An immersive album of understated but incredibly detailed free improvisation from the quartet of Ernesto Rodrigues on viola, Bruno Parrinha on bass clarinet, Emidio Buchinho on electric guitar and Carla Santana on electronics, performing live at Escola Superior de Teatro e Cinema, in Amadora, Portugal for a four part concentration on silence through sound.
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Sample The Album:
Ernesto Rodrigues-viola
Bruno Parrinha-bass clarinet
Emidio Buchinho-electric guitar
Carla Santana-electronics
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UPC: 5609063407563
Label: Creative Sources
Catalog ID: cs756
Squidco Product Code: 32623
Format: CD
Condition: New
Released: 2022
Country: Portugal
Packaging: Cardboard Gatefold
Recorded live at Escola Superior de Teatro e Cinema, in Amadora, Portugal, on the May 14th 2022, by Emidio Buchinho and Carla Santana.
"Then (presumably) even more recent, Ernesto Rodrigues continues to record together with clarinetist Bruno Parrinha in 2022: The provocatively titled Distilling Silence comes from this past May, i.e. prior to Definitive Bucolic (as reviewed here in July, after being recorded in June...), and turns to a different guitarist: Emidio Buchinho had recorded with Rodrigues already, back in 2016 for the trio album Fall, itself evocatively titled, very sparse and quiet music. (This was also a period when I was lamenting that many "silence"-themed albums were simply too quiet, i.e. quieter than the ambient noise of my apartment and neighborhood, i.e. too quiet to be useful....)
That album was also rounded out by electronics, and here that's accomplished by Carla Santana - new to me, but also already on the new Uranium (recorded last November) by Isotope Ensemble - to form a quartet. While "fall" (i.e. autumn) and "bucolic" suggest outdoor scenes, though, Distilling Silence evokes more in the way of the indoor and its smaller spaces: There's a sense of "lowercase," i.e. of amplifying the smallest, everyday sounds - the sounds of a quiet home (and e.g. Jeff Shurdut had already released an entire series of albums on this theme...) - i.e. of bringing (the potentially ignored) to presence, but not simply as amplified per se, rather as arising reworked by collective instrumental expression.... (In its sense of the everyday, Distilling Silence thus projects an imminent affective quality, contrasting e.g. with the transcendental-metal yearnings of the previous entry....)
One might even recall e.g. Rodrigues' A late evening in the future (noted here in June 2019), a sort of sparse urban outdoor interrogation, but pace the "absolute" orientation here, perhaps a more direct comparison comes from the quintet album Prima pratica (reviewed here in November 2019, and with no other musician in common...), more atmospheric or "outdoor" in its inspirations and perhaps more rambling too.... These covers actually seem to suggest a sequence with Nor, askew now for Distilling Silence (itself lit not unlike A late evening in the future...), another intriguing quartet album (originally discussed here in September 2015) with a frustrating tendency to vanish....
But back to Distilling Silence, a much tighter album than these earlier efforts: There's indeed a real sense of presence brought to the fore here, although one wouldn't call it a foreground, yielding a coherent "musical sweep" that's nonetheless beneath any sense of genre. (In comparison to Metaculture, then, that group employs a more conscious virtuosity or sense of expression, but both can suggest a sort of ambient vibe, rather less naturalistic than is typical for Rodrigues.... And pace notions of "anthropology music," various sounds of the environment have certainly been inspirational for "music history," but there's still a notion of human selection at work, and so specifically of human thought. (And I should also mention the intervening releases including both Rodrigues and Parrinha, the etudes-like quartet album D'Improvviso, featuring new-to-me horn player Michel Stawicki, and a strange experiment in a sort of flat or "unexpressive" virtuosity in the quintet album (with percussion) Unpoem, both including Joao Madeira on bass as well - and both actually recorded in June 2022 too, i.e. subsequent to Distilling Silence.... (The latter was also recorded in multitrack, if that's worth noting, but not HD.)))
Moreover, opening with breath, Distilling Silence develops a sort of post-Cage "sound," a sort of fluttering timbre, slightly echoing, perhaps likely to fade away, but also a sense of deep throbbing (drone?) at times too, forging an ongoing kind of (elevated?) continuity for the space... or for time (and its presencing). There's an intimacy (as canonical lowercase...), and a sort of flow, a feel for pacing... a (non-rhetorical, becoming unconscious...) repose. In short, while nothing is striking, and the album isn't sparse or particularly quiet, there's indeed a sense of Distilling Silence, i.e. of bringing "everyday silence" to presence. Moments don't stand out, expression doesn't stand out, but one's sense of situation and time are thereby slowly transformed. (And "outside" everyday sounds seem almost charming when they do return.)"-" Todd McComb, Jazz Thoughts
Get additional information at Todd McComb's Jazz Thoughts
Artist Biographies
• Show Bio for Ernesto Rodrigues "He has been playing the violin for 30 years and in that time has played all genres of music ranging from contemporary music to free jazz and improvised music, live and in the studio. His main interest shifted towards contemporary improvised and composed music. The relationship with his instruments is focused in sonic and textural elements. Electronic music was an early influence on his approach to violin playing, which challenges traditional romantic concepts of the violin/viola through use of preparations and micro tuning. Active in different settings on the Portuguese scene for free improvised music, both as a collaborator and in leading his own groups. Music for Dance, Cinema, Video and Performance. Has created the record label Creative Sources Recordings in 1999, which mainly concentrates on releasing experimental and electro-acoustic music." ^ Hide Bio for Ernesto Rodrigues • Show Bio for Bruno Parrinha "Bruno Parrinha - alto sax / soprano, Clarinet Sb / Alto, flute Around the age of 10 began playing the clarinet. At 17 he bought a flute and entered the Academy of Music where he Amateurs solfeggio and instrument with Paulo Curado for two years . Later he was always playing clarinet and tenor saxophone ( self-taught ) and at age 21 he was invited to join the band Pop Radar Gaddafi with whom he recorded . Later he was cast of musicians on the play " Vieux Carré " in teatro da Graça playing tenor sax . Spent a year on the scene . At 87 he began to attend formations of Sei Miguel resulting in vinyl LP recorded at 88 " Songs love and against terrorism ." Since then he has dedicated his commitment to free improvisation and has participated in numerous trainings and concerts with illustrious musicians including Rodrigo Amado , Rodrigo Pinheiro , Miguel Mira , João Lucas , Paulo Curado , Ernesto Rodrigues , Guilherme Rodrigues , Ulrich Mitzlaff , Manuel Guimarães Cyril Bondi , " D' Incise ," Raphael Ortiz , Nicolaus Gerwinsky , Phill Niblock , Raymond McDonald , Victor Nubla , Nuno Rebelo , Marco Franco, Gabriel Ferrandini , Hernani Faustino , Luís Lopes , José Oliveira , Carlos Santos , Carlos " Zingaro " João Pedro Viegas , Victor Rua , Abdul " moimême " , Luís Vicente , João Lancaster , Luis Gil , Paulo Pimentel , Francisco Andrade , Albert Cicera and many others. Presently a part of groups : ARGUE, IKB , VGO , Miguel Mira Quartet , Open Mind and Puma. " ^ Hide Bio for Bruno Parrinha • Show Bio for Emidio Buchinho "Born in 1963, in Luanda, Angola. There, in the seventies, heard rock and local ethnic music in between radio sounds from my father's electricity and radio workshop. Saw a lot of films at open-air cinemas. With the independence of the Portuguese colonies moved to Setúbal.At age 15 commenced as a self-taught guitarist. In 1982 formed an experimental music project with Vitor Joaquim. Attended Classical Guitar and Music courses in the Luísa Todi Music and Fine Arts Academy (Setúbal, Portugal) and studied in the Château-Thierry Municipal Conservatory (France). Member of the choirs of both cities. Has a degree in Cinema and Sound Engineering at the Lisbon Film and Theatre School (ESTC - Escola Superior de Teatro e Cinema). Has the Title of Specialist on Sound for Audiovisual and Multimedia, awarded by the Instituto Politécnico de Tomar. Took part in various workshops and courses on Structures, Forms and New Technologies in Improvised Music, supervised by Carlos "Zingaro", Peter Kowald and Richard Teitelbaum; Music and Sound Design for Film, Video and Games, supervised by Bruce Pennycook; Orchestra of Loudspeakers - Sound Spacialization, directed by Miguel Azguime; Initiation to Real Time Sound Programming and Manipulation in Max/MSP Environment, teached by Isabel Pires. Assistant to the composer and musician Carlos "Zingaro" between 1997 and 2000. Participated in concerts and intermedia performances with the likes of Carlos "Zíngaro", Günter Müller, Carlos Santos, Otomo Yoshihide, Nuno Morão, Rudiger Carl, Vitor Joaquim, Ulrich Mitzlaff, Matt Wand, Ernesto Rodrigues, Nuno Rebelo, Mike Beck, Miguel Cabral, Erik M, António Chaparreiro, Phill Niblock, João Silva, Ricardo Guerreiro, Renato Chiunfrini, Pedro Lopes, Pedro Alçada, José Oliveira, Adriana Sá, Ben Rubin, Ludger Lamers, Isabelle Schad, Olga Roriz, Margarida Bettencourt and João Natividade, among others. Works on a regular basis in the areas of musical composition, performance and production, sound engineering, editing and design for films, documentaries, art installations, stage plays, dance, performance art, intermedia and television advertising in Portugal, Spain, France, Germany and the UK. Collaborations include Jorge Silva Melo, Pedro Sena Nunes, Fernando Matos Silva, Luís Fonseca, Fernando Lopes, José Barahona, João César Monteiro, Paulo Rocha, Sandro Aguilar, Walter Avancinni, Rita Palma, Jeremy Cooper, Margarita Ledo Andion, Paulo Mendes, Julião Sarmento, João Onofre, Susana Soares Pinto, Anabela Costa, Maria Joana Fernandes, Cláudia Bandeira, Antonino Solmer, Fernanda Lapa, Diamantino Ferreira, John Clease, Marco Martins, Miguel Coimbra, Gideon Nell, Edson Ataíde, Keith Rowe, Gush, Roof, Silvia Barrios, Greg Moore, Carlos Bica, Bernardo Devlin, Coty Cream, Osso Exótico, Michael Gira, Current Ninety Three, Antony, Simon Finn, Baby Dee, Six Organs of Admittance, Artistas Unidos, Karnart, Cão Solteiro, Teatro Meridional, Teatro da Cornucópia and Teatro da Comuna. He is teacher on Sound Techniques and Technologies for Cinema, Audiovisual and Multimedia at the ESTC-IPL - Escola Superior de Teatro e Cinema, ESCS-IPL - Escola Superior de Comunicação Social, and ESTA-IPT - Escola Superior de Tecnologia de Abrantes. As a Musicain, Sound Designer, Editor and Engineer for Cinema and Audiovisual, taught lessons at ETIC - Escola Técnica de Imagem e Comunicação, RESTART - Instituto de Criatividade, Artes e Novas Tecnologias, Videoteca Municipal de Lisboa, Granular - Associação, Encontros de Viana, Festival de Curtas-Metragens de Vila do Conde, IPA - Instituto Superior Autónomo de Estudos Politécnicos, ESAD-CR-IPL - Escola Superior de Artes e Design, AR.CO - Escola de Artes, including workshops and conferences. Head of the Sound and Music Department at ETIC - Escola Técnica e Imagem e Comunicação, between 2006 and 2010. Director and founding member of the GRANULAR Association, between 2002 and 2016. PhD Student in Science and Art Technology - Computer Music, in the UCP - Universidade Católica do Porto, with the advising of the composer Dr. António de Sousa Dias." ^ Hide Bio for Emidio Buchinho • Show Bio for Carla Santana Carla Santana is a Portuguese electronic artist known for the bands Quarto com Luz, quatroconnection, Isotope Ensemble and Variable Geometry Orchestra. ^ Hide Bio for Carla Santana
4/17/2024
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4/17/2024
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4/17/2024
Have a better biography or biography source? Please Contact Us so that we can update this biography.
Have a better biography or biography source? Please Contact Us so that we can update this biography.
Track Listing:
1. Part I 17:24
2. Part II 9:35
3. Part III 13:37
4. Part IV 7:52
Creative Sources
Improvised Music
Free Improvisation
Electro-Acoustic
Electro-Acoustic Improv
European Improvisation, Composition and Experimental Forms
Quartet Recordings
lowercase, reductionist, micro-improv, sound improv, onkyo sound
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Creative Sources.
 | Octopus (Rodrigues / Humm / Curado / Piosik / Hencleeday / Almeida / Santos / Godinho) Vulgaris (Creative Sources) |
| Correctly configured, the Portugese ensemble Octopus is an octet, and though named after the most common of the breed, this 8-tentacled orchestration of strings, flute, trumpet, piano, guitar, electronics and percussion, all using extended techniques, slides deftly and with incredible restraint through a large, detailed dark-water work of electroacoustic improvisation. | |
 | Rodrigues, Ernesto / Nuno Torres / Carlos Santos / Stale Liavik Solberg Soon (Creative Sources) |
| Norwegian percussionist Stale Liavik Solberg (Gjerstad, VCDC, &c) joins frequent collaborators Ernesto Rodrigues (viola), Nuno Torres (saxophone), and Carlos Santos (electronics) for a studio album of often pointillistic interaction, Solberg punctuating the unusual voicing and techniques of acoustic and electronic interactions as they permute the word "soon". | |
 | Lisbon String Trio with Blaise Siwula K'ampokol Che K'aay (Creative Sources) |
| One of the most active albums from the set of Lisbon String Trio (plus one) albums released in 2017, saxophonist Blaise Siwula brings a unique virtuosity to this live album from Galeria Monumental in Lisbon, prompting at times a chamber jazz feeling, alongside very free improvisation with impressive transitions from spacious to highly detailed playing. | |
 | Lisbon String Trio with Etienne Brunet Telepathie (Creative Sources) |
| Portugal's Lisbon String Trio with Ernesto Rodrigues on viola, Miguel Mira on cello, and Alvaro Rosso on double bass, in a series of releases adding one additional improviser, here joined by Etienne Brunet on soprano saxophone, for two extended improvisations of active counterpoint and beautiful open sections, an excellent and rousing collaboration. | |
 | dis/con/sent (Petzold / Rodrigues / Rodrigues / Bauer) Munchen (Creative Sources) |
| A double opus of improvised String Quartets in four movements each, using impressive technique and exquisite pacing in this live recording captured at the Offene Ohren, in Munich, Germany, 2023 by Dietrich Petzold on violin, tenor violin, clavichord & bowed metal, Ernesto Rodrigues on viola, Guilherme Rodrigues on cello and Matthias Bauer on double bass. | |
 | Rodrigues / Lonberg-Holm / Hencleeday / Oliveira Uncommon Statement (Creative Sources) |
| Two unique string players--Lisbon's Ernesto Rodrigues on viola and Chicago's Fred Lonberg-Holm on cello--with pianist Andre Hencleeday and percussionist Jose Oliveira, in an exhilarating concert of dynamic free improvisation captured live in 2023 at Lisboa Incomum in Lisbon, presented as two "Statements", an apt description of their confident and declarative interplay. | |
 | Rodrigues / Parrinha / Flak / Levine Quadruple Quadrature Questions (Creative Sources) |
| While theremin & synth specialist Andrew Levine was on a 2023 tour of Portugal he met with a core trio of Creative Sources improvisers--Ernesto Rodrigues on viola & Crackle Box, Bruno Parrinha on bass clarinet & objects, Flak on electric guitar & effects--meeting in Flak's countryside studio for one detailed, extensive improvisation and 6 short works of differing sonic characters and colour. | |
 | Bechegas / Rodrigues / Rodrigues Secrets Under Trees (Creative Sources) |
| Recording at Berlin-Wedding's performance space Werkhalle Wiesenburg in the summer of 2023, the free improvising chamber trio of violist Ernesto Rodrigues and cellist Guilherme Rodrigues meet with Portuguese flutist Carlos Bechegas, bringing contemporary classical technique to an extended and energetically tempestuous improvisation and a sprightly "Time Between". | |
 | Variable Geometry Orchestra There's Always Someone Who Says No (Creative Sources) |
| One of the largest ensembles associated with Creative Sources, merging acoustic and electronic improvisers, this conduction by violist Ernesto Rodrigues at Torre Do Tombo in Lisbon in 2023 was the opening for an exhibition about the struggle of college students against the Portuguese dictatorship during the years 1970-74, leading to the Carnation Revolution. | |
 | Rodrigues, Ernesto / Guilherme Rodrigues / Andre Hencleeday / Carlos Santos Infinite Series (Creative Sources) |
 | Kita / Uebele / Rodrigues ArZt (Creative Sources) |
 | Belorukov, Ilia / Ernesto Rodrigues / Nuno Torres Tak Prosto (Creative Sources) |
| Two recordings from the lowercase acoustic improvising trio of Portuguese players Ernesto Rodriduges on viola and Nuno Torres on alto saxophone and objects with Saint Petersburg alto saxophonist Ilia Belorukov, recording at Belorukov's Spina! label's studio, and again live at Vertikal' Gallery in Saint Petersburg in 2016. | |
 | Rodrigues/ Rodrigues / Barbiero (The) Nature (Of Things) Likes To Hide (Creative Sources) |
| Recorded over a 3 year period, the trio of Portuguese string improvisers Ernesto Rodrigues on viola and Guilherme Rodrigues on cello met with New Haven, Connecticut double bassist & synth player Daniel Barbiero, developing this detailed, two part lowercase acoustic improvisation with a spacious, patient feeling that interacts with its ambient environment. | |
 | Rodrigues / Rodrigues / Torres / von Buttlar Leipzig (Creative Sources) |
| Named for the Leipzig, Poland location in which this live concert was recorded, the acoustic free improvising quartet of Ernesto Rodrigues on viola, Guilherme Rodrigues on cello, Nuno Torres on alto saxophone, and Johannes von Buttlar on percussion, explore extended ranges and approaches to their instrument in these building and detailed dialogs. | |
 | Rodrigues, Rodrigo / Abdul Moimeme / Antez Basalto (Creative Sources) |
| As the album cover displays, basalto are the black rocks resulting from lava, here represented in the slowly flowing, hard toned electro-acoustic improv of the Portuguese trio of Ernesto Rodrigues onoctave viola & baritone violin, Abdul Moimeme on electric guitar, and Antez on percussion. | |
 | Garcia, Miguel A. / Sebastien Branche / Abdul Moimeme / Ernesto Rodrigues / Guilherme Rodrigues Golden Towers And Electric Frictions (Creative Sources) |
 | Popovskiy, Andrey / Ernesto Rodrigues / Nuno Torres Ululo (Creative Sources) |
 | Rodrigues / Parrinha / Madeira Into the Wood (Creative Sources) |
| Working together in a variety of setting and ensembles--Variable Geometry Orchestra, Suspensao, groupings with Hernani Faustino & Jose Oliveira, with Michel Stawicki, and with onsieur Trinite--the core trio of Ernesto Rodrigues on viola, Bruno Parrinha on bass clarinet and Joao Madeira on double bass, is heard in three studio improvisations of dark woods explorations. | |
| Variable Geometry Orchestra There's Always Someone Who Says No (Creative Sources) |
| One of the largest ensembles associated with Creative Sources, merging acoustic and electronic improvisers, this conduction by violist Ernesto Rodrigues at Torre Do Tombo in Lisbon in 2023 was the opening for an exhibition about the struggle of college students against the Portuguese dictatorship during the years 1970-74, leading to the Carnation Revolution. | |
| Bechegas / Rodrigues / Rodrigues Secrets Under Trees (Creative Sources) |
| Recording at Berlin-Wedding's performance space Werkhalle Wiesenburg in the summer of 2023, the free improvising chamber trio of violist Ernesto Rodrigues and cellist Guilherme Rodrigues meet with Portuguese flutist Carlos Bechegas, bringing contemporary classical technique to an extended and energetically tempestuous improvisation and a sprightly "Time Between". | |
 | Kim / Rodrigues / Rodrigues / Cholet Taedong (Creative Sources) |
| Emulating the Korean river Taedong through it's undulating flows, uproar, flux and treachery in eleven succinct chamber-oriented improvisations from the quartet of South Korean tenor saxophonist Jung-Jae Kim, French-born South Korean-based drummer Quentin Cholet, with the Portuguese father/son duo of Ernesto Rodrigues on viola and Guilherme Rodrigues on cello. | |
 | Suspensao Frottage (Creative Sources) |
| Configured as an electroacoustic chamber nonet led by Ernesto Rodrigues on viola & crackle box, with two saxophones, bass clarinet, piano, electric guitar, double bass, electronics & percussion, in two live, highly concentrative and subtly detailed improvisations performed in 2023 at O'Culto da Ajuda, during Ciclo Indeterminação na Música do Séc. XXI. | |
 | Rodrigues, Ernesto / Nuno Torres / Guilherme Rodrigues / Eric Bauer / Stephen Flinn Letters to Milena (Creative Sources) |
| Referencing the book Letters to Milena (Briefe an Milena) by Franz Kafka of his intense love affair with Czech journalist & writer Milena Jesenská, through four lettered parts of a subtly sophisticated set of improvisations by Ernesto Rodrigues (viola), Nuno Torres (alto sax), Guilherme Rodrigues (cello), Eric Bauer (electronics) and Stephen Flinn (percussion). | |
 | Suspensao Teufelmuzik (Creative Sources) |
| Portugal's suspenseful reductionist improvising ensemble, blending acoustic and electronic instruments in delicately detailed motion, heard in this live recording at SMUP in Parede from Ernesto Rodrigues (viola), Nuno Torres (sax), Bruno Parrinha (bass clarinet), Luisa Goncalves (piano), Flak (electric gutiar), Joao Madeira (bass), Carlos Santos (analog synth) and Jose Oliveira (percussion). | |
 | Suspensao (Rodrigues / Torres / Parrinha / Goncalves / Flak / Madeira / Santos / Oliveira) Impromptu (Creative Sources) |
| The Suspensao octet are heard in this live performance at SMUP, in Parede, Portugal in 2023, blending primarily acoustic instruments with electric guitar and analog synth, using a reductionist approach to highly concentrative and suspenseful free improvisation, their long-running collective history allowing an impressive level of articulation and control through the integration of diverse voices. | |
 | Lopes, Luis Abyss Mirrors Echoisms (Clean Feed) |
| Citing references including Sun Ra, electric Miles, Ornette, Wadada Leo Smith, Stockhausen & Gabriel Prokofiev, guitarist Luis Lopes's Abyss Mirrors brings together artists drawing on European & Brazilian performers from Clean Feed, Shhpuma and Creative Sources for these evolving and often ecstatic collective, experimental improvisations; unpredictably edgy and exciting! | |
