FAFCHAMPS, JEAN-LUC Gentle Electronics

Somewhere in the far end of my mind I remembered the name Jean-Luc Fafchamps. He is a piano player (playing works of Bowles, Liszt, Feldman, Duchamp, Scelsi and Berio), a member of the Ictus Ensemble and a composer in his own right. In this last capacity we should see this new release, with two works. In both of these pieces he uses 'electronic means - the kind that are commonplace, accessible, cheap and easy to use' and he put 'them to work in a mostly-theatrical way: a situation of representation, one that is unique, new and creative, where the focus lies in aesthetics and poetics instead of in technological prowess'. If I understand well, he wants the listener to think that the sounds might be coming from the instrument, or perhaps from electronic sources, or both. 'Beth/Veth' is a forty-eight minute piece for piano, metallic percussion and electronics. The first two I think I could 'easily' detect, but the electronics is an altogether different story: these aren't as easy to discover, but if you listen carefully they are surely electronics. This piece has a very modern classical feel to it, with a very light touch at the piano most of the times, and the percussion being somewhat oriental in approach. The pianist (Stephane Ginsburgh ) of duty here plays these. A piece that moves through various sections and which is a true beauty. On DVD we find 'Street Music', for 'plugged viola' (played by Vincent Royer), and recorded, I assume, on the streets of Brussels,. The viola is plugged into an amplifier and loop/effect pedals, just as they are used for performing in public places, such as streets. There is a slow 360-degree panorama shot of the environment and shots of the violinist himself. He plays a very vibrant, wild piece, reading from a score with instructions (I guess) and he keeps on layering his sounds until half way through they all die out and everything starts all over again, very quietly, with the same themes played again, albeit in a somewhat different pattern. The music is very loud and wild, but looking some of the bystanders’ reactions, it seems it wasn't that loud on the street itself, but judging the applause, people enjoyed it; so did I, a lot actually.