CONFRONT
RECORDINGS
IST - LODI
(confront collectors series ccs 05)
Rhodri Davies : harp
Simon H. Fell : double bass
Mark Wastell : violincello
Recorded at Contemporaneamente, Lodi, Italy 2002
"Truly a seminal improvising group. This trio was the perfect setting for the three to develop their strategies to micro-gestured improvisation. Though the setting for this performance was a classical music festival, the trio's set was comprised of three collective improvisations. Fell, Wastell, and Davies have each developed approaches to playing that deconstruct their string instruments to their essential components (strings, wooden sound boxes, bows, bridges and pegs) and the sound source of vibrating strings, harmonics, overtones, and every manner of scraped, scratched, beaten, bowed, and otherwise prepared timbres. It is their intensified approach to collective listening and interaction that elevates this beyond the astonishing display of extended techniques. In these improvisations, space and silence play as key a role as the sounds that are played. All three are keyed in to formulating improvisations around texture, timbre, density, and duration of sound. The erudite structures emerge with a riveting attention to nuanced detail. And while it was recorded almost five years ago now, it has lost none of its freshness." (Michael Rosenstein SIGNAL TO NOISE)