Medium III

[Michael Eisenberg]

Listened to this the other nite (along with the entire Ed. Mn. 1001) release and was pretty amazed at, what sounds like the outrageous extended techniques Fernando Grillo utilizes during this 23 minute solo bass piece.

Andy, a while back when I first said I was getting into Dumitrescu, you mentioned something about hearing a Grillo piece and not realizing till about 10 minutes in that this was actually coming from an acoustic instrument. I'm wondering if this is the piece you might have been referring to?

It opens with, what sounds like some slow bowing that somehow shfits or modulates back and forth into higher registers, sounding very much like a primitive analog synth. It isnt till later in the piece, when the bowing technique changes (flapping/vibrating against the strings) that all doubt is removed that this is indeed a double bass producing all these sounds.

This piece, for me is one long, splendid journey into a realm that is at once both disconcerting and beautiful. It's force, fury and intensity is unmistakeable. This is white knuckle music...I don't know who else to describe it.

In interviews, Dumitrescu speaks about getting inside sounds, becoming intimate with them, training his instrumentalists to have a zen-like aquaintance with what they can do with their instrument, and what the instrument is capable of (things that us mere earthlings would and could never imagine). This piece, I think is a great example of tapping into the potential of the bass, and what a human being is capable of given the proper training and direction.

best
Michael

[Andy Wilson]

Yes, this is the piece, although there are other examples in the same vein. The Hyperion bass player Ioan Ghita also has some astounding double bass solos on various releases. I don't think anyone has gone this far before with the instrument, though there is one piece by Xenakis that is an obvious precursor I think (I'll try to remember the name and post it later.)

Also very highly recommended is Grillo's 'Fluvine'... quite hard to find though. Here's a review from Aural Innovations:

"Contrabass player Fernando Grillo was unknown to me prior to hearing this reissue of an album from 1976. In many ways these solo contrabass pieces are similar to the Bailey album. Not in style, but in the way Grillo uses his instrument to construct both notes and sounds. Grillo incorporates ambience, noise, and drones to create works that are subtely potent in atmosphere and thematic development. In fact, while Cage, Bailey, and Grillo are all part of a musical avant-garde, Grillo's music is the most experimental, his goal seemingly to create far more than just music. While there's never any doubt that Cage is playing the piano or Bailey the guitar, Grillo's bass becomes many other things both tangible or otherwise. I think my favorite moment is the beginning of "Fluvine Tre" in which the bass sounds like a car motoring down the highway. Later in the track he distorts the standard bass sound and combines it with rumbling runs that prompt me to think that a duo performance between Grillo and Bailey could produce fascinating results."

[Michael Eisenberg]

Andy sez I don't think anyone has gone this far before with the instrument,

I certainly never heard extended technique as out as this and, although I'm hardley familiar with Xenakis and I have no doubt that there is a precursor...I think the whole piece (Medium III) is absolutely astounding for it's time period---1982.

Thanks for the heads up on the Grillo record....there is not all that much info on this guy and would love to grab what I can of him. So far, all I have are the various Dumitrescu releases he appears on (ED. MN. 1004 is the only one I don't have of the Edition Moderns...cant find it for some reason) and a Costin Cazaban release where he is on one piece that is also very good...although it's recorded like hell.

best
Michael

[Andy Wilson]

The Xenakis piece I was thinking of is actually for cello - Nomos Alpha

[jake shields]

Ah - Nomos Alpha - I used to have a cassette recording off of radio 3 I made in the 70s of a performance of that piece. Kept it for years - I may even still have it somewhere. When I was listening to Movemur et Sumus (III) this evening (thanks Nick Medford) I immediately thought of that piece. This is my first Dumitrescu - the ED MN 1005 and i must say I am very impressed so far. This disc doesn't have much electronic stuff on it so I'll be on the lookout for more. As i mentioned to Nick - it is interesting that Xenakis and Dumitrescu seem to overlap sonically especially when you consider that Xenakis while being ethnically Greek was actually born in Roumania. Must be something they put in the Danube.

[jake shields]

Oh and while we are discussing extended techniques - I doubt if many blindfold test listeners would be able to identify what instrument Evan Parker is playing when he is doing his circular breathing on tenor or soprano sax.

[Michael Eisenberg]

Going from memory since I'm at work...there is only 1 exclusively electonic piece coming out of the Dumitrescu/Avram camp. I can't remember the name, but I know it's in the low 1000's of the Ed. Mn. catalog and I'm pretty sure it's an Avram piece. My impression of it was positive but I need to go back and find it now.

I might be wrong here, but when they catagorize a piece by saying it's "computer assisted"...I believe it's initially played on all acoustic instruments (albiet with contact mics and extended techiques out the yin yang) and then analylized for it's spectral content....and then re-composed or played with these new variables in place...i.e. notes and tone clusters discovered by the aforementioned spectral analysis.

However it's done...I can certainly see how people would say it sounds "electronic" and the fact that it might not be is even more mystefying.

best
Michael

[Andy Wilson]

Ligeti is from thereabouts too - that's Xenakis, Dumitrewscu & Ligeti... what *do* they put in the water? Actually, Dumitrecu has a theory about this, to do with Romania's position at the border, and outside limits of east and west....

[Michael Eisenberg]

The all electronic piece I'm thinking of is an Avram composition called "Icarus" on Ed. Mn. 1006. To my knowledge, I dont think they have done anything like it since.

best
Michael