The Squid's Ear Magazine

Vandromme, Guy / Bruno Duplant

l'infini des possibles (12 etudes pour piano) [2 CDs]

Vandromme, Guy / Bruno Duplant: l'infini des possibles (12 etudes pour piano) [2 CDs] (elsewhere)

Twelve etudes for solo piano by French composer Bruno Duplant and interpreted by pianist Guy Vandromme, each etude consisting of eight lines of lowercase letters a-g representing white keys, with accents, uppercase shifts, apostrophes, &c. affecting those letters, the performer given an "infinity of possibilities" through choices of combinations and repetions of the score.
 

Price: $21.95



Quantity:

In Stock

Quantity in Basket: None

Log In to use our Wish List
Shipping Weight: 2.00 units

Sample The Album:





product information:

Personnel:



Guy Vandromme-piano

Bruno Duplant-composer


Click an artist name above to see in-stock items for that artist.




Label: elsewhere
Catalog ID: elsewhere 019-2
Squidco Product Code: 31280

Format: 2 CDs
Condition: New
Released: 2021
Country: USA
Packaging: Cardboard Gatefold
Recorded at the artis's home in Messelbroek, Belgium, in March through May, 2021.

Descriptions, Reviews, &c.

"l'infini des possibles is a set of twelve studies for solo piano, written by French composer Bruno Duplant in 2019. The score consists of lowercase letters (a, b, c, d, e, f, g) and spaces in between, which leaves the pianist an openness for interpretation and artistic determinations. The Belgian pianist/conductor Guy Vandromme intensely studied these 12 pieces via in-depth discussions with Duplant over two years, and realized them for this recording of a double CD in the spring of 2021, on a Steinway and Son C-Grand from 1896 at his home studio in Messelbroek. Mixed, mastered, cover art by Bruno Duplant."-elsewhere

From the liner notes by Michael Pisaro-Liu

"Let's begin with a proposition: as finite beings, it is impossible for us to have a real experience of the infinite. If that is the case, how does an artwork create a representation of the infinite?

One way is to introduce an infinite potential in the process of finishing the work. A score is indeterminate when it leaves critical decisions for the performing musician. Those decisions compound and quickly add up to a very large number. If one had to make each decision consciously, through calculation, it would take a lifetime to learn to play an indeterminate piece like 'l'infini des possibles'. Luckily, in practice, the musician is guided, inevitably, by his own instincts. He makes many decisions quickly and unconsciously, adapting patterns he already has in his hands and in his ears.

Bruno Duplant's score consists primarily of lowercase letters (a, b, c, d, e, f, g). The letters stand for the "white keys" of the piano. Periods and spaces are placed in the letter stream to give a suggestion of phrasing. Occasionally these letters are affected by accents, uppercase shifts, cédilles and apostrophes, with each of these marks open to interpretation. A line of letters should last about one minute. Each étude consists of a single page of eight lines. While the order of the letters is fixed, their combinations and repetitions are determined by the performer. What looks like melody can become harmony; what appears to be simple, can become complex. The performer is asked to play "soberly, slowly and with a sweet melancholy."

Given the openness of this score, much of the feeling and atmosphere will be the result of a set of substantive artistic determinations made by the pianist. "How much do I use the pedal? Does it sustain, feather or stop completely at the end of this phrase? Precisely how long do I wait before the next note? Are these two letters to be played together or separate? In the same octave or an octave apart? Perhaps three octaves apart? How do I make a rhythm that turns this stream of letters into a figure? Do the a and g ring long enough to harmonize with the e?" There are thousands of such decisions to be made in each of these études.

What begins as a black-and-white figure drawing ends as a hand-colored portrait. Those colors are beautiful: subtle, shaded, nuanced, detailed. Through the sensitive touch of Guy Vandromme, the potentials of the score acquire dimension and expression. In his touch the listener, teetering at the edge of an abyss of sensation, might occasionally feel the hidden specter of the infinite." - Michael Pisaro-Liu (2021)


Artist Biographies

"Pianist/conductor Guy Vandromme is a performer within the fields of opera and music theatre, dance, working as a soloist, accompanist, conductor and artistic director. He has been a major driver behind the program of the European Cultural Capital of Brugge 2002. More recently he became responsible for the festival Klankenstroom bringing cultural heritage, classical music and tourism together. His main focus is to open the boundaries of music theatre, collaborating with contemporary artists, and exploring scores of forgotten music. This year his first solo recording of music of John Cage will be edited by Wandelweiser records."

-Guy Vandromme Website (https://www.guyvandromme.com/)
3/25/2024

Have a better biography or biography source? Please Contact Us so that we can update this biography.

"Bruno Duplant is a composer, improviser and multi-instrumentist (double bass, percussion, electronics, phonography...) living in the north of France. He has collaborated with lot of instrumentalists around the globe and has also made solo works for such labels as B-Boim, Engraved Glass, Peira, Ilse, Impulsive Habitat, Con-v, Unfathomless, Et le feu comme matière formatable technologiquement, Audiotong, Insubordinations and his own label curated with Pedro Chambel, Rhizome.s...

For him, composing, playing, improvising music is like imagining, creating and sometimes decomposing new spaces/realities, new entities. But it is also a reflection on 'memory', not the historic one, but a memory of all things, spaces & moments.

His new works, mostly based on phonographies & graphic scores, perfectly reflect that."

-Another Timbre (http://www.anothertimbre.com/az8.html)
3/25/2024

Have a better biography or biography source? Please Contact Us so that we can update this biography.


Track Listing:



SIDE A



1. etude no. 1 (11:30)

2. etude no. 2 (9:50)

3. etude no. 3 (9:05)

4. etude no. 4 (12:50)

5. etude no. 5 (11:15)

6. etude no. 6 (15:00)

SIDE B



1. etude no. 7 (9:30)

2. etude no. 8 (9:20)

3. etude no. 9 (10:20)

4. etude no. 10 (12:10)

5. etude no. 11 (8:45)

6. etude no. 12 (8:40)

Related Categories of Interest:


Compositional Forms
Improvised Music
Piano & Keyboards
European Improvisation, Composition and Experimental Forms
Solo Artist Recordings
New in Compositional Music

Search for other titles on the label:
elsewhere.


Recommended & Related Releases:
Pisaro-Liu, Michael (Guy Vandromme / Adriaan Severins / Luciana Elizondo / Fabio Gionfrida)
A Room Outdoors [2 CDs]
(elsewhere)
Two realizations of Michael Pisaro-Liu's 2006 work for sustaining instruments, harmonium & field recordings, recorded first at Wild Gallery, in Brussels with Guy Vandromme (keyboards) and Adriaan Severins (field recordings and synthesizer); then at the Museo Archeologico San Lorenzo, in Cremona, Italy with Luciana Elizondo (viola da gamba) and Fabio Gionfrida (field recordings), in collaboration with Guy Vandromme (Indian harmonium).
Duplant, Bruno
Paysages Sans Age III
(Sublime Retreat)
Two encompassing and tranquil works of sound from French composer Bruno Duplant, the album title translating to Ageless Landscapes as Duplant envisions two terrains through slow motion tones, piano and synthetics, evocatively described in an accompanying poem that conjures expansive fog, blurred trees, hawks slowly spiraling, a history in a hillside.
Inderhees, Carlo
8 Stimmen1
(Edition Wandelweiser Records)
A series of eight "voices" for piano, extended minimal works slowly unfolding in the performance of composer Carlo Inderhees' "8 stimmen" composition for solo piano, expressed by Guy Vandromme as the piece answers the questions "what is music made of?" with the word "voices: a sequence of sounds and silences, with its own consistency".
Other Recommended Releases:
Vukosavljevic, Ivan
Slow Roads
(elsewhere)
Eight compositions for solo 1/4 comma meantone organ by Serbian composer Ivan Vukosavljevic and performed by organists Tineke Steenbrink, Francesca Ajossa, Jan Hage, Lise Morrison, recorded in 2022 on five different historic organs, dating from the early 16th to mid-17th centuries, captured in medieval churches located in the countryside of northern Netherlands.
Olsen, Lance Austin / Bruno Duplant
Coincidence
(Ftarri)
A single extended duo performance from improviser, composer and leader of the Infrequency Editions label, Lance Austin Olsen, performing on guitar, field recordings, wax cylinder recordings, MIDI organ & amplified objects, along with French pianist, composer and improviser Bruno Duplant, also credited with "sounds", a moody and tense work that meticulously uses innuendo and space.
Di Domenico, Giovanni / Silvia Tarozzi / Emmanuel Holterbach
L'Occhio Del Vedere
(elsewhere)
During an artistic residency at the GMEA in Albi, France, composer & pianist Giovanni Di Domenico recorded with the trio of violinist Silvia Tarozzi and percussionist Emmannuel Holterbach performing on a large frame drum, completing the piece into this mysteriously insinuating and lovely triptych where sparse melodies emerge & submerge into a multidimensional expanse.
Duplant, Bruno
Le Jour D'apres
(Sublime Retreat)
A dark journey into a nocturnal world of synthetic tones and urban environments, emerging from footsteps and impressions of the passing world imbued through vaporous and skewed progressions, like moonlight piercing through a veil, from French composer and electroacoustic artist Bruno Duplant in an extended work dedicated to Belgian pianist Guy Vandromme.
Duplant, Bruno / Seth Nehil
The Memory Of Things
(Sublime Retreat)
An immersive and often explosive set of dark compositions from Seth Nehil & Bruno Duplant, blending field recordings, electronics, percussion and percussive objects into a controlled chaos of inexplicably murky and uncategorizable sounds, at times like a surreal firework display, or inserted into a complex machine on the verge of collapse, all imbued with a consistent resonant hue.
Tolimieri, Quentin
Monochromes [3 CDs]
(elsewhere)
Berlin-based composer & pianist Quentin Tolimieri's goal for the 15 compositions of "Monochrome" was to hear the acoustic piano differently, removing traditional structures of European harmony, each piece focused on a single or "monochromatic" theme that unfolds over an extended period of time, whether languorous or intensely active, each piece unique and self-contained.
van Houdt, Reinier
Drift Nowhere Past / The Adventure Of Sleep [2 CDs]
(elsewhere)
Interested in compositional work involving sound, timing, space, physicality, memory, noise & environment, Dutch composer Reinier van Houdt shares six works developed for erstwhile record's festival AMPLIFY 2020: quarantine, each piece focused on a specific day of the month; and a complementary set of four compositions about everyday recurring situations.
Dykstra, Jordan / Koen Nutters
In Better Shape Than You Found Me
(elsewhere)
The first album from the duo of American composer & violinist Jordan Dykstra and Dutch composer Koen Nutters, developed by exchanging material of ambient & spacious nature using slow chord development, field recordings, viola, pitch pipe, crotales, piano EBow and electronic programming, the resulting work diverse and constantly evolving through fascinating details.
Pisaro-Liu, Michael
Tombstones (performed by Barbara Dang & Muzzix)
(elsewhere)
Applying techniques that Michael Pisaro uses in his audio compositions to song formats, this album presents 11 new versions of songs from his 2013 Human Ear Music album, here reworked for clarity and recorded under the artistic direction of the Lille-based pianist Barbara Dang and six members of the Muzzix collective (Bellefont, Cruz, Orins, Pruvost & Pruvost).
Dalibert, Melaine
Night Blossoms
(elsewhere)
French composer & pianist Melaine Dalibert's 6th solo album, works developed using an algorithmic approach to composing, such as retrograde sequences or cellular automaton, generating beautifully delicate patterns that he performs on instruments chosen for their tonal qualities, David Sylvian adding electronic coloring to the pieces "Yin" and "Yang".
Philippakopoulos, Anastassis / Jurg Frey
Wind And Light
(elsewhere)
Wandelweiser composer and pianist Anastassis Philippakopoulos presents four solo clarinet pieces performed by fellow Wandelweiser member, Swiss composer and clarinetist Jürg Frey, and three solo piano pieces performed by himself, in a beautiful album of delicately minimal and fragile music inspired by and reflecting the natural landscape of Greece.
Legmann, Shira
Giacinto Scelsi: Suite No.9 / Quattro illustrazioni / Un Adieu
(elsewhere)
Three piano works by Italian composer Giacinto Scelsi: 'Suite No.9 "Ttai"' (1953); 'Quattro illustrazioni' (1953); and 'Un Adieu' (1978/1988); performed live in Tel Aviv by Israeli pianist Shira Legmann, who found these pieces particularly fascinating as she studied Scelsi's oeuvre, impressed by his compositional method of notating improvisations to create finished pieces.
Duplant, Bruno / Pierre Gerard
Soleil Clandestin
(Edition Wandelweiser Records)
Five "Soleil Clandestin" soundscapes using abstract voice, guitar, electronics, field recordings & percussion from sound artists Bruno Duplant and Pierre Gerard, on the surface peaceful, minimal and using space and silence, but buried inside are disquieting additions through vocal abstractions placed in unusual position to the sound; curious and captivating.
Duplant, Bruno
Deux Songes (Les Jours Sont Faits Pour Expliquer Les Nuits)
(Meenna)
Two beautifully subtle works for an ensemble of strings and electric piano from French composer Bruno Duplant, realized by the Boston-based Ordinary Affects ensemble or Jordan Dykstra, Morgan Evans-Weiler, JPA Falzone, Luke Martin and Ashley Frith, the first a quintet and the second a string quartet, creating illusory affects of motion and space through abstraction.
Satie, Erik (Aleman / Vandromme)
Socrate
(Edition Wandelweiser Records)
A beautiful rendering of French composer Eric Satie's 1918 masterwork "Socrate", originally for four sopranos and chamber orchestra, here stripped to its essence as a duo with Olalla Aleman on soprano and Guy Vandromme on piano, maintaining Satie's characterist reserve and refinement in the 3 parts: "portrait of socrates"; "banks of the ilissus"; and "death of socrates".
Cage, John / Guy Vandromme
Number Pieces (Piano)
(Edition Wandelweiser Records)
John Cage wrote his "Number Pieces" in the last years of his life, using his time bracket technique of short fragments allowing the performer flexibility in interpretation; each piece is titled for the number of performers and its ordinal position in the series, and most pieces are dedicated to a musician; here pianist Guy Vandromme performs three of the "One", or solo, series.
Wadham, Rachael / Philippe Lenglet / Bruno Duplant
everydayisagoodday
(Confront)
Starting from John Cage's Zen quote--"Every day is a good day"--the trio of Rachael Wadham on piano, Philippe Lenglet on acoustic guitar and cithar (a type of harp), and contrabass, recorded these improvisations approaching their instruments not for melodies but as tools for experimentation, from which this trio finds a wealth of inventive sound.
Cage. Schlothauer
For Seven Players
(Edition Wandelweiser Records)
Burkhard Schlothauer presents two works by John Cage written for septet, using indeterminacy in a score where each instrumental part is given twenty time brackets, allowing overlapping sounds which will be shaped depending on choices from each performer.



Customers Who Bought This Item Also Bought:
Breschand, Helene / Floy Krouchi / Zafer Tawil / Elliott Sharp
disPOSSESSION
(zOaR Records)
Expanding the collaboration between guitarist, saxophonist and electronic artist Elliott Sharp and electric & acoustic harpist Helene Breschand, in a quartet with Zafer Tawil performing on oud, violin & percussion and Floy Krouchi on electric bass, for an exotic, globe-embracing, groove-oriented album of unusual and often ecstatic acoustic and electric orchestration.
Sijstermans, Germaine
Betula [2 CDs]
(elsewhere)
The solo debut album from Dutch composer & clarinetist Germaine Sijstermans: seven recent contemplative works in a Wandelweiser vein, composed between 2017-2019 and performed with six exemplary and complementary performers: Antoine Beuger (concert flute), Rishin Singh (trombone), Johnny Chang (viola), Fredrik Rasten (guitar, ebow), and Leo Svirsky (accordion).
Frey, Jurg / Reinier van Houdt
Lieues d'Ombres (3 CDs)
(elsewhere)
Translating to League of Shadows, Swiss composer Jürg Frey's sublime twilight compositions for solo piano are performed by Dutch pianist Reinier van Houdt, presenting seven of Frey's works written from 1984-2018, including one previously unreleased composition, in all 20 movements spread over 3 CDs ranging in time from 1:47 to 40:34, a significant addition to both musician's oeuvres.
Frey, Jurg / Quatuor Bozzini / Konus Quartett
Continuite, Fragilite, Resonance
(elsewhere)
Continuity, Fragility, Resonance is an extended compositions by Jürg Frey orchestrated for an octet of a string quartet and a saxophone quartet, here recorded after the 2021 premier of the work in a 2022 3-day recording session in Bern, Switzlerland in the presence of the composer at the Auditorium of Zentrum Paul Klee; gorgeous and delicate.
MMM Trio (Mascolo / Mira / Maglioccho)
Bridge In The Dark
(FMR)
The MMM Trio of Carlo Mascolo on prepared trombone, Miguel Mira on cello and Marcello Magliocchi on drums & percussion recorded this album during a concert series in Puglia, Italy, placing each musician in a separate room with headphones, promoting the close listening and concentrated interaction each brings to their unusual approach to free improvisation.



The Squid's Ear Magazine

The Squid's Ear Magazine

© 2002-, Squidco LLC