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1.
Hesiod 17:50
2.
Hyginus 20:16
3.
Orphic Hymns 11:00

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Recorded by Carlos Santos on February 29th 2016 at Panteão Nacional, Lisbon.
Illustrations by Carla Carbone.
Mix, master & graphic design by Carlos Santos.
Production by Ernesto Rodrigues.
Out on Creative Sources Rec.

REVIEWS

Aether opens on frail strings that barely have enough mass to register as sounds. From Monsieur Trinité’s small percussion you begin to get a sense of the open space of the Panteão Nacional, which was formerly a 17th century Baroque church. It’s the same venue that lent the almost psychedelic blurring of sound to previous records like VGO’s Lulu Auf dem Berg and IKB’s Rhinocerus. As “Hesiod” progresses, the strings thicken in tone, Guilherme’s deep pizzicato plucks resounding like notes tossed down a well.
The word “aether” makes me think of something unsettled by the most delicate of touches, set into motion at the slightest provocation, the sense of some disturbed field of energy that a musician is certainly aware of when playing in a massively reverberant space. Ernesto has talked of his interest in site-specific playing, acknowledging the importance of the performance space in shaping music. There are a few moments in “Hyginus” where single viola notes are allowed to fully decay, laying bare the enormous natural reverb in the Pantheon. At one point, the Rodrigues scrape the hairs of their bows along the instruments’ wooden edges, a sound so sharp it sounds like splintering wood, a tree crashing down in the forest. Notes return like boomerangs. But no matter the strength of the attack, each gesture is ultimately engulfed by the Pantheon, slowly stretched and smeared in a sonic environment that effaces all sounds, pulling them into gossamer threads of silence. Dan Sorrells (The Free Jazz Collective)

Il convient de souligner la pertinence et le renouvellement subtil du travail improvisé et expérimental du violoniste alto Ernesto Rodrigues et de son fils Guilhermo. Dans Aether, ils sont rejoints par le percussionniste Monsieur Trinité, pseudo d’un des potes les plus enthousiastes de la scène improvisée. Usant de percussions quasi miniatures et un brin de réverbération, il introduit une dimension ludique dans l’univers « sérieux » et épuré des Rodrigues. La musique évolue par signaux, lignes, frottements, courbes, harmoniques, sursauts, notes tenues, textures qui s’enchaînent et se contrastent avec clarté et précision tout en demeurant mystérieuse. Trois pièces, Hesiod, Hyginus, et Orphic Hymns, qui s’étendent dans la durée sans que celle–ci se fasse sentir. La première de 17:49 s’interrompt après un court silence et m’a semblé durer cinq minutes. Dans Hyginus, une mélodie grave et lente est jouée par le violoncelle en introduction avant que les archets sollicitent notes répétées et harmonique sans pulsation marquée. Commenté par les sons infimes du percussionniste, grelots en bois, baguettes minuscules et râcloir microscopique, le jeu en miroirs décalés des deux cordistes se développe dans une connivence totale comme si chacun exécutait des éléments d’une partition écrite pour un seul instrument. La dynamique est leur principal souci. On croit connaître la démarche épurée, voire hiératique, des Rodrigues, mais chaque enregistrement apporte un nouveau point de vue. Conscient de leur valeur et dans l’urgence de documenter leur parcours récent, ils se commettent moins avec des improvisateurs de passage comme par le passé, et focalisent leur travail avec des musiciens qui s’intègrent le mieux à leurs desseins. Si leur démarche semble restrictive et minimaliste, ils ont la capacité d’en étendre la force expressive vers des formes nouvelles grâce à une très grande musicalité en s’adaptant à leurs partenaires. Cette deuxième pièce aboutit un moment à des grattements minutieux d’archet sur la surface de l’instrument et aux bruissements frottés de Monsieur Trinité, pour revenir aux jeux d’archet en écho alto violoncelle. Le cheminement est complexe et toujours cohérent. Il est impossible de déterminer s’il s’agit d’une improvisation totale ou d’une quelconque partition. Un délice pour l’écoute. Jean-Michel van Schouwburg (Orynx)

Another recent recording (although chronologically, it should have been mentioned in my previous Creative Sources roundup) is Aether by Rodrigues & Rodrigues with Monsieur Trinité — the latter, if I understand correctly, from Martinique. He plays "small percussion," a little pyramid of cymbals basically, and once again I must confess to having visited Youtube (owned by predatory ad-empire Google), in this case in response to the newer Creative Sources album Saigón by Equinox Quartet. Although the latter seemed too "inside" for me, I was intrigued by Monsieur Trinité, and so wondered what he had done with the Rodrigueses. Aether is rather minimalist, and kind of a strange album. It seems kind of random too, but I guess that's half the fun. 26 October 2016. Todd McComb's Jazz Thoughts

Strings and small percussion imbue this darkly beautiful set of extended improvisations from the Portugese trio of Ernesto Rodrigues on viola, Guilherme Rodrigues on cello, and Monsieur Trinite on small percussion; creative richly open soundscapes with intriguing interventions. (Squidco)

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released August 31, 2018

Aether

Ernesto Rodrigues - viola
Guilherme Rodrigues - cello
Monsieur Trinité - small percussion

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Guilherme Rodrigues Berlin, Germany

Guilherme Rodrigues is a cellist, improviser and composer from Lisboa, Portugal.
He was born in 1988 in Lisboa and started to learn cello and trumpet when he was seven at Orquestra Metropolitana de Lisboa and later in Conservatório Nacional de Música de Lisboa to study classical and music theory until his twenty-three. With an intuitive approach to improvisation and exploration of the timbres... ... more

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