In this beautiful duo album by two of Italy’s most creative musicians, roles are frequently overturned, as lyrical percussion shades into electronics and texture turns to melody. Stefano Battaglia reminds us that the piano is also a percussion instrument and Michele Rabbia is sensitive to all the tonal implications of drums and cymbals. The musicians play with and without scores in material that is variously open-form, tightly-controlled, inspired by folk idioms, by liturgical music and by art installations. Battaglia allows beautiful themes to ripple through the work, and sounds are given room to blossom. Duets for piano and percussion have long represented an important zone in the work of Stefano Battaglia (in the early 1990s, he collaborated with both Tony Oxley and Pierre Favre). Since 2000, Michele Rabbia has been Battaglia’s principal percussionist, appearing on both of his previous ECM releases – “Raccolto” and “Re: Pasolini” – as an ensemble member and fellow improviser. On “Pastorale” the musicians shape the music together.
Pastorale
Stefano Battaglia, Michele Rabbia
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06:28 - 2Metaphysical Consolations
05:59 - 3Monasterium
03:55 - 4Oracle
02:28 - 5Kursk Requiem
03:58 - 6Cantar del alma
08:05 - 7Spirits of Myths
04:50 - 8Pastorale
07:00 - 9Sundance in Balkh
05:50 - 10Tanztheater (in memory of Pina Bausch)
09:48 - 11Vessel of Magic
02:56
When they began their live duo work the primary method employed was “tabula rasa” improvisation, open free playing, or ‘letting sounds be sounds’ as John Cage used to say. Over time other approaches have been added. In guided improvisations, instrumental roles are frequently overturned, as lyrical percussion shades into electronics and texture turns to melody. Stefano Battaglia reminds us that the piano is also a percussion instrument and Michele Rabbia is sensitive to all the tonal implications of drums and cymbals.
“Tanztheater” is a suite of dances improvised in memory of choreographer Pina Bausch consisting of in Battaglia’s words, “a gigue in 3/8, a ritual dance, a gavotte and finally a long hypnotic section of “primitive” groove. It strives to be a homage to Bausch’s extraordinarily genuine expressionism and to her immortal spirit.”
A third development in Battaglia/Rabbia improvising is the incorporation of material derived from folk roots, particularly from the Mediterranean and Arab-Andalusian regions, referenced here on “Cantar del ama” and “Sundance in Balkh”.
There are also compositions with prearranged material. “Antifona” is a musical prayer, in the format of the free antiphons of antiquity. And title track Pastorale incorporates a pretty, rustic melody set, as Battagloa says “in a natural landscape”.
On the other hand, the soundscapes of “Monasterium”, “Oracolo”, “Kursk Requiem” and “Spirits of Myths” are creatively unnatural. Here the duo plays with the sounding space, expanding and contracting it with electronics. Rabbia also manipulates and transforms the sounds of the instruments: the net effect however is subtle, poetic, with transitions between acoustic and electro-acoustic modes delicately negotiated.
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