but this is an acoustic album — tending to add a bit to the aura for me. (The cover tends to remind of how I diagram my own paragraphs too. But it's difficult to find further comparisons, even as Rodrigues has traversed similar philosophical spaces in the past.... Farther afield, perhaps there's Precepts for strings & "percussion," itself with a different sort of ritualistic vibe, maybe more roughly articulated, more insistent....) And the distinctive general mix of timbres should probably be highlighted here more as well, i.e. from the richly contoured & sometimes imposing bass line to tinkling metallic percussion & various resonant shadings in between, the technique & experience that's required to develop this sort of (infrachromatic) "sound" can become deemphasized due to Rodrigues' prolific output.... For me though, this is useful & even central music for the 2020s, historical (& extra-musical) allusions & all, as Rodrigues & company balance (timbral, acoustic) strength against ethereal & open (harmonic) delicacy.... Indeed, a critical aspect of spectral music in general, i.e. for our new era of "post-"s (like it or not...), is that it doesn't smooth over the inherent physical complexities of sound & acoustics. And the Rodrigueses et al. also manage to articulate such complexities improvisationally, i.e. without stiffness or a heightened sense of (e.g. compositional) artifice. The music flows. Todd McComb's Jazz Thoughts

Intorno alla viola di Ernesto Rodrigues si stringono altri quattro musicisti, Guilherme Rodrigues al violoncello, João Madeira al contrabbasso, Bruno Parrinha al flauto e clarinetto basso e Monsieur Trinité alle percussioni per un’esplorazione improvvisata del suono e dello spazio intorno a loro, un’ idea che si  sviluppa in una sequenza di nove brani che prendono il nome di Flaneur I-IX.
Intorno a loro scorre tutto molto fluido, il trio d’archi si presenta in una variazione di espressioni che vive la contemporaneità dei loro strumenti, affiancandosi nel dialogo a alle sottili percussioni ed al suono primordiale di un flauto e del clarinetto basso che si trova a suo agio, quando richiesto, in mezzo alle tensioni scatenate dagli archi.
L’ ascolto di questa ora di improvvisazione contemporanea ci permette di fare conoscenza con un gruppo affiatato e totalmente a proprio agio con il risultato di una session che nonostante l’ora di durata non molla mai la presa sull’ascoltatore, avvinghiato da corde in costante fibrillazione e stimolate da un percussionista molto sensibile.
Convincenti e appassionati, la loro è un’avanguardia con molto calore umano che traspare ad ogni momento, forse frutto della ritrovata possibilitá di interagire in uno spazio reale dopo la lunga quarantena. Vittorio Loconte (Kathodik)

Dérive parce que d’une séquence pointilliste très précise au départ cette super équipe d’improvisateurs transite instinctivement dans différentes congruences ludiques, sonores et interactives en improvisant totalement leurs échappées instrumentales en les faisant évoluer dans l’instant en tenant compte exclusivement de ce qu’ils viennent de jouer dans les dernières secondes. Bien que cela ne soit pas indiqué dans les notes de pochette (quasi-absentes), l’album est composé de neuf improvisations collectives qui évoluent assez différemment les unes des autres même s’il y a une évidente cohérence musicale entre chacune d’elles. Prépondérantes sont les cordes frottées : Ernesto Rodrigues à l’alto, Guilherme Rodrigues au violoncelle, Joao Madeira à la contrebasse s’entendent comme les cinq doigts de la main dans un gant de velours. On aurait peine à réécouter dix fois (et plus) leurs improvisations sans qu’on vienne au bout de leurs inventions, découvrant continuellement de nouveaux éléments sonores dans une multiplicité de formes et de configurations acoustiques d’effets sonores. La recherche de timbres et sonorités liées à des actions instrumentales est mise ici au service intégral du jeu collectif et de la construction musicale improvisée en étirant ces possibilités sonores jusqu’à des points de non-retour où leurs avancées se métamorphosent instantanément et inconsciemment dans d’autres dimensions. La percussion parcimonieuse et aérienne de Monsieur Trinité colore et ponctue adroitement les moindres faits et gestes de ces camarades avec doigté ajoutant des touches sonores toujours bienvenues qui s’intègrent dans le jeu des cordistes. À quoi sert d’en dire trop et de remplir quand la musique jouée se suffit à elle – même alors que les trois cordistes cultivent aussi une approche percussive avec leurs picotements et frappes col legno à l’archet sur les cordes ? Et c’est aussi la qualité primordiale du souffleur Bruno Parrinha, ici à la flûte et à la clarinette basse d’intégrer la dynamique du jeu de ses collègues sans jamais surjouer et en respectant les caractéristiques sonores du travail spécifique du trio alto violoncelle contrebasse, car on le sait, les instruments de la famille des violons se délivrent totalement de leurs âmes que lorsqu’ils sont réunis à l’exclusion d’autres instruments (à vent, claviers etc…) Et c’est bien tout le mérite de Bruno Parrinha et, avant lui, le saxophoniste Nuno Torres d’incarner cet axiome en pliant son jeu de souffleur à ces exigences esthético-instrumentales évidentes (ou alors faites une autre métier que celui d’improvisateur libre). Pour la description des détails des sonorités et techniques « alternatives, veuillez-vous référer à mes précédentes chroniques sur la musique des Rodrigues et consorts publiées dans ces lignes par le passé. Fantastique et merveilleuse dérive! Jean-Michel van Schouwburg (Orinx)

Improvising over strings, winds & percussion from the Portuguese quintet of Ernesto Rodrigues on viola, Guilherme Rodrigues on cello, Joao Madeira on double bass, Bruno Parrinha on flute & bass clarinet and Monsieur Trinite on percussion, in a studio session of active, often pointillistic interaction offset with periods of introspection, reflecting concepts of Baudelaire & The Surrealists. (Squidco)

Attuned to a semi-traditional setting is the viola playing of Portuguese Ernesto Rodrigues with the Dérive quintet on its self-titled CD (Creative Sources CS 772 CD. Also featuring the cellist Guilherme Rodrigues, bassist João Madeira, flutist/bass clarinetist Bruno Parrinha and percussionist Monsieur Trinité, the nine-part Dérive suite evolves on the cusp of contemporary chamber music and free form improv. At various junctures, especially on “Dérive VI” and “Dérive VII”, there are melodic intervals which stack moving viola swipes against chalumeau bass clarinet buzzes on the former and feathery flute trills swaddled in layered string rubs that undulate up and down the scale. But while the unfolding suite stays linear, its dynamic is defined by contrapuntal evolution, where shaking and swelling string parts vibrate collectively, sometimes interrupted by cymbal claps or maracas-like shakes from Trinité. Further consistency result from Madeira’s low pitched plucks. While this formula is constantly present as a continuum, other techniques are present elsewhere. For instance the extended fourth sequence is introduced with a powerful arco twang that precedes the other strings entry and stretches the exposition so that all three soon create squeaking but harmonized timbres. For added variety throughout, the cello, bass and viola sometimes divide into separate duos to contrast high and low pitches. Elsewhere group string glissandi serves as a backdrop for the violist to initially shake out a theme statement, latterly use spiccato strokes and sawing squalls to torque all the players to produce theme variations, and finally use double strokes to outline a reconstituted sequel to the initial statement. In the end this statement is preserved among metal-banging percussion, energetic double bass rubs, multiple string stops and jittery flute whistles or deadened reed blowing to mark a sense of connection. Ken Waxman (Jazz World)

Ernesto Rodrigues (Lisbon, August 29th 1959) has been playing the violin / viola for 50 years and in that time has played all genres of music ranging from contemporary music to free jazz and free improvisation, live and in the studio.
The relationship with his instruments is focused in sonic and
textural elements as well as the use of extended techniques.

creativesourcesrec.com
ernesto-rodrigues.blogspot.pt
erdiscography.blogspot.pt