Noël Akchote, Roland Auzet, Luc Ferrari

Impro-Micro-Acoustique is a meeting across generations and genre. Composer Luc Ferrari, one of the progenitors of musique concrete and a pioneer of electroacoustic music, has previously written scores for improvising musicians. (One of these, 'Tautologos 3' -- in an explosive 1970 performance by Konstantin Simonovitch's ensemble -- appears on an earlier Blue Chopsticks release.) But prior to Impro-Micro-Acoustique, Ferrari himself had never played the role of an improviser. Several years ago, Ferrari chanced to see the Parisian guitarist Noel Akchoté mistreating his instrument in his characteristic, inimitable manner. Ferrari was surprised to be reminded of musique concrete techniques -- especially by an instrumentalist, and outside of the studio. He referred to what he'd heard as 'new, real-time concrete.' Then he thought to take up improvisation. As regards sympathetic players, Akchoté was an obvious choice. Equally so was Roland Auzet, who had previously performed the demanding percussion part in Ferrari's Cellule 75. Impro-Micro-Acoustique presents Ferrari at the piano and utterly at home, utterly in-the-moment for this trio's first encounter. Improvisers generally opt for a documentary approach to recording. Stereo mics in a fixed position is par for the course. By contrast, Impro-Micro-Acoustique is a meticulously crafted assemblage of shifting sonic perspectives. It's a play of depths, in which individual attacks come abruptly and unpredictably to the fore. It's taut, edge-of-seat, aggressive interplay deployed within the wondrous frame -- and frames within frames -- of Ferrari's montage.