|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
LP
|
|
SR 457LP
|
Sylvain Chauveau on Pianisme: "Piano always had a central role in my discography and this selection of short pieces showcases what might be my musical signature: quietness, slow pace, long resonances, a close as possible to silence. Music to be played at night."
Pianisme is a collection of unreleased and out-of-print piano works composed and recorded since 2004. Most of them are part of soundtracks for feature films by French director Sébastien Betbeder (from 2007's Nuage and the very rare short film Nu Devant Un Fantôme, whose music was completely unpublished until now). Also released for the first time: "In The Twilight Of Paris" (written the day after Luc Ferrari's death, as a quiet homage to a composer whose works have often been part of the Sub Rosa catalog) and "Soñando", straight repetition and variations on a minimal pattern, created for choreographer Christian Rizzo's 2010 show L'Oubli, toucher du bois. Performers include Sylvain Chauveau, Pierre-Yves Macé, Olivier Lageyre, and Rasim Biyikli.
|
|
|
Artist |
Title |
Format |
Label |
Catalog # |
|
|
CD
|
|
SR 447CD
|
All pieces of the Renaissance Repertoire come from Cancionero de Colombina (around 1470) or Cancionero de Palacio (around 1510). Both sources are well known for their typical Spanish repertoire of this period. Electronic music artist Sylvain Chauveau did new versions of several tracks and added also some drones to the program. Daniel Manhart did the compilation and the additional sound design and mixing. All pieces on this CD are hardly ever performed or recorded -- a fine, sensitive, interesting crossover between early music and contemporary electronic music with a repertoire mostly unknown. Sylvain Chauveau has made solo records on labels such as FatCat, Type, Les Disques du Soleil et de l'Acier, and Brocoli: very minimal compositions for acoustic instruments, electronics, and vocals. His music has been played in John Peel's show on the BBC and reviewed in The Wire, Pitchfork, Mojo, Les Inrockuptibles, Libération, The Washington Post, and many others. One of his tracks was published on the compilation XVI Reflections on Classical Music (2009) alongside pieces by Philip Glass, Gavin Bryars, and Ryuichi Sakamoto. He has played live around the world (Europe, America, Asia), performed in museums and art galleries, and was artist in residence at the Villa Kujoyama (Kyoto, 2011), Fundacao Serralves (Porto, 2011), and Lieu Unique (Nantes, 2004 and 2014). Chant 1450 Renaissance Ensemble sings and plays the sacred and secular repertoire of the 15th and 16th century. Including musicians trained at the widely renowned college for early music Schola cantorum in Basel, Switzerland, chant 1450 appeared live in January 2005 and then sang for a highly acclaimed first tour in Switzerland with La contenance angloise -- sacred music of the 15th century, followed by more than 150 live performances in Germany, Italy, Czech Republic, and Switzerland until today. Chant 1450 was invited to major festivals like the Rheingau Festival (Germany), the Montalbâne Festival (Germany), Festival for Early Music Zurich, and many more. Artistic Director and responsible for all programs and recordings, including sound design, is Daniel Manhart, a tenor born in Switzerland. CD comes in a digipack and includes a 12-page booklet.
|
|
|
Artist |
Title |
Format |
Label |
Catalog # |
|
|
CD
|
|
TYPE 057CD
|
It is hard to believe that five years have passed since French composer Sylvain Chauveau's last "proper" album. Of course, there have been re-issues peppering the years since Down To The Bone, as well as more than a few collaborations and soundtrack appearances, but Sylvain has purposefully waited to allow his ideas to come to fruition. The Depeche Mode songs he had explored on Down To The Bone had given him ideas he felt he needed to explore, and Singular Forms (Sometimes Repeated) is his attempt at an album of "songs." In many ways, this album is constructed the way albums used to be -- it is compact and filled with vocal hooks and melodies, yet Sylvain has deconstructed the musical forms he grew up listening to and reduced them to their base level. Vocal snippets fall through the stereo field and his signature piano motifs splutter and cough through processed digital hiccups. As Carsten Nicolai and Ryuichi Sakamoto deconstructed classical music, Sylvain attempts here to study and dissolve the roots of popular music. Each piece feels like it could have started as a 3-minute pop sing-along before the accompaniments were stripped away and the component parts reduced to merely a backbone. Singular Forms (Sometimes Repeated) is a daring and challenging listening experience. The widescreen theatrics of Sylvain's previous work have all but disappeared, leaving an album that is stark and incredibly beautiful. It is an album rooted in a love of art and music, both minimal and mainstream and celebrates Sylvain's influences. One listen might only reveal surface details, but listen again and you will find much, much more.
|
|
|
Artist |
Title |
Format |
Label |
Catalog # |
|
|
LP
|
|
TYPE 057LP
|
LP version. It is hard to believe that five years have passed since French composer Sylvain Chauveau's last "proper" album. Of course, there have been re-issues peppering the years since Down To The Bone, as well as more than a few collaborations and soundtrack appearances, but Sylvain has purposefully waited to allow his ideas to come to fruition. The Depeche Mode songs he had explored on Down To The Bone had given him ideas he felt he needed to explore, and Singular Forms (Sometimes Repeated) is his attempt at an album of "songs." In many ways, this album is constructed the way albums used to be -- it is compact and filled with vocal hooks and melodies, yet Sylvain has deconstructed the musical forms he grew up listening to and reduced them to their base level. Vocal snippets fall through the stereo field and his signature piano motifs splutter and cough through processed digital hiccups. As Carsten Nicolai and Ryuichi Sakamoto deconstructed classical music, Sylvain attempts here to study and dissolve the roots of popular music. Each piece feels like it could have started as a 3-minute pop sing-along before the accompaniments were stripped away and the component parts reduced to merely a backbone. Singular Forms (Sometimes Repeated) is a daring and challenging listening experience. The widescreen theatrics of Sylvain's previous work have all but disappeared, leaving an album that is stark and incredibly beautiful. It is an album rooted in a love of art and music, both minimal and mainstream and celebrates Sylvain's influences. One listen might only reveal surface details, but listen again and you will find much, much more.
|
|
|
Artist |
Title |
Format |
Label |
Catalog # |
|
|
CD
|
|
TYPE 025CD
|
Originally released in 2000, Le Livre Noir Du Capitalisme was the first album from French composer Sylvain Chauveau. Now in 2008, it has been remastered and repackaged for Type Records, translated into the English The Black Book of Capitalism. This record was the first the world had heard from Sylvain, a musician who had been rooted in post-rock before realizing that he could do a lot more with the instruments around him. On The Black Book of Capitalism, we hear a rare playful side to the composer as he flirts with Gallic classical music, electronica, jazz, and even indie rock. The variety splintered into various side-projects as Sylvain moved on in the music scene, but here we get a sense of confident experimentation without a hint of cliché. Sylvain's sound would go on to influence a host of other artists and kick off an entire sub-genre of modern classical music, but strangely enough, this debut album has been out of press for some time. Now remastered by Dubplates and Mastering in Berlin and on vinyl for the first time ever, it sounds more relevant and timeless than it ever has. Beginning with a cloud of smoky ambience, piano, strings and the atmospheric field recordings that frame the record, we are dragged into Sylvain's noir-esque world. This sets the scene for the entire album which drifts through the kind of piano-led classical vignettes popularized by Max Richter and more recently Goldmund, yet punctuates these with doomy jazz and lighter pieces such as the guitar-led "Dialogues Avec Le Vent." The result is a beguiling collection of pieces which show an incredibly inventive mind at work, a mind refusing to be held to one specific style, or even time.
|
|
|
Artist |
Title |
Format |
Label |
Catalog # |
|
|
CD
|
|
TYPE 030CD
|
This is the long-awaited sixth release for French composer and electro-acoustic producer, Sylvain Chauveau, and his first release for the Type label. Since his 2000 debut Le Livre Noir Du Capitalisme, Chauveau has been a pioneering figure in the world of modern classical/electronic music. This status has seen him inhabit the same creative space as Max Richter, Jóhann Jóhannsson and Ryan Teague, and Type welcomes him to their label and community, beginning with the issue of this brand new mini-album. S. sees Chauveau taking a daring new direction since his last record, moving away from the haunting strings and piano work of his best known works and temporarily stepping into the world of minimal electroacoustics, using the guitar as a focal point. The first track, "Composition 8," probably best illustrates this move with its expertly processed prepared guitar drones, layered together to create a menacing piece of bass-heavy ambience and growling doom, perhaps even comparable to experimental metal pioneers, Earth at their most esoteric. This piece is expertly balanced, however, against the second track, simply titled "P.," in which Chauveau returns momentarily to caressing the ivories, but using the notes (and the space between the notes) to dictate something far more minimal and far more related to the brooding drone of the opening piece. Elsewhere we hear Chauveau's take on glacial digital minimalism with the epic electronic piece "E/R" and more delicate piano experimentations before we are brought to a satisfying and subtle close with the gritty, slow-burning ambience of "A_." All in all, this is possibly the most thoughtful and unusual selection of tracks Chauveau has ever set his name to: give them time and they are sure to reveal their immense depths. Last copies, now deleted.
|
|
|
|