at09   ...de las piedras

 

esteban algora - accordion

alessandra rombolá - flute & tiles installation

ingar zach - percussion

 

1. ámbar                               7:45

2. alabastro                          4:21

3. galena                            12:19

4. turmalina                         6:53

5. jade                                   6:48

6. amatista                            5:28

 

                       total time:    43:35

 

recorded at the eremita de la anunciada, urueňa, spain

august 2007

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“”An ensemble of flute, accordion and percussion could raise expectations of rehashed folk music: but aren’t albums that trash instrumental archetypes great?  Accordionist Esteban Algora, flautist Alessandra Rombolá and percussionist Ingar Zach operate from Madrid and ...de las piedras is their canny negotiation between composed and improvised ideologies.

The title translates as ‘of the stones’ and the disc is prefaced with a poem by Pablo Neruda about the alchemy of transforming stones into music.  There is the literal symbolism of Rombolá switching between her flute and an installation of hanging tiles that lend a pebbly, granite quality.  Zach is credited specifically as playing percussion and  bass drum, and uses the latter to roll sonic boulders across the soundscape.   Algora’s accordion embraces a similar range: a fluid, watery treble is met with thunderous sounds from the bowels of the instrument.

The first sounds heard are isolated accordion pitches placed in counterpoint with Zach’s percussive rumbles, as Rombolá bows her tiles to produce a halo of harmonics.  The result is stratified like stone or rock formations, but with each voice also allowed freedom of movement.  Algora’s broken accordion figurations evolve into harmonic swells, as Zach morphs his fragmentary gestures into an erratic pulse.  If there is a connection with composed music, Xenakis’s stochastic principles and the ‘anarchic harmony’ that gave birth to Cage’s late number pieces both come to mind.  But the intensity of instrumental nuance, especially as the music begins to occupy ruder and more complex gestures, is the trademark obsession of the improviser.”                                                   -  Philip Clark,  The Wire

 

“Percussionist Ingar Zach met Spanish flautist Alessandra Rombolá and accordion player Esteban Algora when he moved to Madrid back in 2004. They began to play together as a trio a couple of years later.  The location for "…de las piedras" – a stone built church - was chosen partly because Rombolá's solo recording "Urueńa" was recorded there, and the church's acoustics play a crucial role in the music's development. Many of these sounds resemble chamber music; its insistence on pre-conceived ideas is equal in scope to its improvisational focus.  Algora and Rombolá stagger their sounds apart generously.  Each one plays off the other with perfect timing while keeping their options open to sounds that occur by pure chance.  To say these sounds are subtle would be an understatement of the year.  Each breath given off on the flute, each move of the accordion arms, each squeak on the percussion is not only perfectly executed but delicate by its very nature.  The reverberation of the church as the sounds bounce off its wall further propels the music along.  Gentle scrapes on the tiles installation that Rombolá produces leaves a directly vibrant sound in one’s ears. Much of this music possesses a strange, nearly alien quality about it.  The first few minutes are spent simply adjusting to the slow pacing.  As the minutes go by, one starts to appreciate this music simply for its discreet dexterity and its humble nature.  If more groups would take up this type of a challenge, the musical landscape would be a much better place.”

                                                                                                                         -    Tom Sekowski, Gaz-eta

 

 

“This Spanish-Norwegian trio made these recordings in a small stone church near Valladolid, and the ambience is beautiful.  With accordion, flutes and percussion, they make chamber improvisations full of nourishing content.  Sound, form and structure are combined in original ways, and the music acquires an attractive and edgy character.”

                                                                                                                        -   Arild Andersen, Aftenposten

 

“Zach begins with bowed cymbals, creating vibrating overtones around which Rombolá plays light or sometimes quite dark flute sounds, while the accordion buzzes, pumps and drones.  ‘Ambar’ and ‘alabastro’ are grounded in the acoustic of the performance space, while on ‘galena’  things come to an unexpected tumult.  ‘Turmalina’ confounds the listener’s expectations with strong, dramatic percussive work – Zach rattles and rampages while Rombolá plays tiles and Algora’s accordion groans and produces shrill glissandos.  ‘Jade’ brings us back to a more mysterious mood in which Zach lets his bass drum drone and gently roar while Rombolá scratches, scrapes or rubs her tiles.  And on ‘amatista’ finally Algora plays whirring and increasingly roaring tones which ultimately attain the volume of a pipe-organ and  drown out the sounds of his co-players.”

                                                                                          -   Rigobert Dittmann, Bad Alchemy

 

“At the beginning, Algora's accordion is often a bit up front for my taste but when things are turned down a notch or two, as on the ghostly "Alabastro", the trio shines. The ensuing "Galena", rife with ringing tones, is almost equally lovely for much of its length. The clatter mid-disc is quite effective (not sure if it's Rombola on "tiles installation" or the always enjoyable Zach) but the finale brings back the organ-y accordion to the fore....I'm interested in hearing more from these three.”                                                                                                            -  Brian Olewnick, Just Outside

 

“A more unusual line up is on ... De Las Piedras with Ingar Zach (percussion), Esteban Algora (accordion) and Alessandra Rombola (flutes and tiles installation). Here the improvisation is of course, like all releases on this label, the starting point, but the outcome is unlike that of the previous three.  Indeed careful playing, silence plays a part, but throughout it seems to me that these three are aiming at something else.  It seems that things are more planned here, with Algora's accordion at the centre playing Oliveros' like drone music, and the other two are more in a free role.  This trio stays more close to original improvisation but offers likewise strong, intense listening music... each of them has their own view on the subject of improvisation, thereby proving the endless possibilities are available within improvisation.”

                                                                                             - Frans de Waard, Vital Weekly

 

“In six improvisations Alessandro Rombolà, Esteban Algora and Ingar Zach explore compositions which they decorate at the same time; anguished pieces are softened and then laid out layer upon layer.  With a disturbing blend of varying tones, the trio draw together long passages and short urgent notes, resonances and secondary sounds, shocks created by quick gestures and quiet lyrical passages, all derived from the skills which have given us so much already.  Horizontal here and vertical there, their improvisations slip into the shadows and eventually pervade everything.”    

                                                                                                                        - Guillaume Belhomme, Le Son du Grisli

 

“The sound of stones is attractive for many people and there are artists – Stephan Micus comes to mind – who've built a sizeable portion of their fame and fortune upon it. In …de las piedras, flautist Alessandra Rombolá, besides gracing the improvisations with her facility on the main instrument, is also heard manoeuvring a "tiles installation" that contributes a relatively physical quality to several sections of an outing which, for its very nature, is possibly the closest thing to certain Pauline Oliveros' Deep Listening-related recordings that Another Timbre has published to date. Accordingly, the fact that Algora mainly offers dissonant swells of accordion bathed in the natural reverb of the Eremita de la Anunciata in Urueña (Spain) – a stone building, if you had any doubts – is not irrelevant to the overall mood, which maintains an aura of inscrutability and suspension across its six tracks. We're at a safe distance from celebrated models of "relaxing music", though; the harsh beating between divergent frequencies occurring throughout the marvellous "Galena" and Zach's earsplitting zings clashing with Algora's low-register moans and Rombolá's well-placed flute stabs represent an ideal display of the musicians' disinclination to abandon a fighting stance – but we're talking martial art rather than trading punches. This is seriously considered, finely executed on-the-spot composition in a truly consecrated environment.”    

                                                                                                                    -     Massimo Ricci.  ParisTransatlantic

               to read an interview with Ingar Zach click here

 

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