Yves Robert

Last year, Yves Rousseau put together a seven-piece ensemble to perform and record this program of “fragments” inspired by memories of progressive rock music—a heady, testosterone-charged pop subgenre that made a strong impression upon the French bassist when he was a student in the mid-1970s. Since that initial period of discovery, Rousseau has refined his taste for prog-rock indulgence, incorporating ideas inspired by bands like King Crimson, Yes, Genesis and other prominent artists of the era into his vast creative arsenal. With a wealth of experience as a genre-hopping player dating back to the late 1980s and a more recent reputation as a prolific composer and ambitious bandleader, Rousseau takes listeners on a nostalgia trip with Fragments, a collection of all original pieces…

Vladimir Cosma became a highly regarded and hugely prolific soundtrack composer for the French cinema in the 60s and 70s. Cosma is a stellar example of the rich traditon of French movie composers, from Auric to Delerue to Desplat. Like them, he seems to effortlessly breathe melodies. His music can be lush, it can be spritely. It shimmeres, cascades, and yes, sometimes, it kicks butt. This second box set of his scores, like the first, is a treasure chest for fans of rich, melodic film music.

Robert HP Platz, composer and conductor, was born in Baden-Baden in 1951. He studied composition with Wolfgang Fortner and Karlheinz Stockhausen. Robert HP Platz sees his entire work as a global architecture in constant evolution. He has composed for music theater, orchestral works, ensemble music, chamber music, children’s music and solo pieces, often including electronic sounds. His friendship with visual artists and authors, his affinity for Italian and French culture, which goes back to his childhood, and his fascination for Japanese culture are further inspiration for his multi-faceted musical world. This CD is dedicated to his compositions for flute, written between 1993 and 2018, and presents an important facet of his artistic work, presenting different aspects of his poetics in the 11 tracks. These expressive pieces, composed with deep technical knowledge of the flute, form a special context in this compilation and thus present a unique musical language. The unifying factors are motivation, choice of instruments and the organization of tonal centers that form bridges from work to work.

Louis Sclavis Sextet - Les violences de Rameau (1996) {ECM 1588}
EAC rip (secure mode) | FLAC (tracks)+CUE+LOG -> 306 Mb | MP3 @320 -> 135 Mb
Full Artwork @ 600 dpi (png) -> 65 Mb | 5% repair rar
© 1996 ECM Records | ECM 1588
Jazz / Avant-Garde Jazz / Modern Creative / Chamber Jazz

Maybe because he is French, or perhaps simply due to his iconoclastic nature, clarinetist Louis Sclavis has a knack for producing provocative recordings that somehow seem unrelated to anything else in the musical world. Commissioned by the French Ministry of Culture in 1994, this suite incorporates a wonderfully melodic character that focuses on an unusual front line of clarinet (or soprano sax), trombone, and violin (acoustic and electric), supported by bass, piano, and drums.

On 29 November 1863 Giacomo Meyerbeer noted in his journal, "Worked seven hours: the last scene with Selica is instrumented and revised, and with it the score of Vasco completed. May God bless the work and grant it a dazzling and enduring success." Meyerbeer called the opera completed by him four months prior to his death Vasco de Gama, but it came to be known to posterity as L’Africaine (The African Woman). Now how did this happen? Meyerbeer had been working on the opera since 1837, and L’Africaine was its original title. Eugène Scribe’s libretto told the story of an African princess who unhappily falls in love with a Portuguese naval officer. After some initial enthusiasm Meyerbeer soon had his doubts about the subject.

Painter, sculptor, architect, engineer, pioneer of flight, anatomist, scientist - yet according to Vasari, Leonardo’s first job outside Florence was as a musician. “Music cannot be regarded other than as the sister of painting', said Leonardo, so for the 500th anniversary of his death in 2019, I Fagiolini and Martin Kemp offer reflections of his images in vocal music: aural Fantasia dei Vinci - art through the prism of music.

One of France and Europe's most distinguished film composers, Vladimir Cosma scored more than 150 films and TV productions. Although he enjoyed almost immediate success in comedies, he continued to experiment with different styles and genres, and this versatility brought him wide international acclaim.

Company Week had been an ongoing project of guitarist Derek Bailey since the early '80s, the idea being to invite musicians from disparate genres, throw them together in totally improvisatory situations, and see what develops. This session from 1991 included Arditti Quartet violinist Alexander Balanescu, John Zorn, and, the wild card of the bunch, guitarist Buckethead (Brian Carroll). The nine musicians perform in various groupings ranging from two to six members and, generally, the music which results falls into what might be termed "standard" free improv, even a bit tentative at times…

French violinist Clement Janinet composes music for quartet inspired by the lyricism of the free jazz melodies of the 60s (Ornette Coleman, Phoraoh Sanders, &c.) and the timbral and rhythmic textures of repetitive music (Steve Reich, Philip Glass, John Adams, &c) in several quartet configurations including bass clarinet, tenor sax, bass, drums, guitrar, and cello.