OCCAM Edition 4 has just been released! It includes very recent pieces from Éliane Radigue’s OCCAM OCEAN cycle: occam delta XIX, occam XXII, occam river XXII a co-production shiiin / ZKM
featuring Yannick Guédon – voice, Bertrand Gauguet – saxophone, Carol Robinson – birbyne and bass clarinet, Sebastien Schottke – sound engineer
This 6’ piece is a prelude for the larger 50/50 Woodstock project with ensembles Trio Polycordes / Sequenza 9.3 and composers Claude Barthelemy, Fabien Cali, Justina Repeckaïte and myself.
OCCAM HEXA V, the latest Radigue & Robinson co-signed work was premiered at the November Music – FAQ Festival in Den Bosch, Holland by the excellent Ensemble Klang. It was a beautiful experience exploring new timbres and ways of listening with these wonderful musicians.
Jürg Frey’s beautiful I listened to the Wind Again is now available from the Louth Contemporary Music Society https://www.louthcms.org
Hélène Fauchère – soprano, Carol Robinson – clarinet, Nathalie Chabot – violin, Garth Knox – viola, Agnès Vesterman – cello, Sylvain Lemêtre – percussion
“Frey’s quotation heavy text teases out phantom melodic accents from within the meticulous linearity and sends the music into the sublime.” Peter Margasak
Fairplay, a collective of creative female musicians, had the interesting idea of making an album of interactive compositions called INCLUSIVES. I was one of the principal composers and invited Violaine Lochu and Elise Dabrowski to join me on the project. They each added their own inspiration to my original composition, resulting in three new pieces.
https://fairplaynetwork.bandcamp.com/track/carol-robinson-back-into-the-gaping-again-ness
In 2019, Éliane Radigue was awarded the Giga-Hertz Prize from the ZKM in Karlsruhe. In 2021, after numerous covid-related cancellations, Bertrand Gauguet, Yannick Guédon and I were able to return to ZKM and record several recent pieces from OCCAM OCEAN. The CD with OCCAM XXII, OCCAM RIVER XXII and OCCAM DELTA XIX will be released on shiiin in September.
One of the only countries in Europe allowing concerts last spring was Luxembourg. Hélène Breschand, Louis-Michel Marion and I had the great pleasure of performing works by Éliane Radigue, as part of Leonor Antunes’ installation “joints, voids and gaps” at the extraordinary MUDAM. Strict health regulations lead to the invention of a very stylish mask that allowed me to play the bass clarinet!
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kZS-JJluM_M
https://www.mudam.com/fr/expositions/vides-intervalles-et-jonctions
Though concert halls were silent last winter, recording studios were filled with sound. Christophe Hauser (sound engineer), Jeff Cohen (recording advisor), Hélène Fauchère Brohier (soprano), Nathalie Chabot (violin), Garth Knox (viola), Agnès Vesterman (cello), Sylvain Lemetre (percussion) and I (Bb clarinet) had the good fortune to record I listened to the Wind Again by the Swiss composer Jürg Frey. This most beautiful piece was commissioned by the Louth Contemporary Music Society and premiered in Dundalk, Ireland. It will be released by LCMS in October.
The first covid lockdown seemed like an incredibly uncreative time. Aside from improvising, I only wanted to play music by Telemann. Months later, I realized that something lovely had emerged from that suspended period, namely three pieces for bass clarinet with live electronics and electric guitar. Effluves (d’avril), Dédales (d’intérieur), Heurts (et perils). Thanks to the Musique Action Festival in Vandoeuvres-les-Nancy, Serge Teyssot-Gay and I were able to premiere the pieces in September.
How wonderful when a new piece comes to life. FOREST GAZING, for birbyne and string quartet was commissioned by Radio France. It was recorded by the excellent Quatuor Impact and myself for Anne Montaron’s show Création Mondiale, and will be broadcast once the coronavirus quarantine is over.
