JEAN BORDÉ – Morceau En Forme De La

Appel Music

Typical case of minor gem hidden amidst the piles of promos still to be reviewed after years from the receipt, Morceau En Forme De La is a beautiful piece by an artist formerly unknown to me. The score calls for “two double basses, a violin, and a piano”, which – in absence of any note on the cover – are all supposed to be played by Bordé via multitrack proceedings. The music shows a mild influence by some of the elements upon which the Wandelweiser collective has built a school; the instrumental sections – generally quiet, with slightly dissonant variations – are in fact separated by silences, yet the prevalence is that of the audible manifestations, quite agreeable for good measure. The strings are mostly layered according to principles of relative simultaneity, exquisite clusters and refreshing openings to semi-consonant vistas weighing exactly the same in the record’s economy. But there’s also time dedicated to the exploration of single gestures, either cyclic or just mechanically “noisy” (the instrument’s body being the main origin in those circumstances), an intrinsic musicality always dictating the pace. When the piano appears it’s usually as a momentary harmonic complement, or a source of fleeting reverberation; basically, it never stays for more than a little while – basses and violin are what really give the composition its colours. I have listened to this CD six or seven times over the last days, and it hasn’t stopped to charm. This is not something that one can easily pigeonhole, despite the rather familiar tones: let’s call it an excellent work, and leave it at that.