Artist.......: Michel Lambert
Album........: Le Passant
Label........: Jazz from Rant
Genre........: Avantgarde
Catnr........: RANT 0529
source.......: CDDA
rip.date.....: Jul-09-2006
str.date.....: Dec-06-2005
quality......: VBR/44,1Hz/Joint-Stereo
Url..........: www.michellambert.com
track title time
Le Passant
01. Le miroir de la verite 07:33
02. L'eternel errant 05:36
03. Le labyrinthe du remords 05:02
04. Le choc spirituel 06:57
05. Le pelerinage de l'humanite 05:40
Improvisations
06. Running in the cave 02:45
07. Quib 03:11
08. L'isolement des lignes 01:49
09. Faux-semblant 01:23
10. Ruffians, rifffaff and ruffs 01:53
11. Passagers perdus 07:41
12. Cue 9-3, rappel du Passant 02:05
Runtime 51:35 min
Size 75,1 MB
Release Notes:
Dans sa version originale,Le Passant etait un
triptyque pour orchestre symphonique compose en
1992. Par la suite, la partition a ete reduite a un
orchestre de chambre constitue d'un quatuor a
cordes, instruments a vent, harpe et percussion.
Cette instrumentation se complete d'un groupe
d'improvisateurs. C'est une confrontation entre
l'ecriture formelle, le travail d'orchestration et
l'art de l'improvisation , explique Lambert dans
les notes. Ce batteur est aussi l'auteur, en 2001,
de Musiques Dessinees . Ainsi, le dessin et les
couleurs nourrissent son travail de musicien et on
peut parler ici d'ombre et de lumiere, ou de
fluidite des lignes pour decrire la singularite de
son invention a la batterie. Dans les cinq plages
de cette suite, il apparait que les improvisateurs,
Dominique Duval, contrebasse, Ellery Eskelin,
saxophone tenor, Malcolm Goldstein, violon, sont
veritablement habites par ce projet. Dans les sept
plages restantes, toutes a geometrie variable, les
differents musiciens se lancent dans des joutes
improvisees de haut vol. Charles Collard
The usual meeting place of improvisation and
orchestra works around firm structure where the
improvisers solo within the rigid confines of the
orchestral arrangements, or the orchestra acts as
an underlying support, scored in and around
pre-existing extemporization. But in rare cases,
daring composers have found ways to allow
improvisers to remain untethered while at the same
time broadening the sonic palette with a larger
ensemble. Howard Shore's collaborative soundtrack
with Ornette Coleman for David Cronenberg's film
Naked Lunch was one such case.
But even in the case of the Shore/Coleman
soundtrack there was an underlying form, a feeling
of cooperation between two seemingly disparate
aesthetics. In the case of Canadian
percussionist/composer Michel Lambert, rather than
finding a place where the two can coexist, on Le
Passant he emphasizes contrast by making the
meeting of free improvisation and contemporary
composition a confrontational affair. It's a
challenging conceit, and one which largely succeeds
because Lambert has lived in both worlds, with a
family steeped in classical music, an educational
background including time at both Conservatoire de
Musique de Quebec and Boston's Berklee School of
Music, and private studies with saxophonist David
Liebman and pianist Misha Mengelberg.
The five-movement, thirty-minute Le Passant suite
sometimes seems to defy conventional logic, despite
having an inner relevance. Le Miroir de la Verite
begins with a short duo between Lambert and
saxophonist Ellery Eskelin, a surprisingly centrist
piece of spontaneity. But before long Lambert is
alone, building a brief maelstrom of percussion
that leads into the ten-piece chamber orchestraÆs
first appearance, with Caroline LizoteÆs harp and a
curious combination of flute, bassoon, French horn,
and tuba reminiscent of the sometimes chaotic
through-composed work of the late Finnish drummer
Edward Vesala. Dissolving into an improvised duet
between bassist Dominic Duval and violinist Malcolm
Goldstein, the piece concludes on a more ethereal
orchestral note, filled with long tones and darker
dissonances, bringing to mind composers like Ligeti
and Penderecki.
The balance of the suite moves through a variety of
moods and texturesùmost jagged and angular. The
bass/violin duet beginning L'eternal Errant
segues into another sax/drums pairing, with the
orchestra entering for the final minute, bringing
the controlled chaos of Naked Lunch to mind.
Lambert's confrontation between the two musical
universes creates an ongoing feeling of
displacement that rarely resolves, with contrast
created out of continual shifts between dense and
spacious.
The album finishes with seven improvisations
inspired by Le Passant, ranging from Lambert's
brief solo Ruffians, Riffraff and Raffs to duos
and trios with Duval, Eskelin, and Goldstein.
Perhaps most intriguing is Passagers Perdus,
where the chamber orchestra explores a more
unfettered environment evidence that the
traditional barrier between improvising musicians
and classical performers is no longer applicable.
With inherent conflict defining the majority of Le
Passant, it's a very demanding listen. Still, while
Lambert's divergent views of free improvisation and
contemporary composition do indeed make strange
bedfellows, they can work together to create a
challenging but rewarding and genre-busting work.