Birds of a Feather

This pairing of pianist Sylvie Courvoisier and percussionist Mark Nauseef is an exploration of the percussive textures not only of sonant concepts, but of electronic ones as well. Courvoisier plays a prepared piano here that is amplified and treated by Nauseef. There is an interlude in five parts followed by a trio of suites, which are bordered by Valsettes and one more interlude. How the different sections interact with each other is by the exploration of durational space and what can be articulated within it, whether it be a note, a series of beats, a rhythm, a crash, or all of them together, solo or in exchange. Sonorities and timbral reaches are secondary concerns: the esthetic is literally filling the space of one moment, or measured silence top another. Instruments are not taxed so much as they are at first coaxed, and then forced into submission to the premise, which itself becomes poetically resistant in becoming a mirror to the performers in how often they will repeat themselves. That becomes the challenge of filling the space. Courvoisier and Nauseef succeed wildly by playing the strategy of exchange and coloration with each of their expressions, solo or in interaction. This is experimental music to be sure, egg-headed even, but it is nonetheless compelling and rewarding for anyone with the patience to listen.