Kalle Moberg / Mat Maneri / Ingebrigt Håker Flaten

Christophe Monniot & Didier Ithursarry

Hymnes à l’Amour – deuxième chance

émouvance emv 1044

Traditional and non-tradition duo-improvising here features the instrumental that’s probably the butt of more musician jokes than any other. That of course is the accordion. But while Hymnes à l’Amour featuring Basque accordionist Didier Ithursarry and French saxophonist Christophe Monniot who have played with Alban Darche and the ONJ is as advertised a patient but fluid re-working of sympathetic tremolo timbres, the Wordless Voices are expressed with microtonal improvisations from Norwegian accordionist Kalle Moberg who works with Paal Nilssen-Love and American violist Mat Maneri a frequent partners of Joëlle Léandre. Plus the latter duo ups the ante during the final track by working with the bass of Norwegian Ingebrigt Håker Flaten.

Composing flexible originals that resemble the fluidity of Belle Époque café airs and Balkan-styled rhythmic dances, Monniot and Ithursarry have it both ways. While the melodies are for the most part resolutely tonic, space exists for reed shrills and tongue fluttering plus thick, tremolo bellows-elaborations. While the expositions can be as airy as “East Side”, saxophone flutters and double-timed key bounces are interjected at breakneck speed without upsetting the broken-octave narrative. Only during the concluding “Une Dernière Danse” do the sounds become more angular and mottled. An extended drone from the squeeze box coupled with strained reed split tones set up intersection between calming continuum and stinging sliding and slurring variables,. Projecting a subtle underlying swing the duo strolls through the eight tracks with clearly pitched harmonies. Sounds may resemble those from a 1950s Paris bistro, but sophisticated timbral asides are always there alongside the charming and jocular music.

Pursuing an antithetical program, Maneri and Moberg spend the first three tracks working out reductionist formulas based on splintered or swelling accordion vibrations and stopped and sul tasto string grinds. Through dual-connected through broken chord elaborations on a track like “Furtive Song”, the accordionist’s pennywhistle-like elevated pitches and affiliated smears extend the instrument’s packed swills further and further, even as they join with viola scrapes to pulsate to defining slender pitches. There’s nothing furtive about the nearly 29-minute final “Trialogue”. Håker Flaten’s authoritative thumps and stops create a solid underpinning for the duo’s slippery and sizzling microtonal examinations. Despite the fiddler sprinkling sharp spicatto barbs among the accordionist’s concentrated seques and pressure, glimpses of a chromatic melody peer through these explorations. With the double bass sometimes cushioning Moberg’s tone pushing or Maneri’s spiccato rubs, the three finally reach a dynamic climax with simultaneous triple, outflows.

In spite of the many cruel gags accordions can still be part of serious and satisfying music as these session prove. Your choice here is between near-traditional or more experimental sounds.

–Ken Waxman

Track Listing: Hymnes: 1. Vetcherai Rado 2. Dede 3. East Side 4. Lilia 5. 5–Pierre Qui Vole 6. Banako 7.Olàh là! 8. Une Dernière Danse

Personnel: Hymnes: Christophe Monniot (alto and sopranino saxophones) and Didier Ithursarry (accordion)

Track Listing: Wordless: 1. Wordless Voices 2. Sweet Syllables 3. Furtive Song 4. Trialogue*

Personnel: Wordless: Kalle Moberg (accordion); Mat Maneri (viola) and Ingebrigt Håker Flaten (bass)*