Alain Bancquart - Le Livre du Labyrinthe (2003)

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Alain Bancquart - Le Livre du Labyrinthe (2003)

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Alain Bancquart - Le Livre du Labyrinthe (2003)
Classical | EAC: FLAC+Cue+Log | 2 Cd, Covers | 536 Mb
Label: mode - Date: 2003

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Alain Bancquart - Le Livre du Labyrinthe (2003)

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French composer Alain Bancquart (b.1934) is one of the leading composers of microtonal music in Europe. Labyrinthe du Minotaur explores the myth of the Minotaur and the labyrinthe. This large scale piece constantly delves into microtonal and harmonic relationships together with a lyrical polyphony. It is based on texts by his wife, author Marie-Claire Bancquart. The unusual instrumental ensemble incorporates (in addition to the above musicians): pianos in quarter- and sixteenth-tones, electric guitar, 2 viola d'amore, harp, 2 percussionists, 5 cellos, and magnetic tape.

The ensemble is comprised of leading European performers including Pierre-Yves Artaud (flute), Pascal Gallois (bassoon), Carol Robinson (clarinet), vocal ensemble Voxnova, Martine Joste (piano), Gerard Pape (sound projection), Nicholas Isherwood (bass), and Roland Auzet (cymbalum), among others.

The recording is of the world première of the complete version, at Radio-France, May 27th 2000. Liner notes are by the composer and full texts in English and French are included.


Reviews:

Alain Bancquart
Le Livre du Labyrinthe (1995-2000)
Mode 120/121

A trusted friend hands you a strangely colored gemstone. It seems to glow from within - a thing from another solar system. This is what mode's release of Alain Bancquart's Le Livre du Labyrinthe is like. There are musicians on this two-disc set I would follow anywhere: Pierre-Yves Artaud (flute), Carol Robinson (clarinet), Pascal Gallois (bassoon), Nicholas Isherwood (voice), Martine Joste (piano), and Gerard Pape (electronics).

Bancquart's gigantic six-part opus resonates with alien textures and aching lines. Suffused with intricately hewn microtonal music, each movement, scored differently, can stand alone as a unique work. This recording captures the integral premiere. Taken sequentially, each tableau seems the most remote outpost, the next unveiling something stranger still. Occasional passages throb with B-movie queasiness, yet the peculiar scales and tones make perfect sense. Bancquart isn't some kid discovering how funky it is to play between the keys: He's a master, effortlessly devising unbelievable sonorities.

An instrumental Prologue sets the stage. Over an uneasy murk of two violas d'amore and one cello, clarinet and bassoon croon beseechingly like stranded whales. Arranged symmetrically in Le Livre du Labyrinthe's grand scheme, two movements set Marie-Claire Bancquart's poems: Icare for bass and five writhing cellos and Muertre, for vocal quartet and tape. Muertre clocks in at 34:11 as an ever-changing view. Constructed like a reluctant concerto, Labyrinthe / Miroir requires a solo piano tuned in quarter tones. Used sparingly, cymbalom and electric guitar circle in narrow tessituras. The subsequent Solitude du Minotaure demands two quarter-tone pianos and a third tuned in 16th tones. The pianos suggest bones rattling in catacombs. Muertre's tape part offers eerily processed speech. A few spoken words spill into the clarinet and cello Epilogue, and finally we return to the light. But changed. You'll be entranced and will return.
–- Grant Chu Covell, www.lafolia.com (online review)

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Alain Bancquart - Le Livre du Labyrinthe (2003)

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Alain Bancquart - Le Livre du Labyrinthe (2003)

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