a r t i s t : Pierre Dubuisson
t i t l e : Sept Regards sur l'Esprit de la Mort
d a t e : 2007
l a b e l : GOFV (Guild of Funerary Violinists)
g e n r e : Classical
r l s. d a t e : Feb/2008
t r a c k s : 07
b i t r a t e : VBRkbps
s i z e : 18,0 MB
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Another strange and mysterious collection of lost and
forgotten musicks, perhaps the last volume (of four) in this
series of archival recordings, collecting the very few
existing performances and recordings that fall under the
umbrella of a mysterious movement of musicians and composers
known as The Guild Of Funerary Violinists.
Pierre Dubuisson was France's foremost Funerary Violinist,
having made his name in the great funerary duels that became a
bit of a fashion for a brief spell, where the deceased would
leave a bit of melody to be performed after his death, two
violinists would then improvise on the theme doing their best
to wring more tragedy from the notes than their opponent, the
winner of course was the one who drew the most tears from
onlookers. Dubuisson eventually became president of the French
branch of the Guild Of Funerary Violinists, and helped to
integrate Funerary Violin into the Catholic ritual before
disappearing under dubious circumstances during the infamous
Funerary purges.
These recordings were made by Pierre's grandson Jacques, who
after running away from an abusive home and an overbearing
father, was discovered playing some of his grandfather's
pieces at a concert in 1913, by an archivist from the
Biblioteque Nationale De France, who convinced Jacques to make
wax cylinder recordings of some of his grandfather's
recordings. Jacques is of course not the player his father
was, or his grandfather before him, but the pieces carry their
own powerful emotion which easily overcomes any sort of
deficiencies in the performances.
Oh, right, we always seem to forget the most important part,
none of the above is true? Not a bit. Or is it? Hard to say.
Or so a few of us think. Some here choose to believe (Mulder?)
since the mythology is almost as fascinating and nuanced as
the recordings, and imagining this lost art is so much more
fun, while others are just happy to listen to this amazing
music. And amazing it is. Perfectly and beautifully rendered
to sound as old and antique as it most likely is not. Wailing,
plaintive funereal laments on solo violin, sad and morose,
lilting and so completely lovely, bathed in all manner of grit
and hiss, fuzz and antique distortion, sounding like the old
wax cylinders these recordings purport to be. Imagine some old
timey violin music treated by Tim Hecker, and spun in some
ultra morose DJ set by Philip Jeck...
The music is so evocative, of dark clouds at dusk, rain swept
fields, huge brooding stone houses, lush gardens beneath grey
skies, and of course, funerals, and the slow stately trudge of
the funeral procession to the grave site. We've gushed about
pretty much every volume so far, and by now are probably just
repeating ourselves, but we just love these discs, read the
other Funerary Violinist reviews for more on the music and the
mythology, and you'll realize just why it seems impossible to
us to not fall totally in love with such a well executed piece
of what ultimately amounts to performance art. The music, dark
and delicate, creepy and so beautiful, even removed from the
mythology is totally amazing, the story and the text is as
well (there's even a book you can track down, detailing the
entire recorded history of the Guild) but the two together,
are simply magical....
http://www.aquariusrecords.org
http://www.guildoffuneraryviolinists.org.uk/
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01-Marche Funebre - Lent, pose et majestueux [03:54]
02-Vol - Magnanime et degage [02:06]
03-Marche Funebre - Sombre, pourtant ouvert sur l'avenir [03:13]
04-Eloge - Lyrique et couronne de tristesse [02:31]
05-Panique - Panique momentanee - enracine bien [03:06]
q'essayant de se sauver
06-Reve - Enfin libre, pas sans tristesse, l'esprit [02:22]
s'envole
07-Marche Funebre - Triomphe de la tragedie [03:39]
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20:51 min