Label: Pyroclastic Records, 2023

Personnel - Sylvie Courvoisier: piano; Cory Smythe: piano.

This collaboration between Sylvie Courvoisier and Cory Smythe - two visionary pianists and improvisers - is a true knockout. A voyage of discovery that groups the challenging classical masterwork of Igor Stravinsky, The Rite of Spring (it was composed in 1913, based on Pagan myths), and Courvoisier’s lavish contemporary response to that work, titled Spectre D’un Songe. Brilliantly articulated, the immaculate four-hand pianism results in a vertiginous music that embraces bitonality with high-quality reinvention.

Stravinsky’s movements split into two spectacular parts - “The Adoration of the Earth” and “The Sacrifice” - the last of which being more restrained in tone but pivoting into a vigorous if cinematic interplay that is simultaneously precise and adventurous in its locomotions. The volatile first part departs from an initial motif to plunge into pedal-like grooves that sound like speedy trains, while other times it visually emulates a feather spinning in the air under a spring breeze. With each section conveying passion and mystery, this is a pleasantly surprising work that illustrates the full range and capabilities of Courvoisier and Smythe’s technique at the keyboard.

Clocking in at nearly half-an-hour, “Spectre d’un Songe” flows within an eerie atmosphere. Arpeggiated maneuvers create paradoxes of different magnitudes; patterned cascades of sound (including prepared piano) allow polyrhythmic probings engraved by sudden low-pitched strokes that wake us up from a hypnotic state of reverie; and profuse harmonic cycles invite free improvisation as well as rich timbres and undaunted intervals to linger on.

Both pianists know their roles in this progressive, symphonic opus, blending their elements to perfection. This is a deeply musical experience and a must-have album for both avant-garde and contemporary classical devotees.

Favorite Tracks:
01 - The Rite of Spring Part I: The Adoration of the Earth ► 03 - Spectre D’un Songe

Label: Pyroclastic records, 2018

Personnel - Cory Smythe: piano, autoharp, electronics; Daniel Lippel: detuned acoustic guitar, electronics; Sofia Jernberg: vocals.

Pianist Cory Smythe, an experimental visionary artist who has collaborated with Tyshawn Sorey, Ingrid Laubrock, and Peter Evans, releases his first album as a bandleader. For that purpose, he convenes the quirky guitarist Daniel Lippel, a bandmate in the International Contemporary Ensemble, and the groundbreaking vocalist Sofia Jernberg, a key member in Mats Gustafsson’s The End. Circulate Susanna, heavily inspired by the violent words of Stephen Forster’s “Oh, Susanna”, comprises a set of microtonal studies that convey perplexity and a touch of fear.

The extraordinary strangeness of Smythe’s formula prods and baits the listener, following bizarre circular trajectories that, pushing boundaries, feel uncomfortably dystopian.

Valid examples of what was described above are “Susanna Soil Flutter”, whose foreboding vibes communicate dissonantly with jagged chants in its piercing, wailing, and guttural forms; “Ladies Load the Telegraph” stealthily brings obscure undercurrents conjured up by rolled, birdlike vocalizations, low notes on the piano, and vehement guitar plucks and scratches; “Circulate Susanna”, whose angular pianism incites Jernberg to mutate her voice; and also “Heads Circulate to Mole”, in which guitar and piano synchronize in an odd way to establish another enigmatic soundscape.

“Circulate to Mole” offers detuned guitar bends, which serve as platforms for the clamorous, flickering vocal projection of the singer. If this piece openly embraces an oblique avant-country, then “Reverse Soil Flutter” ends up covered in dense layers of sound that bring forth a psych rock-inflected expressionism.

Among my favorite tracks are “Heads Gather The Stars” and “To Gather The Wind”. The former behaves like an unearthly operetta, running with tweaky, dreamlike intonations due to aerial guitar slides and gloomy piano; while the latter applies fragmented lyrics from “Strange Fruit”, earning chamber contours due to Lippel’s bowed guitar.

This spine-chilling opus reflects a chimeric ambiguity charged with phantasmagoria. It's terrifying, definitely risk-taking, and not like anything you’ve heard before. It might not get an immediate positive impact, though, due to its uncanny nature.

Favorite Tracks:

02 - Circulate to Mole ► 07 - Heads Gather The Stars ► 13 - To Gather The Wind