Search - Sylvie Courvoisier, Sylvie / Feldman, Mark / Friedlander, Erik Courvoisier, Mark Feldman :: Courvoisier: Abaton

Chamber jazz of the highest accomplishment . . .

Jan P. Dennis | Monument, CO USA | 09/02/2004

(5 out of 5 stars)

". . . and wonderful to listen to, to boot. Which, it must be admitted, is not always the case.



Sylvie Courvoisier, pianist extraordinaire, composer of sublime substance and wide-ranging influence, bandleader of note, has produced one of the landmark discs of the new millennium. With a trio comprising herself (piano), Mark Feldman (violin), and Erik Friedlander (cello), she ventures into perilous territory--Third Stream, chamber jazz, whatever--and comes back having procured the Grail.



Working in precincts that might be regarded as on the borders of New Music, chamber jazz, and free improvisation, she crafts a delicious sonic palette, a soundscape of both ravishingly beautiful and wholly unexpected glory. Yes, it helps to have bandmates fully on board with her musical vision, especially the altogether remarkable Mark Feldman, who's so tuned in to this music that it almost sounds as if he was born to play it. And Erik Friedlander, himself one of the premier innovators on cello, adds his own singular and distinct colorations and timbres.



But it's the leader who shines brightest. A master of imbuing her compositions with spatial genius and sophisticated chordal, harmonic, and temporal voicings, she has created a music of glorious contradiction, music that is at once glacial and warm, distant and intimate, cerebral and emotional, secular and sacral, mundane and mysterious.



With this disc, Sylvie Courvoisier emerges as a musical voice of huge munificence, of magisterial scope, of uncommon weight and consequence. That her music is also eminently approachable makes it all the more remarkable.



Absolutely not to be missed."

Emotional, modern, and perfect.

Lord Chimp | Monkey World | 07/24/2006

(5 out of 5 stars)

"_Abaton_ is a wonder. Sylvie Courvoisier has always impressed me, but all my previous exposure to her was her massive catelogue of work in improvisation amongst the downtown NYC scene. She has worked with great figures on the scene like John Zorn, Ikue Mori, and of course her husband Mark Feldman. Of all the projects she has graced with her talent, _Abaton_ is the greatest -- a two-disc set, comprised of long composed pieces and short improvised pieces. Composed for piano trio with Mark Feldman (violin) and Eric Friedlander (cello), disc 1 is heavily informed by the European modernist tradition, leaning towards atonality. Yet it is equally informed by Courvoisier's jazz studie, with four pieces around 10-20 minutes in length. Disc 2 is fully improvised, consisting of 19 short pieces that range from quiet, dissonant meditations to exquisite bursts of expression. Whether this group demonstrates its empathy for composition or their telepathic interplay on through spontaneous improv, this is one of the most unique albums in ECM's wonderful catalogue. either of these discs would make a masterful album on its own -- together, it is unbeatable. of course it is gorgeously recorded so you really have no reason not to hear this. best ECM of the 21st century so far? wouldn't be surprising."