Christine Wodrascka - Linéaire (Mr Morezon, 2013) ****

By Stef 

Sure, I did not include all solo piano albums in yesterday's marathon review for the simple reason that I wanted to give one specific album more attention, and because I forgot to add this one, which now gets a preferential treatment.

Christine Wodrascka is one of France's most daring improvisers, approaching her instrument in its entirety and in a very physical manner, as some of you already read in the review of "Grey Matter" some months ago. She has played with many musicians well known to the readers of this blog, such as Joëlle Léandre, Paul Lovens, Jean-Luc Cappozzo, Ramon Lopez, Xavier Charles and Ivo Perelman.

On "Linéaire" - which means, yes, Linear - the music is anything but linear, in the sense that the ten tracks - which by the way all start with an "L" in the title - lead us to a variety of settings and moods and styles, ranging from playful inventive interaction between left and right hand, as on "Luci Polari" which is close to modern classical music over the slow and dramatic minimalism of "Lupercales" to the percussive muted noises of "Lady Sarah B", played directly on the strings, and the almost industrial "La Machine Du Vieux Kamaji".

Whatever the approach, her playing is inventive, clever and compelling. The music is spontaneous and fully improvised, yet she manages to keep her ideas focused on the core concept of each piece, playing it with careful attention and precision.

She clearly deserves wider recognition.