Lush colors
"...del color a la materia..." and "La Makina": Ensemble Batida has recorded two works by Argentine composer Martin Matalon.
Argentine composer and conductor Martin Matalon, born in 1958, studied and worked in the United States before settling in France, where he currently resides. His protean work includes film scores for Metropolis by Lang or for Buñuel's first three films, but also sound installations, musical theater and operas, musical tales, a ballet, scores for orchestra, vocal ensemble or chamber music, with or without electronics. Over 70 works, from which emerge two series of pieces with the generic names of Traces for one and Screen for the other. Matalon's love of percussion is evident in his masterful exploitation of its timbres, creating a veritable universe of sound with lush, warm colors.
From this composer, the dynamic and inventive Ensemble Batida (see interview in the RMS January 2017, page 21) offers two works for percussion, two pianos and electronics on a VDE-Gallo CD. ...del color a la materia... d'abord, a jubilant piece of music that combines brilliance and refinement, consists of a prologue, ten interludes and an epilogue - a 40-minute sequence of varied events, suggested atmospheres, surges, swarms and shimmers. Created by the Percussions de Strasbourg and the tragic pianist prodigy Christopher Falzone, this is a completely reworked version of the music written by Matalon to accompany the film screening. The Golden Age. With the composer's agreement, the performers arranged the piano part for the ensemble's two pianists. Shorter (23 minutes all the same), La MakinaThis four-part work alternates between eruptive, mysterious, playful and implacable moments, suggesting images as fluid as they are mineral, or the unleashing of mechanisms, automata, gears and cogs. The dynamic interpretation, the rhythmic precision, the quality and diversity of the attacks and articulation, the intelligence of the phrasing, the fusion, the finesse of the electronic treatment of timbres, the remarkable recording and mixing, the excellence of the instrumentarium: everything contributes to the exceptional success of this disc.
Martin Matalon monograph. Ensemble Batida: Alexandra Bellon, Anne Briset, Jeanne Larrouturou, percussion; Viva Sanchez Morand, Raphaël Krajka, pianos. Guest musicians: Elena Beder, Claire Defet, Fabien Perreau, percussion. VDE-Gallo CD-1496
