Spaces Displaced
Clara Levy, Altered Forms Trio, Felix Henkelhausen's Deranged Particles
Clara Levy Plays Old and New Music in Berlin
Fall travels means this week’s newsletter is shorter than normal, but considering the length of last week’s installment perhaps that’s merciful. Alas, I won’t be in Berlin this weekend either, but there are quite a few worthwhile events happening before, during, and after my brief excursion to Amsterdam. I’m most disappointed by the fact that I’ll have to miss three different performances by the French violinist Clara Levy, a musician who has deftly developed pathways between early music and contemporary approaches, all of which will be on display during her visit.
On Friday night at St. Matthäus-Kirche Levy will perform as part of the ongoing Alte Musik Fest Friedenau, which has boldly made space for the violinist’s stunningly beautiful speculative project 13 Visions. She released an album of the same name in the fall of 2022 on the excellent Discreet Editions label run by Clara de Asís. I reviewed the recording for my contemporary music column on Bandcamp Daily back then:
This dazzling album from the French violinist Clara Levy draws out connections many listeners would never even consider. She hears and attempts to elucidate shared concerns in the work of Hildegard von Bingen and Pauline Oliveros, whose lives were separated by nine centuries. As she writes in the album notes, “This project was born from the desire to bring together music that particularly touches me (medieval monody and minimalist music), through the works of two composers who have had a great impact on my musical trajectory.” Levy uses the structure of Oliveros’s text score “Thirteen Changes,” replacing the composer’s whimsical images with specific sonic parameters. Pitch and choices about timbre are pre-determined, but most other decisions, such as duration and dynamics, are left to the performer.
Additionally, Levy assigned one of von Bingen’s chants to each movement, using pitch material from specific quotations for her own writing, noting that “the chants appear here as «negatives»: the violin, playing the role of the drone, proposes a sober harmonization of the chosen melodies.” The end result is stunning in its austere luster. On “Atomic Energy,” Levy traces out sorrowful melodic lines with exquisite patience and finely-grained voicings, while on “Solar Winds Scorching the Returning Comet’s Tail” there’s a pulsing, parched articulation of single bow stroke that scrapes out microtonal intervals. Each piece, including several that use voice, is markedly different, but the suite coheres beautifully into one of the most reflective listening experiences of the year.
Revisiting the album yields only greater pleasure and admiration and it helps inform Outre-Nuit, a long-running program Levy has been perfecting in recent years that sprinkles a few of her own works amid dynamic solo pieces by Giacinto Scelsi, Eva-Maria Houben, Kaija Saariaho, and Erika Vega. That music will be released later this month by Sub Rosa, and it’s a knockout, one of the most gripping string albums of the year. Levy will dip into some of that music when she plays a solo set on Sunday, October 13 at the Michelberger Hotel as part of Biliana Voutchkova’s annual Dara String Festival, with pieces by Saariaho and Vega. That same evening she’ll also participate in an homage to Phill Niblock with the entire cast of the festival—fellow violinist Voutchkova, cellist Judith Hamann, double bassist Vinicius Cajado, violist Atsuko Hatano, violinist Manja Ristić, and oudist Youmna Saba. For Saturday night’s program at KulturRaum Zwingli-Kirche she’ll reprise her hug duo with Voutchkova, playing a piece written for them as part of Através, a larger work by Merche Blasco. Below you can hear “Rollicking monkeys landing on Mars,” which despite its playful title is one of the most haunting pieces from 13 Visions.
Leipzig’s Altered Forms Trio Bring an Attractively Halting Drive to its Collective Attack
I only just heard the brand-new debut album from the Leipzig trio Altered Forms on the Boomslang label, but the recording’s mixture of free improv and post-bop machinations is very solid and inspired enough for me to recommend checking out the group when it plays Saturday, October 12 at Sowieso. The sole member of the group I was previously familiar with is double bassist Robert Lucaciu— a ubiquitous presence in the region with a muscular attack and warm, woody tone—but I’ve quickly been impressed by the rapport he’s forged with Scottish pianist Gregor Forbes and drummer Johannes von Buttlar since they began working together in 2019.
The music on the recording crackles with energy and elasticity, with the rhythm section bringing jagged propulsion to the splattery lines of Forbes. As you can hear below on the piece “Splinter Shot” the trio delivers an infectious bob-and-weave attack, with each musician simultaneously in alignment while also pushing against one another, generating a delicious tension. On some of the material, such as “Blue Greegs,” the pianist summons the more introspective side of Cecil Taylor, eschewing his explosive fury in favor of the more ruminative searching contained in his playing, Forbes will lay out a phrase or line, letting it hang pregnant in the air before making his next move, elaborating on the gesture or darting off in another direction. The febrile, chunky support from Lucaciu and von Buttlar allows the pianist to carve out space or unleash a contrary thrust. There are moments when the trio come together in a more conventional fashion, but the excitement in the music is shaped by a wonderful internal dissension.
Quick Hit
Also worth noting this week is the latest Jazzexzess concert at House of Music on Saturday, October 12, where the terrific bassist Felix Henkelhausen will present his latest effort as bandleader with a dynamic sextet he calls Deranged Particles. I wrote the liner note essay for the band’s recent eponymous debut album, with it’s mock Deutsche Grammophone logo, for the Fun in the Church imprint. The agile ensemble features trumpeter Percy Pursglove, tuned percussionist Evi Filippou, tenor saxophonist Philipp Gropper, keyboardist Elias Stemeseder, and drummer Philip Dornbusch navigating the bassist’s thorny, labyrinthine tunes, which bring a kind of sci-fi vision to the feverish interplay occuring within the arrangements. Below you can check out the herky-jerk “Yet to Be.” Derek Plays Eric, the gritty jazz-rock trio led by guitarist Andreas Willers with bassist Jan Roder and drummer Christian Marien shares the bill.
Recommended Shows in Berlin This Week
October 8: Nasim-e Shargh (Hossein Taghinejad, santur, James Wylie, kamancheh, gheychak, Roshanak Rafani, tombak, Bastian Duncker, ney), 7:30 PM, Jugend[widerstands]museum Galiläakirche, Rigaer Str. 9/10, 10247 Berlin
October 8: Camera Obscura, 8 PM, Franzz Club, Schönhauser Allee 36, Kulturbrauerei, 10435 Berlin
October 8: Erhard Hirt, guitar, electronics, Richard Scott, synthesizer, Klaus Kürvers, double bass, and Willi Kellers, percussion; Dietrich Petzhold, violin, tenor violin, bowed metal, and Klaus Kürvers, double bass, 8:30 PM, Kühlspot Social Club, Lehderstrasse 74-79, 13086 Berlin
October 8: Philipp Gropper’s Philm (Philipp Gropper, tenor saxophone, Elias Stemeseder, piano, synthesizer, Robert Landfermann, double bass, Leif Berger, drums), 8:30 PM, Jazz Club A-Trane, Bleibtreustraße 1, 10625 Berlin
October 9: Oren Ambarchi & Will Guthrie, 8:30 PM, Morphine Raum, Köpenicker Straße 147, 10997 Berlin (Hinterhof 1. Etage)
October 9: Cassie Kinoshi, alto saxophone, electronics, Nick Dunston, double bass, James Banner, double bass, and Bex Burch, percussion, electronics; Heidi Heidelberg, vocals, guitar, loops, Mauricio Velasierra, quenas, mozhenos, electronics, loops, and Beatdenker, synth guitar, sampler, 8:30 PM, KM28, Karl Marx Straße 28, 12043 Berlin
October 10: Harmonic Space Orchestra plays works by Elsie Hamilton, Yves Klein, and HSO, 8:30 PM, KM28, Karl Marx Straße 28, 12043 Berlin
October 10: Anna Clementi, voice, Luca Venetucci, accordion, and Michael Vorfeld, percussion, 8:30 PM, Kühlspot Social Club, Lehderstrasse 74-79, 13086 Berlin
October 11: Clara Levy plays 13 Visions, violin, 8 PM, St. Matthäus-Kirche,
Matthäikirchplatz, 10785 Berlin
October 11: Igor Lumpert & Innertextures (Igor Lumpert, tenor saxophone, Greg Ward, alto saxophone, Jeff Miles, guitar, Matheus Jardin, drums), 8:30 PM, Donau115, Donaustraße 115, 12043 Berlin
October 11: Lappetites (Antye Greie-Ripatti, vocals, electronics, Kaffe Matthews, electronics, and Ryoko Akama, electronics, ); İpek Odabaşı, CDJs, electronics,
and Ignaz Schick, turntables, sampler, electronics, 9 PM, Ausland, Lychener Str. 60, 10437 Berlin
October 12: Simon Shaheen Quintet, 7 PM, Pierre Boulez Saal, Französische Straße 33d, 10117 Berlin
October 12: Felix Henkelhausen’s Deranged Particles (Percy Pursglove, trumpet, Philipp Gropper, tenor saxophone, Evi Filippou, vibraphone, percussion, Elias Stemesder, piano, synthesizer, Felix Henkelhausen, double bass, Philip Dornbusch, drums); Derek Plays Eric (Andreas Willers, electric guitar, Jan Roder, electric bass, Christian Marien, drums), 8 PM, House of Music, Revalerstr. 99, 10245 Berlin
October 12: Dara String Festival (Biliana Voutchkova, violin, voice & Clara Levy violin; Atsuko Hatano, viola; Biliana Voutchkova & Judith Hamann, cello, plays Sarah Hennies; Manja Ristić, violin, electronics; Manja Ristić, Atsuko Hatano, Youmna Saba & Vinicius Cajado, improvisation), 7 PM, KulturRaum Zwingli-Kirche,
Rudolfstraße 14, 10245 Berlin
October 12: Death Songs (Stine Janvin, voice, electronics, and Morten Joh, percussion, synthesizers), 8 PM, Kuppelhalle, Silent Green, Gerichtstraße 35, 13347 Berlin
October 12: Altered Forms Trio (Gregor Forbes, piano, Robert Lucaciu, double bass, and Johannes von Buttlar, percussion), 8:30 PM, Sowieso, Weisestraße 24, 12049 Berlin
October 13: Neues Glück (Burkhard Beins, Luigi Marino, Michael Vorfeld, and Christian Wolfarth, percussion), 4 PM, Satellit, Weinstraße 11, 10249 Berlin
October 13: Dara String Festival (Clara Levy plays Kaija Saariaho and Erika Vega; Vinicius Cajado, double bass; Clara Levy, Biliana Voutchkova & Judith Hamann play Zeynep Toraman; all performers play “Drone for Phill 60”), 7 PM, Michelberger Hotel, Raum Underlook , Warschauer Str. 39, 10243 Berlin
Hey Peter, if it was you who was responsible for scheduling Erland Cooper, Freya Goldmark, Clarice Jensen and her ACME string colleagues at Constellation Chicago…danke!! It was a wonderful performance to see and hear.