[nodar002]
Sonata for clarinet & nodar
Jez riley French (field recording / composition)
Joana Silva (clarinet)
Luis Costa (field recording)
An intuitive composition created by Jez riley French with Luis Costa (coordinator of the Nodar Artist Residency Centre) & the Nodar landscape itself & the young clarinetist Joana Silva. Joana literally deconstructs the piece ‘Solo de Concours’ composed in 1901 by Henri Rabaud whilst walking through water, wind, snakes, dogs, brush cutters, & aircraft crossing the sky overhead on the way to fight bush fires. Rabaud, a composer who labeled himself as conservative often was known to say ‘Modernity is the enemy’ and this expression gained an unexpected acuity with the profusion of new noises in the ancestral landscape of Nodar during the recording of the piece.
Having given Joana some minimal ideas for how she should approach the journey through the landscape & the music, none of us expected that she would spend over 2 hours slowly walking & exploring small sections of Rabaud’s piece. It is the simplicity of the idea for this piece combined with the openness & focus of Joana’s playing that made the day so memorable.
Thanks to Carina Martins & João Rodrigues for documenting the day
Photographs & design by JrF
p&c by the artists 2010
engraved glass egcd035 / edições nodar nodar002