Last Sunday at 5 in the afternoon, the improvising duo of Deidre Murray and Fred Hopkins, using the unusual instrumentation of cello and bass, opened their concert by scratching high, dry noises out of keeping with their low, sonorous instruments.
They soon loped into a lesser-known John Coltrane composition where, without benefit of the drums, piano, or horn that might usually inhabit the tune, they explored at length the options and limitations of their format.
There are few places where such music might be considered
”conservative.” But in the small Quebec town of Victoriaville-after several days packed with New Music performances that included intense large ensembles, theatrical drummers and an electro-acoustic octet that performed from photographs rather than manuscript-the Murray/Hopkins Duo sounded almost quaint.
Victoriaville hosts the annual International Festival Musique Actuelle, which concluded its 10th year Monday: two dozen concerts, over four-and-a-half days, featuring some of the wildest sounds imaginable.
Some came from much anticipated sources, such as the trio led by the
(formerly East) German trombone wizard Konrad Bauer, which displayed both his and bassist Peter Kowald`s facility with multiphonics (the acoustical manipulation of their instruments to create startling musical effects, such as chords on the trombone).
Conversely, the ensemble led by the Dutch bassist Maarten Altena uses relatively little improvisation; instead, his concert concentrated on his compositional ethos, which brightly explores such elements as rhythm and timbre without forgetting the music`s flow.
And some of the most impressive sounds came from musicians far less known on the world stage, as in the festival`s opening concert by the septet led by Quebec saxophonist Jean Derome.
Making its world premiere, this group proved as noteworthy for Derome`s aggressive ensemble textures as for his passionate solos, which mixed a French romanticism with screeching high tones beyond his instrument`s traditional range.
Of course, at Victoriaville, such ”non-traditional” sounds are in fact the norm.
New Music, avant-garde, free improvisation: these labels not only scare off most listeners, but also fail to encompass the range of music included at Victoriaville.
If anything were to link these concerts, which included a slew of world and North American premieres, it might be the emphasis on sonic research: the continuing effort to wring new sounds and textures from individual instruments and larger groups.
But the true overarching factor is the taste of Michel Lavasseur, the founder and programmer of the Victoriaville festival.
In fact, the ”musique actuelle” found in the name of his festival seems to have no translation in English, or for that matter in French.
”Musique actuelle” is simply the music Lavasseur books for the Festival Musique Actuelle, and it ranges from the exquisite Swiss drums/saxophone duo of Fritz Hauser and Urs Leimgruber to the Victoriaville Fest`s version of a bar band: Lars Hollmer`s Looping Home Orchestra, with a repertoire derived from wryly modernized Swedish folk melodies.
As personal as it may be, Lavasseur`s lineup has attracted a steady flow of fans devoted to cutting-edge music.
This year`s event produced sales of more than 6,000 tickets-although hardly that many people, since most listeners come for several days and attend multiple concerts. Because of this, the festival itself has gained an almost collegial atmosphere: fest-goers mingle while walking between venues for the next concert, comparing notes and cramming information for their next class in applied musical theory.
And with little else to do in this town of less than 30,000, some two hours from Montreal, the musicians generally prove open to post-concert and morning-after discussion.
Because of the preponderance of new projects at Victoriaville, one can count on several projects of mixed success.
The established new-music composer and guitarist Fred Frith premiered several pieces played from graphic scores: photographs of stones, woodpiles, etc., manipulated to provide a map for the unfolding compositions improvised by his ensemble.
The process, intriguing in principle, proved intermittently successful, by turns brutally exciting and incoherently dense.
The following day, a bass/percussion duo of Barre Phillips and Alain Joule quickly became an exercise in long-winded head-scratching.
And guitarist/composer Elliott Sharp delved into the use of musical noise as a primary element with his Carbon Orchestra, in which the heavily amplified string section piled sound upon sound in a loud and lengthy piece, ”Abstract Repressionism 1990-99,” composed of 25 interlocking ”events.”
But the festival`s highlights remain more vivid, among them the duo presented by Frith (on guitar and related electronics) and his octet`s drummer, the flamboyant Dutchman Han Bennink, visually irresistible as well as musically forceful.
The quartet led by Chicago native Anthony Braxton, featuring pianist Marilyn Crispell, proved a testament to the hard-won integrity of Braxton`s music: despite a flu-ridden drummer and an initially faulty saxophone, this veteran ensemble was able to construct stretches of peerless clarity.
Two days worth of highlights came courtesy of the London Jazz Composers Orchestra, which traveled from its concerts in the Chicago area to
Victoriaville, where it wrapped up the first North American tour of its 22-year history.
Under the direction of Barry Guy, one of the band`s two bassists, the LJCO has been described as an all-star collection of soloists who are prominently featured in innovative musical structures.
But that could as easily describe chunks of Duke Ellington`s music, while giving no indication of the avant-garde nature of the solos themselves.
These solos routinely use out-of-tempo flights, non-linear development, and what is known as ”extended technique,” by which instrumentalists use radical sounds, some of which qualify as musical noise, that have challenged and helped change earlier concepts of improvisation.
And even that fails to address the way in which Guy groups the LJCO`s soloists, pulling duos and trios out of the ensemble as if they were brilliant details from the larger canvas.
Their two performances, comprising four of their symphonic-length pieces, fully exhilarated the Victoriaville audience.
As Guy had stated in a mid-morning press conference, ”There are no passengers on this band”-the commitment required insures that no one comes along just for the ride.
His comment might just as well describe the allegiance among audiences at this ear-opening event, the future of which is somewhat cloudy. Lavasseur plans to skip next autumn`s festival and return in the spring of 1994, perhaps in another site.
Things should be even wilder by then.
(For those interested in hearing the music for themselves, the festival`s own record label, Victo, also features recordings by Braxton, Crispell, Frith, the Murray/Hopkins Duo, and Sharp. Write Les Disques Victo, C.P. 460, Victoriaville, Quebec, Canada, G6P 6T3. A new duo release by Jean Derome is also available from D.A.M.E., C.P. 263, Succ. ”E,” Montreal, Quebec, Canada, H2T 3A7.)
