EA Silence - Cono Di OMbra E Luce (Amirani, 2009) *****

Electroacousticsilence, or EA Silence for short, is a trio with an unusual line-up: Luca Cartolari plays live electronics and electric bass (track 5), Mirio Cosottini plays trumpet and flugelhorn, and Alessio Pisani plays bassoon and contra-bassoon. The bassoon is an unusual instrument in modern music, but on the few albums that I know on which it's played, the quality of the music is high (see especially Kris Tiner, with an almost similar line-up, but also Wayne Horvitz and Bill Dixon). The music brought by the trio is of an extraordinary stylish aesthetic, mixing classical music, sometimes even with a medieval pre-baroque touch, modern music, jazz and electronics. The music progresses slowly, solemnly, with trumpet and bassoon acting in unison, counterpoint, echo, with the electronics repeating the sounds at times, distorting them, or just providing a textural background, dramatic effects or ambient sounds. The music also shifts between composition and improvisation, between crystal clear tones and more diffused tonal explorations. These contrasts, including the sharp difference between the high-toned trumpet and the dark sounds of the bassoon, make for a wonderful tension and musical depth of perspective, a chiaroscurao of sound. Unlike the Tiner-Phillips-Schoenbeck Trio, the sounds here are less intimate, more emotionally distant, more dramatic, but also more magnificent in their slow forward movement, creating a feeling of immense space and beauty. Many have tried this approach before, and fell into the trap of syrupy sentimentalism, but this trio manages to have a consistently coherent unique musical vision, rich in ideas and tonal explorations, austere and disciplined in its delivery. Truly great.

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Listen to an excerpt from "Medusa"

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