artist: LUIGI TURRA
title: Ki
catalog number: and/37
release year: 2011
format: CD x 3
status: available
title: Ki
catalog number: and/37
release year: 2011
format: CD x 3
status: available
and/OAR is extremely pleased to present KI - a mysterious three part work that
spans the length of three CDs.
KI 1: ENSO 48:00
KI 2: ANCIENT SILENCE 45:00
KI 3: SHASEKISHU 45:00
Luigi Turra: various instruments, objects and field recordings.
A first version of ENSO was originally released by Small Voices in 2007, but the
release suffered from peak-volume distortion due to being mastered too loud, plus
the use of compression altered the sound of the work. Here, it is free from distortion
and compression. ANCIENT SILENCE was originally self-released as a limited
edition CDR EP in 2007. Presented here for the first time is the full length version.
SHASEKISHU is a previously unreleased third part of the KI trilogy.
KI traverses and transcends dimensions of time and space, so all notions of past,
present and future defy linear logic. Ephemeral occurrences turn into frozen
memories suspended in the air like clouds of dust in sunlight. An epic and
outstanding example of reductionist sound cinema. A truly visionary work.
Luigi Turra is a musique concrète composer and graphic designer whose main
interest is in the aural balance between silence and tactile perception of sound.
Apart from and/OAR, Turra's work has also been published by Trente Oiseaux, Non
Visual Objects, White_Line Editions, Dragon's Eye Recordings, Unfathomless,
Nitkie, mAtter, Koyuki and Small Voices among others.
Packaged in a 6 panel wallet with a middle tube pocket (containing CD #2).
spans the length of three CDs.
KI 1: ENSO 48:00
KI 2: ANCIENT SILENCE 45:00
KI 3: SHASEKISHU 45:00
Luigi Turra: various instruments, objects and field recordings.
A first version of ENSO was originally released by Small Voices in 2007, but the
release suffered from peak-volume distortion due to being mastered too loud, plus
the use of compression altered the sound of the work. Here, it is free from distortion
and compression. ANCIENT SILENCE was originally self-released as a limited
edition CDR EP in 2007. Presented here for the first time is the full length version.
SHASEKISHU is a previously unreleased third part of the KI trilogy.
KI traverses and transcends dimensions of time and space, so all notions of past,
present and future defy linear logic. Ephemeral occurrences turn into frozen
memories suspended in the air like clouds of dust in sunlight. An epic and
outstanding example of reductionist sound cinema. A truly visionary work.
Luigi Turra is a musique concrète composer and graphic designer whose main
interest is in the aural balance between silence and tactile perception of sound.
Apart from and/OAR, Turra's work has also been published by Trente Oiseaux, Non
Visual Objects, White_Line Editions, Dragon's Eye Recordings, Unfathomless,
Nitkie, mAtter, Koyuki and Small Voices among others.
Packaged in a 6 panel wallet with a middle tube pocket (containing CD #2).
SCRAPYARD FORECAST (AUGUST 2011)
Two very stunning releases to get to today from Dale Lloyd's impressive and/OAR
and either/OAR labels (OAR = Overheard And Rendered). The central branch of
Lloyd's label is the and/OAR division, which focuses mainly on works that
incorporate environmental sounds with an avant-garde awareness.
Luigi Turra fits nicely into the and/OAR model as there is much here that aligns
with the environmental, and certainly also the avant-garde. I first became aware of
Turra's work through his captivating – though blandly titled – Tactile.Surface CD,
a collaboration with like-minded artist Christopher McFall. On Ki, we get to see
what Turra can do on his own, and there is plenty of material to do that with, the
album spanning three discs and clocking in at nearly 2½ hours.
The opening disc, Enso, which was originally released in 2007 on the Small
Voices label (though was apparently mastered too loudly) immediately brings
Organum's Vacant Lights to mind, with its indiscernible tactile movements, like
footsteps and the scurrying of rats; a flute playing alongside. Unlike David
Jackman and the crew he assembled that day for the Vacant Lights sessions, Turra
brings in other instruments to accompany the objects he records with. The
methodical plucks of a stringed instrument – possibly a guitar, maybe something
more exotic – can be heard in the latter half of Enso 1, along with percussion,
played more texturally than as a back beat, and what is probably a myriad of bowls
and bells. Turra weaves field recordings into this expansive composition, and
ultimately evokes a sort of languid – although precisely calculated – dance with
his sounds, the third movement being particularly nice.
Disc two, Ancient Silence, picks up in similar vein to how Enso left off, though is
more psychologically jarring in scope. The sound of chimes penetrating through a
blackened ambience around the 10 minute mark are a stand out, eventually
giving way to sounds of metal being bowed, along with more of the
aforementioned tactility and flute playing. This section of the trilogy is a much
darker affair than its predecessor, though still keeping in form with the bigger
picture. On Shasekishu, the closer, Turra takes a magnifying glass to many of the
background elements of the first discs and moves them to the fore. The piece
creaks, fizzes, and clicks and pops as a gentle stream, a flicker of a fire here and a
rattle of a vent or strike of a bell there; also some occult chanting and pipe
recordings not dissimilar to the pressurized drones produced by Jim Haynes and
Michael Gendreau. Ki is a massive work that is a lot to take in but very consistent
and very good. (Adrian Dziewanski)
Two very stunning releases to get to today from Dale Lloyd's impressive and/OAR
and either/OAR labels (OAR = Overheard And Rendered). The central branch of
Lloyd's label is the and/OAR division, which focuses mainly on works that
incorporate environmental sounds with an avant-garde awareness.
Luigi Turra fits nicely into the and/OAR model as there is much here that aligns
with the environmental, and certainly also the avant-garde. I first became aware of
Turra's work through his captivating – though blandly titled – Tactile.Surface CD,
a collaboration with like-minded artist Christopher McFall. On Ki, we get to see
what Turra can do on his own, and there is plenty of material to do that with, the
album spanning three discs and clocking in at nearly 2½ hours.
The opening disc, Enso, which was originally released in 2007 on the Small
Voices label (though was apparently mastered too loudly) immediately brings
Organum's Vacant Lights to mind, with its indiscernible tactile movements, like
footsteps and the scurrying of rats; a flute playing alongside. Unlike David
Jackman and the crew he assembled that day for the Vacant Lights sessions, Turra
brings in other instruments to accompany the objects he records with. The
methodical plucks of a stringed instrument – possibly a guitar, maybe something
more exotic – can be heard in the latter half of Enso 1, along with percussion,
played more texturally than as a back beat, and what is probably a myriad of bowls
and bells. Turra weaves field recordings into this expansive composition, and
ultimately evokes a sort of languid – although precisely calculated – dance with
his sounds, the third movement being particularly nice.
Disc two, Ancient Silence, picks up in similar vein to how Enso left off, though is
more psychologically jarring in scope. The sound of chimes penetrating through a
blackened ambience around the 10 minute mark are a stand out, eventually
giving way to sounds of metal being bowed, along with more of the
aforementioned tactility and flute playing. This section of the trilogy is a much
darker affair than its predecessor, though still keeping in form with the bigger
picture. On Shasekishu, the closer, Turra takes a magnifying glass to many of the
background elements of the first discs and moves them to the fore. The piece
creaks, fizzes, and clicks and pops as a gentle stream, a flicker of a fire here and a
rattle of a vent or strike of a bell there; also some occult chanting and pipe
recordings not dissimilar to the pressurized drones produced by Jim Haynes and
Michael Gendreau. Ki is a massive work that is a lot to take in but very consistent
and very good. (Adrian Dziewanski)
TEXTURA (AUGUST 2011)
With three CDs weighing in at 138 minutes, Ki is an epic, three-part work of so-
called “reductionist sound cinema” by musique concrète composer Luigi Turra,
who's previously issued material on labels such as Trente Oiseaux, Dragon's Eye
Recordings, and Koyuki. Scant details about the recording are provided, though
we can report that Turra is wholly responsible for the recording's compositions and
sounds, and uses various instruments, objects, and field recordings to bring them
into being. It's tactile material in the extreme, with the unique timbres of the
various sound sources presented in all of their individuating clarity during the
three discs' long-form meditations. Two of the release's three parts were previously
released, the first disc's “Ki 1: Enso” in 2007 on Small Voices in an imperfectly
mastered version and the second self-released as a limited-edition CD-R EP in
2007 and heard in the and/OAR set for the first time in its full-length version.
Presented in three parts, the material on the first disc's “Ki 1: Enso” exudes an
Eastern character due to the presence of instrument sounds associated with the
Far East, such as the pipa and shakuhachi. The first part presents a free-flowing
and patiently unfolding journey that weaves together—sometimes alternating
between—musical and field recordings-based passages: after Turra inaugurates
the piece with a bell strike, violent percussive ruptures, footsteps, and the playing
of a wooden (perhaps shakuhachi) flute appear; a range of field recordings sounds
follows—ambient sounds of the natural outdoors and the crunchy footsteps of a
figure trudging through grassy terrain—until the returning bell strike signals the
piece's end. The second part moves from an introductory episode of bird chirps,
drum noises and low-pitched string plucks into a somewhat eerie nightscape of
haunted tones and ghostly atmospherics, with at one point wordless voices
erupting in an anguished moan. The final part of “Ki 1: Enso” unfolds as a
dramatic, pipa-plucked plod with droning field recordings billowing on all sides
before its musical elements, in the opening CD's most memorable passage, turn
mournful, with the powerfully affecting mood mitigated somewhat by the persistent
punctuation of field recording noises.
The second and third CDs are both forty-five-minute, single-movement settings.
The aptly titled “Ki 2: Ancient Silence” opts for an explorative approach that Turra
pitches at a subdued level in terms of volume and dynamics. Field recordings and
musical elements again intermingle, with pages turning among the former and
agitated percussive clatter the latter. Though the presentation is at times
extremely minimal—during one episode, the sound consists of nothing more than
water droplets and the residual echo following from them—the trip remains
engaging nevertheless, due in large part to the continual shifts in character from
one episode to the next. Patches of silence sometimes separate said episodes,
while reverberant swathes of shimmering tones form bridges between them in
others. The sound elements themselves aren't wholly unlike those heard on the first
disc—percussion and flute sounds appear again—but their presentation is on the
whole slightly more low-key by comparison. “Shasekishu", the previously
unreleased third part of the Ki trilogy, perpetuates the unhurried flow and wide-
ranging character of the middle disc (the title, incidentally, translates into English
as “ Sand and Pebbles ” and is also the title associated with a thirteenth-century,
five-volume collection of Buddhist parables). Not surprisingly, granular percussion
sounds figure into the presentation, as do bowls, bells, flute, and even chanting,
and as a result the meditative piece develops a highly aromatic and evocative
ambiance over the course of its forty-five minutes. There's no lessening of
attention to detail in the work's final part, and despite the length of the entire three-
disc journey and its generally slow unfolding, the listener remains engaged up to
the final moments. (Ron Schepper)
With three CDs weighing in at 138 minutes, Ki is an epic, three-part work of so-
called “reductionist sound cinema” by musique concrète composer Luigi Turra,
who's previously issued material on labels such as Trente Oiseaux, Dragon's Eye
Recordings, and Koyuki. Scant details about the recording are provided, though
we can report that Turra is wholly responsible for the recording's compositions and
sounds, and uses various instruments, objects, and field recordings to bring them
into being. It's tactile material in the extreme, with the unique timbres of the
various sound sources presented in all of their individuating clarity during the
three discs' long-form meditations. Two of the release's three parts were previously
released, the first disc's “Ki 1: Enso” in 2007 on Small Voices in an imperfectly
mastered version and the second self-released as a limited-edition CD-R EP in
2007 and heard in the and/OAR set for the first time in its full-length version.
Presented in three parts, the material on the first disc's “Ki 1: Enso” exudes an
Eastern character due to the presence of instrument sounds associated with the
Far East, such as the pipa and shakuhachi. The first part presents a free-flowing
and patiently unfolding journey that weaves together—sometimes alternating
between—musical and field recordings-based passages: after Turra inaugurates
the piece with a bell strike, violent percussive ruptures, footsteps, and the playing
of a wooden (perhaps shakuhachi) flute appear; a range of field recordings sounds
follows—ambient sounds of the natural outdoors and the crunchy footsteps of a
figure trudging through grassy terrain—until the returning bell strike signals the
piece's end. The second part moves from an introductory episode of bird chirps,
drum noises and low-pitched string plucks into a somewhat eerie nightscape of
haunted tones and ghostly atmospherics, with at one point wordless voices
erupting in an anguished moan. The final part of “Ki 1: Enso” unfolds as a
dramatic, pipa-plucked plod with droning field recordings billowing on all sides
before its musical elements, in the opening CD's most memorable passage, turn
mournful, with the powerfully affecting mood mitigated somewhat by the persistent
punctuation of field recording noises.
The second and third CDs are both forty-five-minute, single-movement settings.
The aptly titled “Ki 2: Ancient Silence” opts for an explorative approach that Turra
pitches at a subdued level in terms of volume and dynamics. Field recordings and
musical elements again intermingle, with pages turning among the former and
agitated percussive clatter the latter. Though the presentation is at times
extremely minimal—during one episode, the sound consists of nothing more than
water droplets and the residual echo following from them—the trip remains
engaging nevertheless, due in large part to the continual shifts in character from
one episode to the next. Patches of silence sometimes separate said episodes,
while reverberant swathes of shimmering tones form bridges between them in
others. The sound elements themselves aren't wholly unlike those heard on the first
disc—percussion and flute sounds appear again—but their presentation is on the
whole slightly more low-key by comparison. “Shasekishu", the previously
unreleased third part of the Ki trilogy, perpetuates the unhurried flow and wide-
ranging character of the middle disc (the title, incidentally, translates into English
as “ Sand and Pebbles ” and is also the title associated with a thirteenth-century,
five-volume collection of Buddhist parables). Not surprisingly, granular percussion
sounds figure into the presentation, as do bowls, bells, flute, and even chanting,
and as a result the meditative piece develops a highly aromatic and evocative
ambiance over the course of its forty-five minutes. There's no lessening of
attention to detail in the work's final part, and despite the length of the entire three-
disc journey and its generally slow unfolding, the listener remains engaged up to
the final moments. (Ron Schepper)
VITAL WEEKLY (SEPTEMBER 2011)
Over the years I have reviewed a whole bunch of releases by Luigi Turra, various
of them in collaboration with others, such as Shinkei and Christopher McFall. Here
we have a trilogy of works, each around 45 to 48 minutes. The first one, 'Enso', was
previously released by Small Voices, but not mastered properly, the second,
'Ancient Silence' as a very limited CDR EP and now in its full version, while the
third, 'Shasekishu' is a previously unreleased work. That's about the extent of the
information we have on this trilogy. From Turra's website we learn not a more:
"Luigi Turra (b. 1975) is a musique concrete composer and graphic designer. His
main interest is in the aural balance between silence and tactile perception of
sound. His work is published from the labels such as non visual objects (Austria),
and/OAR (USA), Koyuki (Italy), White_Line (UK)". For these works he uses
instruments, objects and field recordings, but the instruments are not really
specified. I hear voices, maybe guitar, maybe percussion, the shakuhachi. Its quite
interesting to go this deep with someone's music, 120 or so minutes of that gives a
pretty good idea of what someone does - although perhaps a bit long to play all at
once. It sheds a light on how Turra composes, which is in a rather 'loose' way. He
collates various events together and layers them, and makes a mix that reveals a
constant flow of these events. Now we could call this ambient music, but its very
much music without much use of synthesizers, but rather very loosely based sound
events of processed field recordings, processed instruments, sound effects and
silence thrown in, at seemingly random times. This is the kind of ambient music
we don't hear a lot, and I was thinking of the old band Sema, especially at 'Notes
From Underground', although with Turra its harder to know what the instruments
are, save perhaps for the shakuhachi which can be recognized throughout. An
excellent work here all around - for those early autumn nights. (Frans de Waard)
Over the years I have reviewed a whole bunch of releases by Luigi Turra, various
of them in collaboration with others, such as Shinkei and Christopher McFall. Here
we have a trilogy of works, each around 45 to 48 minutes. The first one, 'Enso', was
previously released by Small Voices, but not mastered properly, the second,
'Ancient Silence' as a very limited CDR EP and now in its full version, while the
third, 'Shasekishu' is a previously unreleased work. That's about the extent of the
information we have on this trilogy. From Turra's website we learn not a more:
"Luigi Turra (b. 1975) is a musique concrete composer and graphic designer. His
main interest is in the aural balance between silence and tactile perception of
sound. His work is published from the labels such as non visual objects (Austria),
and/OAR (USA), Koyuki (Italy), White_Line (UK)". For these works he uses
instruments, objects and field recordings, but the instruments are not really
specified. I hear voices, maybe guitar, maybe percussion, the shakuhachi. Its quite
interesting to go this deep with someone's music, 120 or so minutes of that gives a
pretty good idea of what someone does - although perhaps a bit long to play all at
once. It sheds a light on how Turra composes, which is in a rather 'loose' way. He
collates various events together and layers them, and makes a mix that reveals a
constant flow of these events. Now we could call this ambient music, but its very
much music without much use of synthesizers, but rather very loosely based sound
events of processed field recordings, processed instruments, sound effects and
silence thrown in, at seemingly random times. This is the kind of ambient music
we don't hear a lot, and I was thinking of the old band Sema, especially at 'Notes
From Underground', although with Turra its harder to know what the instruments
are, save perhaps for the shakuhachi which can be recognized throughout. An
excellent work here all around - for those early autumn nights. (Frans de Waard)
BLOW UP (OCTOBER 2011)
Triple CD Luigi Turra, composer active in the musique concrete, and on file with
a series of albums for labels like Trente Oiseaux, Dragon's Eye Recordings and
Koyuki. The monumental "Ki" collects in fact, for two-thirds work already published
earlier in some way incomplete: "Enso" published in 2007 by Small Voices in a
year is not completely mastered, "Ancient Silence" self-released the same year in
a limited edition and small distance (EP), which on this occasion is presented in
extended version. Following the thread of his Free Sample, Turra moves in the
neighborhood of the stagnation sound, patiently working environment and except
instrumental sounds to create a complex and bombastic piece divided into three
acts. In "Enso" is perceived the slow movement was transitional between music
and landscape environment: it is in dichotomy (alternation, empty sovraposizione)
between these two elements that show the dramatic tension that is built on the
disc, the soundscape is dominated by eastern coloring, marked by the use of tools
such as pipe and shakuhachi.
In "Ancient Silence" Turra plunges deep into an investigation through the inertia
acoustic Limina: Long and dark periods of silence are just ruffled by small
metallic resonances, reflections from water, from distant and intermittent echoes
of an imaginary world underground. It 'a mood that sealed the new "Shasekishu"
perpetual, stir in the dichotomous jumble of sounds and silences of the two
previous episodes: soft sound objects first as refracted in a prism flint, then Franti
in muted voices singing far, finally drowned in the vacuum of the gloss finish.
(Leandro Pisano)
Triple CD Luigi Turra, composer active in the musique concrete, and on file with
a series of albums for labels like Trente Oiseaux, Dragon's Eye Recordings and
Koyuki. The monumental "Ki" collects in fact, for two-thirds work already published
earlier in some way incomplete: "Enso" published in 2007 by Small Voices in a
year is not completely mastered, "Ancient Silence" self-released the same year in
a limited edition and small distance (EP), which on this occasion is presented in
extended version. Following the thread of his Free Sample, Turra moves in the
neighborhood of the stagnation sound, patiently working environment and except
instrumental sounds to create a complex and bombastic piece divided into three
acts. In "Enso" is perceived the slow movement was transitional between music
and landscape environment: it is in dichotomy (alternation, empty sovraposizione)
between these two elements that show the dramatic tension that is built on the
disc, the soundscape is dominated by eastern coloring, marked by the use of tools
such as pipe and shakuhachi.
In "Ancient Silence" Turra plunges deep into an investigation through the inertia
acoustic Limina: Long and dark periods of silence are just ruffled by small
metallic resonances, reflections from water, from distant and intermittent echoes
of an imaginary world underground. It 'a mood that sealed the new "Shasekishu"
perpetual, stir in the dichotomous jumble of sounds and silences of the two
previous episodes: soft sound objects first as refracted in a prism flint, then Franti
in muted voices singing far, finally drowned in the vacuum of the gloss finish.
(Leandro Pisano)
SPIRITUAL ARCHIVES (NOVEMBER 2011)
Luigi Turra's second appearance in the and/OAR catalogue (not long ago a piece
included in a magnificent compilation, tribute to Michelangelo Antonioni).
Active for years in the experimental music movement, highly esteemed by people
devoted to musique concrète, Turra is an Italian sound artist and graphic designer
who stood out for his personal, refined, minimalist style, conveyed in works for
labels such as Trente Oiseaux, Non Visual Objects, Dragon's Eye Recordings,
Koyuki, Unfathomless, just to mention some.
"Ki", a trilogy, over two hours of audio contents, a three-disc set, finely packaged,
two-thirds consisting of old material, reissued to correct mastering errors occurred
in the original release on Small Voices, dated 2007 (the first disc, "Enso") or now
in full-length version (the second one, "Ancient Silence", self-released the same
year). "Shasekishu" represents a new chapter and brings the project to completion.
"Enso" is split into three parts, the initial segment featuring a weave of sounds
produced by traditional instruments (shakuhachi, pipa, percussion), sometimes
untreated, sometimes reprocessed or arranged with other artificial intrusions.
Heavy incidence of echoes on the whole, to give sonic expansion and intense
deepness, concretely perceptible. The use of environmental recordings, wisely
managed, becomes evident further on: it's a subtle, inconspicuous presence
(string touches, repeated tinklings and woodwind effects have the lead role). Only
in the second part they achieve consistency, sharing the scene with both
instrumental and vocal performance. Slightly different, even softer approach in
the last section, without giving up the main framework.
"Ancient Silence", the second CD, reveals, explicitly, a definite compositional
tendency. It's structured on several distinct instances (carefully joined together),
primarily based on sombre tones originated from field recordings, with the add of
other sound particles extracted from instruments (a delightful metallic
reverberation, bamboo flute whispers) or captured somewhere (a periodic
knocking, odd, confused noises, a constant drip of water).
"Shasekishu", the last episode, seems to be a further processing stage in the saga.
Articulated on different levels, it starts with an amalgam of concrete sounds
embedded in a minimalist module and large recourse to electronics, then a
gradual transition into more melodic, almost meditative phases made of
resounding bells, flute insertions, a few percussive touches, a solemn chant. Lastly
a compound of all these elements.
Haunting, enchanting work: Turra at his best, so far... (Giuseppe Angelucci)
Luigi Turra's second appearance in the and/OAR catalogue (not long ago a piece
included in a magnificent compilation, tribute to Michelangelo Antonioni).
Active for years in the experimental music movement, highly esteemed by people
devoted to musique concrète, Turra is an Italian sound artist and graphic designer
who stood out for his personal, refined, minimalist style, conveyed in works for
labels such as Trente Oiseaux, Non Visual Objects, Dragon's Eye Recordings,
Koyuki, Unfathomless, just to mention some.
"Ki", a trilogy, over two hours of audio contents, a three-disc set, finely packaged,
two-thirds consisting of old material, reissued to correct mastering errors occurred
in the original release on Small Voices, dated 2007 (the first disc, "Enso") or now
in full-length version (the second one, "Ancient Silence", self-released the same
year). "Shasekishu" represents a new chapter and brings the project to completion.
"Enso" is split into three parts, the initial segment featuring a weave of sounds
produced by traditional instruments (shakuhachi, pipa, percussion), sometimes
untreated, sometimes reprocessed or arranged with other artificial intrusions.
Heavy incidence of echoes on the whole, to give sonic expansion and intense
deepness, concretely perceptible. The use of environmental recordings, wisely
managed, becomes evident further on: it's a subtle, inconspicuous presence
(string touches, repeated tinklings and woodwind effects have the lead role). Only
in the second part they achieve consistency, sharing the scene with both
instrumental and vocal performance. Slightly different, even softer approach in
the last section, without giving up the main framework.
"Ancient Silence", the second CD, reveals, explicitly, a definite compositional
tendency. It's structured on several distinct instances (carefully joined together),
primarily based on sombre tones originated from field recordings, with the add of
other sound particles extracted from instruments (a delightful metallic
reverberation, bamboo flute whispers) or captured somewhere (a periodic
knocking, odd, confused noises, a constant drip of water).
"Shasekishu", the last episode, seems to be a further processing stage in the saga.
Articulated on different levels, it starts with an amalgam of concrete sounds
embedded in a minimalist module and large recourse to electronics, then a
gradual transition into more melodic, almost meditative phases made of
resounding bells, flute insertions, a few percussive touches, a solemn chant. Lastly
a compound of all these elements.
Haunting, enchanting work: Turra at his best, so far... (Giuseppe Angelucci)
UN(E)ÉNERGUMÈNES (DECEMBER 2011)
Bouclez vos chakras à la con, laissez les sarcasmes au vestiaire, une inspiration
ventrale profonde et une dose massive de concentration comme pour un jeu
télévisé. Un peu d'encens, du gravier à ratisser sous les pieds nus, tonsure de
rigueur, et on va pouvoir appréhender le triple « KI» de Luigi Turra, triple
anachronisme dans ce monde de pétrole brut obnubilé par l'éloge de la vitesse
des échanges biaisés en bourse plutôt que par le temps qui s'écoule le long d'une
rivière... Luigi Turra est un compositeur de musique concrète italien fortement
imprégné de spiritualité orientale (ben tiens), et qui recherche le point d'équilibre
auditif entre le silence et une perception tactile du fait sonore (ce qui fait plus
sérieux). Il avait auparavant sorti en collaboration avec un certain Shinkei (?), «
YU », une petite perle de minimalisme zen qui, en plus d'évoluer sur les marges
de la musique, flirte délicatement avec les limites de l'audible. On ne va pas
vraiment changer de paysage avec le présent « KI », même si cette fois on peut
l'écouter sans avoir à pousser l'ampli dans ses retranchements pour capter
l'essence du moment.
Malgré une apparente homogénéité des 3 disques qui le composent (1 : Enso, 2:
Ancient Silence, 3 : Shasekishu), chaque morceau semblant être le prolongement
naturel du précédent, « KI» est en fait une compilation de pièce écrites sur
plusieurs années, certaines déjà éditées en tant que telles. Luigi Turra, prend
donc le temps de poser sa vision organique et ascétique du son sans l'imposer.
Tel un moine zen en train de ratisser encore et encore son jardin de graviers
blancs, il développe ses manipulations mystérieuses d'objets pas forcément
identifiés, noyées dans ce qui pourrait être la vibration prolongée un gong. A
l'ombre de l'évidence, il préfère la luminosité du mystère, koan zen oscillant
entre réalité crue et abstraction suspendue. Sans réel fil narratif, le mouvement se
veut ample, profond comme une lente musique d'immersion dont la sérénité qui
s'en dégage est sans cesse travaillée par une tension impalpable. La mise en
relief de gestes profanes par le prisme déformant de sons concrets, renforcent le
côté rituel presque obsessionnel, empêchant à l'ensemble de s'empêtrer dans la
facilité d'une boue new-age des plus racoleuses. Musique sans plans ni
ordonnancement précis. Juste les traces d'une errance méditative ; beauté
répétée du hasard du geste.
S'il est évidemment peu digeste de s'enfiler à la suite les 2h30 cumulés des trois
disques, chacun d'entre eux peut s'écouter séparément. Quarante cinq minutes
c'est déjà pas mal pour effectuer une sieste tronquée, le sens auditif en éveil, l'œil
intérieur qui observe le souffle de sa respiration s'écouler.
Il suffit d'y croire. En tout cas on n'aura jamais été aussi près de toucher du doigt
le bruit du bruit. Et c'est si rare, par les temps putassiers qui courent. (L'Un)
Bouclez vos chakras à la con, laissez les sarcasmes au vestiaire, une inspiration
ventrale profonde et une dose massive de concentration comme pour un jeu
télévisé. Un peu d'encens, du gravier à ratisser sous les pieds nus, tonsure de
rigueur, et on va pouvoir appréhender le triple « KI» de Luigi Turra, triple
anachronisme dans ce monde de pétrole brut obnubilé par l'éloge de la vitesse
des échanges biaisés en bourse plutôt que par le temps qui s'écoule le long d'une
rivière... Luigi Turra est un compositeur de musique concrète italien fortement
imprégné de spiritualité orientale (ben tiens), et qui recherche le point d'équilibre
auditif entre le silence et une perception tactile du fait sonore (ce qui fait plus
sérieux). Il avait auparavant sorti en collaboration avec un certain Shinkei (?), «
YU », une petite perle de minimalisme zen qui, en plus d'évoluer sur les marges
de la musique, flirte délicatement avec les limites de l'audible. On ne va pas
vraiment changer de paysage avec le présent « KI », même si cette fois on peut
l'écouter sans avoir à pousser l'ampli dans ses retranchements pour capter
l'essence du moment.
Malgré une apparente homogénéité des 3 disques qui le composent (1 : Enso, 2:
Ancient Silence, 3 : Shasekishu), chaque morceau semblant être le prolongement
naturel du précédent, « KI» est en fait une compilation de pièce écrites sur
plusieurs années, certaines déjà éditées en tant que telles. Luigi Turra, prend
donc le temps de poser sa vision organique et ascétique du son sans l'imposer.
Tel un moine zen en train de ratisser encore et encore son jardin de graviers
blancs, il développe ses manipulations mystérieuses d'objets pas forcément
identifiés, noyées dans ce qui pourrait être la vibration prolongée un gong. A
l'ombre de l'évidence, il préfère la luminosité du mystère, koan zen oscillant
entre réalité crue et abstraction suspendue. Sans réel fil narratif, le mouvement se
veut ample, profond comme une lente musique d'immersion dont la sérénité qui
s'en dégage est sans cesse travaillée par une tension impalpable. La mise en
relief de gestes profanes par le prisme déformant de sons concrets, renforcent le
côté rituel presque obsessionnel, empêchant à l'ensemble de s'empêtrer dans la
facilité d'une boue new-age des plus racoleuses. Musique sans plans ni
ordonnancement précis. Juste les traces d'une errance méditative ; beauté
répétée du hasard du geste.
S'il est évidemment peu digeste de s'enfiler à la suite les 2h30 cumulés des trois
disques, chacun d'entre eux peut s'écouter séparément. Quarante cinq minutes
c'est déjà pas mal pour effectuer une sieste tronquée, le sens auditif en éveil, l'œil
intérieur qui observe le souffle de sa respiration s'écouler.
Il suffit d'y croire. En tout cas on n'aura jamais été aussi près de toucher du doigt
le bruit du bruit. Et c'est si rare, par les temps putassiers qui courent. (L'Un)
NEURAL (MARCH 2012)
Luigi Turra presents three CDs in a single release for and/OAR, including an equal
number of extended and distinct compositions - Enso, Ancient Silence and
Shasekishu respectively. From the beginning the trilogy by the Italian sound artist
imprints itself in guise of a full-bodied electroacoustic continuum but with hints of
minimalism. "Enso", had already been published in Small Voices in 2007 and the
current version corrects the mistakes that were made in mastering that seminal
version. "Ancient Silence", too, had already seen the light in a self-produced
edition and now appears in a more dilated version, wrapping us in the spires of a
surgically articulated and essential sound, fascinating and deep. Only
"Shasekishu" - then - embodies the new course of manipulations for the maestro
based in Schio. The composer has already published for labels such as Non
Visual Objects, Dragon's Eye, Trente Oiseaux, Koyuki and Unfathomless, to cite
just a few. The approach is still typical Turra, with sounds permeated with oriental
influences, aesthetics and philosophy leaking out from every groove, all-involving
matter-energy that permeates every molecule of our ecosystem. In the forty-five
minutes of the recording the envelopes are thinner and imbued with rhythmic
jumps, synthetic drones and digital eddies before becoming gentler, more
melodic, even more tactile, deeply mysterious and immersive, emotional and
elliptical. A flawless result that consecrates this musician as one of the most
interesting of the Italian school. (Aurelio Cianciotta)
Luigi Turra presents three CDs in a single release for and/OAR, including an equal
number of extended and distinct compositions - Enso, Ancient Silence and
Shasekishu respectively. From the beginning the trilogy by the Italian sound artist
imprints itself in guise of a full-bodied electroacoustic continuum but with hints of
minimalism. "Enso", had already been published in Small Voices in 2007 and the
current version corrects the mistakes that were made in mastering that seminal
version. "Ancient Silence", too, had already seen the light in a self-produced
edition and now appears in a more dilated version, wrapping us in the spires of a
surgically articulated and essential sound, fascinating and deep. Only
"Shasekishu" - then - embodies the new course of manipulations for the maestro
based in Schio. The composer has already published for labels such as Non
Visual Objects, Dragon's Eye, Trente Oiseaux, Koyuki and Unfathomless, to cite
just a few. The approach is still typical Turra, with sounds permeated with oriental
influences, aesthetics and philosophy leaking out from every groove, all-involving
matter-energy that permeates every molecule of our ecosystem. In the forty-five
minutes of the recording the envelopes are thinner and imbued with rhythmic
jumps, synthetic drones and digital eddies before becoming gentler, more
melodic, even more tactile, deeply mysterious and immersive, emotional and
elliptical. A flawless result that consecrates this musician as one of the most
interesting of the Italian school. (Aurelio Cianciotta)
