About Christian Vasseur & Dirk Serries - Floating Simularities (Creative Sources, 2024) The Free Jazz Collective
By Eyal Hareuveni
French guitarist Christian Vasseur describes his music as free of any form of dogma and exploring new sound universes with such exotic instruments as archlute, mohan veena, Weissenborn-Harpa and electric 10-string lap-steel guitar. Vasseur brings to this guitar duo an 11-string classical guitar, tuned in quartet-tone, while Serries plays on archtop guitar, often with a bow and objects. Floating Simularities was recorded live at the Kapel Oude Klooster in Brecht, Belgium, and Serries was responsible for the recording, mixing and mastering. The seven intimate and almost chamber duets explore tension-filled, resonant acoustic timbres. Sometimes these duets sketch surreal textures or suggest brief stories, and at other times flirt with delicate, oriental-sounding elements, as in the most enigmatic, beautiful gamelan-like “The Traveller Surprised By His Dream”, with Vasseur adding wordless chanting.
About Eric Mimosa and Christian Vasseur : Les Sans-Ombres
By Jean-Michel Van Schouburg, Onyx August 12, 2024
Deux « archtop » guitares maniées artistement et audacieusement par deux improvisateurs expérimentés, soit deux guitares acoustiques sur lesquelles les six cordes sont tendues sur un chevalet. Il n’y a pas de « s » au pluriel des « Sans Ombre » car, quand il y a zéro ombre c’est comme s’il y en avait une, la langue française ayant déjà commencé son chemin avant que nos ancêtres aient adopté le zéro comme valeur numérale avant le chiffre « un ». Aussi, aucun des deux guitaristes ne fait de l’ombre à l’autre, car ils jouent à égalité sans qu’on puisse distinguer lequel joue ceci et l’autre cela. Eric Mimosa et Christian Vasseur improvisent ensemble neuf morceaux aux titres nonsensiques, à la fois béats et intriguant, comme Serpent Pois-Chiche, Tonitruant Mangemots, Sanglant Papy Roulette, Papillon Biscotte ou Roule Sans-Tête, en forme de contrepoints anarchiques, d’écarts géométriques sauvages, d’obsessions hyperactives, d’ostinatos ribouldingues, de zigzags forcenés, avec force harmoniques, intuitions automatiques, imbrications alambiquées, bruitages détaillés à l’extrême ou rêves suspendus résonnant par-dessus le vide du silence. Mantra ludique du délire guitaristique. Tous deux utilisent des techniques alternatives non conventionnelles pour obtenir une expressivité inédite dans une dimension exploratoire. J’aime particulièrement le Sanglant Papy Roulette, construction collective où leurs doigtés et imaginaires fusionnent merveilleusement , nous donnant ainsi les clés pour que notre écoute plonge plus aisément dans les autres pièces ici proposées, certaines guidées par de véritables narratifs « visuels ». Roule Sans Tête est une autre paire de manches. Christian Vasseur est un activiste incontournable de Mons en Baroeul dans la grande banlieue de Lille. Il nous a déjà livré plusieurs témoignages sonores gratifiants et décortiqués dans ces lignes. Fantastique d’avoir rencontré un super alter-ego comme Éric Mimosa, car la somme de leurs talents est superlative ! Quelle équipe ...
About Christian Vasseur & Charlie Beresford: Les Amoureuses
By John Eyles AllAboutJazz, July 14, 2023
Having first made contact in 2008, after discovering each other's music, English-speaking Charlie Beresford and French-speaking Christian Vasseur, both guitarists, communicated with one another for several years, each keeping in touch with what the other was working on. During this period, Beresford was a member of the quartet Fourth Page and was also developing his links with cellist Sonia Hammond. As well as being a member of the musical collective O.E.S., Vasseur issued a steady flow of limited-edition recordings.
Eventually, in 2018, Beresford suggested that the two could work together. This led to Vasseur arranging a small tour of Northern France plus a performance in Belgium for January 2019. That tour demonstrated that the two worked well together. In February 2020 they recorded their first album, Beresford Vasseur, in concert, in Brussels; it was released in September 2021, on The 52nd, the label Beresford set up with Canadian photographer Gaena da Sylva . That album emphasized the compatibility of Beresford and Vasseur; in the main, their voices were used sparingly and, whether singing or reciting, in English or in French, they were entertaining, and contrasted well with their acoustic guitars.
To a greater or lesser extent, the same is true of the duo's second album, Les Amoureuses, which was released on the Australian label Ramble Records, on 12-inch vinyl or digital download. Of the album's eleven tracks, three are instrumentals, while the other eight have poetry as an introduction, four in English, four in French. Thoughtfully, the poetry is printed on the inner sleeve so that those who do not speak French or English can get a quick translation.
Altogether the album runs for over forty-one minutes, of which four minutes feature poetry. On this album, Vasseur plays lap slide Weissenborn or Weissenborn-harp, so he and Beresford are distinguishable; the sounds they produce meld together well, complementing one another in a very pleasing amalgam. Their understanding of each other and their abilities to play together coherently bear witness to their long acquaintance and their touring together. This album whets the appetite to see them live in concert. Highly recommended.
About CHRISTIAN VASSEUR & CHARLIE BERESFORD LES AMOUREUSES RAMBLE RECORDS RAM 123 – LP - 2023
Claude Colpaert (Revues et corrigées), juin 2023
Steve Lacy disait, en parlant du travail de chroniqueur musical, que lorsque ceux qui écrivent emploient le terme « poésie », c’est que les mots ne suffisent plus à circonscrire la musique. S’agissant de ces « Amoureuses », je serais tenté de me limiter à de tels qualificatifs poétiques, ce qui est d’autant plus facile et évident que les onze pièces du LP, plutôt courtes, accueillent pour certaines d’entre elles la récitation, en français par Christian et en anglais par Charlie, de brefs poèmes qu’ils ont écrits (et qui sont reproduits à l’intérieur de la pochette du disque). Des poèmes, naturalistes pour Christian, plus surréalistes chez Charlie, qui créent d’autres échos, tout aussi subtils, au dialogue musical entamé depuis 2018 par les deux guitaristes, en osmose et au fil d’improvisations musicales conjointes. Chaque titre (Tous les parfums de la terre, Range of Silences, Depicted on Skin, Let Alone Rain, Ce qu’elle aimait, Smoke Rings through Dry Lips, Sa voix, Goudron, Bus Shelter, Les vies mouvantes, Dark Corners) est un instantané succinct qui se réalise au gré des trouvailles instrumentales que les deux musiciens ajoutent à leur technique de guitare classique parfaitement maîtrisée. Charlie Beresford, également illustrateur de la pochette, joue de la guitare acoustique. Christian Vasseur emploie ici une guitare et une harpe weissenborn. La musique, de coloration folk, s’enrichit de résonnances, d’éclats, de rythmes obsessionnels, de décalages ou de glissandi qui visent à atteindre l’essence du lyrisme, sans débordements excessifs : ce n’est pas pour rien que Christian est aussi un grand amateur de haïkus.
About The album Beresford Vasseur (The JazzMann, Ian Mann 2022)
Beresford and Vasseur have worked together before and there’s an easy intimacy and the sense of a shared purpose about these performances. It’s a recording that fits in neatly with Beresford’s catalogue as the duo approach their improvisations in the gentle, fragile, gauzy style that Beresford has very much made his own.
On the beautiful opener “Prelude” the duo’s acoustic guitars combine to create a lustrous, shimmering sound that sometimes reminded me of Ralph Towner, there’s that same sense of space and purity.
“The Path” is initially more abstract and introduces the use of prepared guitar techniques. It also features the voice of Beresford, his improvised English language narrative part spoken, part sung evoking images of the Welsh Borders, the rugged but beautiful area of the UK in which he lives. Essentially “The Path” is an improvised song, the spontaneous nature of its creation rendering it no less effective.
The sound of bowed guitar features on the suitably atmospheric “Within the waning moon”, played by Beresford I’d guess, having seen him increasingly deploying this technique at live shows. It’s augmented by taut, Towner-esque acoustic guitar and eventually by an eerie, high pitched wordless vocal, again I’m surmising but I’d guess that this is Vasseur.
“Thousand and Thousand Thoughts” features the intertwined speaking voices of the two performers, one speaking in English, the other in French. It’s like eavesdropping on two separate conversations and the overall effect is unsettling. Guitar bodies are used as auxiliary percussion, supporting the twinkling, hammered on arpeggios that gently propel the piece.
The introduction to “Ce que j’ai dit avant de me taire” hints at Vasseur’s fascination with Middle Eastern and Oriental music. Despite the French title the lyric is delivered in English, with Beresford’s evocative words complemented by the music, which is dark and sombre. Economical plucking and chording is augmented by eerie bowed drones and Vasseur’s wordless vocalising, which is reminiscent of throat singing.
Prepared guitar techniques simulate the sounds of percussion on the instrumental “Smoky Whisky Ronde”, which combines the influence of minimalism with a kind of twisted Americana. Both Beresford and Vasseur share an affinity with the visual arts (hence the “imaginary road movie” quote) and much of their music, and this piece in particular, would be well suited to an art movie soundtrack, the brief but insistent “A Drill of Sunlight” being another case in point.
“A Drill of Sunlight” segues into the softer “L’hesitation du cerf a la lisiere du bois”, one of the duo’s most beautiful pieces, and again one possessed with a strong visual quality.
“Les grands animaux” features animal like noises generated by both voices and extended guitar techniques, these augmented by an insistent arpeggiated acoustic guitar shimmer. Vasseur’s vocal performance becomes increasingly unhinged as the piece progresses. Even by the standards of this duo this piece ranks as one of the album’s more esoteric offerings.
By way of contrast “5h45” begins prettily as a relatively conventional acoustic guitar duet. The piece takes its title from the opening line of Beresford’s monologue, “at 5h45 traffic builds in the square”. The “burning ship” that adorns the album cover also features in the lyrics.
“Feux follets dans la poussiere” features a mix of pointillist guitar picking and bowed and prepared sounds. It’s one of the most abstract and obviously freely improvised offerings on the disc, but is no less absorbing for that.
It segues almost seamlessly into the courtly “Postlude”, which neatly bookends the performance and the album.
With no item lasting for more than six minutes no single piece or idea is allowed to outstay its welcome. The duo’s style of improvisation is tightly focussed, distilling their ideas into readily digestible bites. Each individual piece is an entity in itself yet part of a broader overall concept. Each item is thoroughly absorbing and the rapport between these two like minded musicians is apparent throughout as they blend a variety of acoustic guitar sounds and techniques with the human voice, instinctively bringing a sense of structure to the spontaneous. Beresford’s approach to improvisation is so unique and personal that he has almost created a sub genre of his own.
Whilst covering this album it’s perhaps timely to note that Fourth Page have also released a new album, “Encore With Masks” on the 52nd imprint. Both the Fourth Page recording and “Beresford Vasseur” are available via the 52nd Bandcamp page.
https://the52nd.bandcamp.com/music
About The album Beresford Vasseur (Orynx blog, Jean-Michel Van Schouwburg, 2021)
Concert enregistré dans la demeure d’un ami guitariste Steve Gibbs et sa compagne Véronique auquel j’ai eu la chance d’assister à St Gilles. Christian Vasseur est un remarquable guitariste et luthiste lillois et son alter-ego Charlie Beresford n’est pas en reste. Tous deux sont crédités guitare/ guitare préparée/ voix. Christian est un activiste insatiable de la musique vivante dans la région lilloise, accueillant des concerts intimes de multiples obédiences créatives. Charlie manie subtilement le « parler chanter » qui convient à la poésie. Les doigts agiles déroulent des arabesques, des cycles bancals, des effets de cloches perdues dans les landes, des arpèges irréguliers et dissonants croisent un effet de mandoline… La musique se situe entre un « folk » libre et folâtre et une musique contemporaine qui laisse son sérieux au vestiaire : un falsetto plane étrangement dans les hauteurs incitant un des guitaristes à jouer un moment à l’archet. Ou ailleurs, un texte sarcastique s’ imprime dans notre perception et réveille en nous la conscience endormie sous le charme. Dans les échanges, il y a ce détail touchant qui nous ramène sur terre ou nous fait rêver. Pour tous ceux qui aiment ces guitaristes utopistes tels John Russell, Pascal Marzan, Raymond Boni, Olaf Rupp, Roger Smith, cet enchaînement de pièces pour deux guitares et esprits frappeurs a bien des atouts. La cohésion des deux guitaristes est organique et naturelle. À l’écoute, l’atmosphère chaleureuse et lumineuse de cette soirée du 17 février 2020 parvient jusqu’à nous. Dans un motif du jeu de guitare, un bref trait de luth oriental parfume un morceau entier. L’art réitéré de la boucle, du cycle, du tournis. Il y a une heureuse respiration dans le déroulement de cette musique, le mariage paradoxal entre le solennel et la simplicité assumée. Excellent !!
About A Step in the Dark Stirs the Fire (AMN Reviews, 2021)
During the pandemic lockdown, noisy Chicago improviser Reid Karris recorded a number of tracks using assorted percussion instruments, such as metal bowls, springboxes, and skatchboxes. He sent these to French guitarist Christian Vasseur, who assembled them into pieces by adding his own mohan veena playing and electronic processing (the mohan veena is something of a cross between a sitar and acoustic guitar). The results are captured on the eleven recordings found on A Step in the Dark Stirs the Fire.
Vasseur’s choice of instrumentation and his deliberate and carefully-paced style stands in contrast to the organized chaos that Karris provides. There is a lilting, folky feel to the album, with Vasseur plucking notes over Karris’s object-based percussion. On the other hand, the two are not opposed to going off on freely-improvised tangents that involve twisted notes, scraping, and psychedelic structures. On at least one track, Vasseur focuses on processing Karris’s contributions into an unusual, but not unpleasant, sound wall. But for the most part, Vasseur represents a semblance of rural normalcy while Karris adds darker and odder textures and sounds in the background.
Karris and Vasseur could be framed as being at different places on multiple axes – country, culture, instrumentation, and style to name a few. A Step in the Dark Stirs the Fire is a hazy, twisted offering that does a remarkable job of narrowing the Euclidian distance between the points representing Karris and Vasseur in this multidimensional space. Strong recommendation.
About Jungle Gentle Jig (Alain Feron, composer, 2019)
What an astonishing and captivating experience it is to discover this CD that transports us into an utterly contemporary sound world, while at the same time conveying a founding essence so primary, and truly ontological, that it plunges us into a time before Time. Listening to this music, we feel our age old roots, buried in the dark night of the passing millennia, coming to life. The pieces proposed here by Steve Gibbs and Christian Vasseur recreate the concept of ritual, but outside of any socially sanctioned form, for the music here refers to no specific known ritual, while embodying them all.
In so doing, these two artists connect with the sense of the Sacred (not as some reliquary of religious spirit, but as an intrinsic human condition - insofar as the species, as far back as we can trace its evolution, has never ceased to be sensitive to the expression of all that is potent, fearful, mysterious, magical and inexplicable). This sense of the Sacred – which assuredly can only be perceived implicitly, but which remains inexhaustible despite all attempts at religious discourse seeking to induce, support or over-determine it – is expressed here in these pieces with a force so self-evident that our adhesion is guaranteed.
This “transcendent” character, musically audible and fully assumed, animates these musicians’ sonic universe, without in any way renouncing the century in which they were born, or the most avant-garde playing techniques. Many of these techniques they invent themselves, and use them as so many expressive tools - not as an aesthetic “end in itself” or an inane and sterile quest for “novelty for the sake of novelty”, but at the service of a profoundly original world of music thinking and discourse.
This “experimental” music, approaching the guitar and lute with such intelligence, inventiveness and sensitivity, carries these instruments far outside the comfortably beaten paths of the known, without a hint of compromise to fashion. For these musicians know perfectly well that fashion “is and always will be … that which goes out of fashion”. Their music, on the contrary, touches on the timeless! The experience is surprising, as our ear is immediately captivated by the mode of listening they offer us, awakening our senses to a vision of a world unknown, yet strangely familiar. A world that speaks of us, echoing a deeper self that we all have inside us, but have simply forgotten …
“Jungle Gentle Jig” is a rare and precious CD that pulls off the tour de force of taking us beyond the fragile frontier of ethos, bearer of emotion, the intangible and the unspeakable (because unnamable). A pure black diamond, an absolute must listen. As for me, I’m going back to it right now!
About A la limite du présent Vol 1, 2, 3 (Claude Colpaert, Illico, 2019)
Cette série de trois cds A la limite du présent : cent millions d’années - barreaux dans le ciel - un amour infini », qu’on trouve également sur bandcamp, et que l’on écoutera de préférence dans l’ordre, Christian Vasseur l’a composée, improvisée, enregistrée et mixée au cours d’une résidence de quatre mois dans les Hauts-de-France. Il y a rencontré de nombreuses personnes, dont des enfants handicapés et des détenus, et leur a fait lire ou dire de brefs poèmes, préexistants ou improvisés, à la façon des haïkus japonais. C’est à partir de là qu’il a construit la musique, isolant les textes, les dédoublant ou les prolongeant de guitare, d’archiluth, de piano, d’harmonium indien ou d’électronique, au fil d’un patchwork au long cours, fait souvent de toutes petites pièces, qui vont au-delà du field recording de par la complexité du montage. Ça parle avec beaucoup de sensibilité d’êtres humains, d’animaux et de nature. La tonalité « folk » du premier volume, celle plus vocale du deuxième et celle plus électronique du troisième, qui s’autorise à quelques prolongements instrumentaux de plus longue durée, forment un tout cohérent, très personnel, original et poétique. Christian Vasseur travaille souvent pour le théâtre. Sa pratique musicale, qui l’a amenée à interpréter du baroque, et à travailler la tradition arabo-andalouse au sein du groupe Djuwel, l’oriente de plus en plus vers l’improvisation et les musiques expérimentales. On jettera également une oreille sur « Valoi », disponible uniquement sur alinamusica.blogspot.com, qui associe Christian, à l’archiluth 12 cordes, joué aux doigts, au plectre et à l’archet en plus de quelques objets et de la voix, à Fred Loisel, aux plaques et tubes de métal (ferrailles récupérées) jouées avec les mains, diverses mailloches, un archet et quelques objets.
About Alam and Poèmes saturniens (Earlabs, 2009)
Christian Vasseur is a classically trained musician on both classical guitar and lute.
The album Alam is a collection of pieces on 14-string arch lute. The 11 pieces on the album are from a 16 year old improvisation recording session, though the music has an overall structured sound. The songs are build from returning patterns that could easily be composed instead of improvised. The classical training that Vasseur followed plays a major role in his work, though there is also room for a more modern approach. The returning patterns indicate an influence from folk and pop music.
As a whole this album shows a talented musician, but for me it lacks the adventure.
From a complete other level is the album Poèmes Saturniens, where Vasseur chooses to play the guitar instead. Besides the guitar he also uses soft vocals and humming as an ingredient for the different pieces here.
The improvised pieces on this album are from a complete different character than those on Alam. Where Alam was based on returning patterns Poèmes Saturniens is free music.
Not only in the play it’s free, also the feeling it leaves is one of freedom, but also sadness shows up in the music. An overall melancholy takes over the mood.
With the fragile guitar playing Vasseur takes us on an emotional journey.
As happens so often this album also got quite some plays during my daily train travels to and from work. What surprised me with this album how the fast passing landscape fits very well to the notes played. The music makes everything slow down. Reminders from the German TV film Heimat: Eine Deutsche Chronik came to mind. A down to earth experience about real people living their lives taking it with the joy and the sadness, the love and the pain, birth and death.
This association makes Poèmes Saturniens an album really worth trying.
If I have to compare Alam and Poèmes Saturniens I can’t say this is a really easy task. They both have their own character and mood. Though, I myself prefer the more experimental character of Poèmes Saturniens. The freedom lures me more into it and there is more to discover.
But both albums together are a lovely introduction to Christian Vasseur’s music.
About Alam (Smallfish, 2009)
Christian Vasseur is a classically trained musician on both classical guitar and lute and his work “Alam” was recorded 16 years ago.
Eleven very clear and fresh compositions, only Christian’s voice and a 14-string-archlute. It is a very pure work. You can hear the deep and slightly dark tone of the archelute, Christian’s fingers moving over the fretboard and his voice, sometimes humming in the background. I think the main difference with Christian’s guitar work is that “Alam” is very structured. You still have the feeling that Christian’s play is very light, free and close to improvising, but at the same time, one feels very save and guided in this compositions.
The second of the two releases by Christian Vasseur on the excellent Humming Conch imprint is the more challenging of them I believe. That’s not to say that this isn’t all about the beauty of the solo classical guitar, because it quite clearly is. There’s a slightly darker and more moody feel here though as well as a more definite classical structure to some of the melodies. Add in a feeling of freeform improvisation and you end up with another incredibly compelling series of compositions that will charm you as much as they will make your ears prick up in fascination. When it’s delicate and melodic it’s simply gorgeous, and when it moves into more abstract territory it you can really feel the sense of everything being on edge. These two styles are represented evenly throughout and the fine balance between them is one of the factors why this is such a fine album. That and the fact that the guitar playing is just plain superb.
About Alam and Poèmes saturniens (TEMPORARY FAULT, 2009)
A French musician who specializes on guitars with a larger number of strings than the norm, and in addition is technically adept on the Renaissance lute; in fact, he exclusively utilizes a 14-string archlute in Alam. These are separate releases but work better if listened consecutively, in order to have a handle on the overall vision of an artist definitely gifted with a consistently throbbing heart besides an irrefutable digital prowess. The lute album is inevitably oriented towards a classical language, but it doesn’t sound decayed or musty for a moment. One appreciates both the structure and the kindness of the pieces, and the composer’s ability to touch the right spots in the listener’s individual mood. Poèmes Saturniens is a good record as well, in which we perceive a slight veil of peripheral influence (Ralph Towner and Egberto Gismonti in particular, if only in short spurts) and lots of nascent suggestions that often remain not completely expressed yet they’re all the more fascinating for this very reason. It is interesting to note that Vasseur works, among other social classes, with disabled adults and children; the human responsiveness necessary for this kind of job indisputably transpires from his unpretentiously emotive music, which he occasionally emphasizes through murmured vocalizations.
About La vie d'un homme (E. Padilla, 2008, Dog Eared Records)
A one of a kind album from one Christian Vasseur, who seems to have no interest in sitting still long enough to be pigeonholed into any recognizable genre.
Fine music for a lighthearted tragicomedy, a versatile troupe of carnival masks going up and down on a funeral carousel that sometimes threatens to spin out of control… but always snaps back into masterly form.
By Eyal Hareuveni
French guitarist Christian Vasseur describes his music as free of any form of dogma and exploring new sound universes with such exotic instruments as archlute, mohan veena, Weissenborn-Harpa and electric 10-string lap-steel guitar. Vasseur brings to this guitar duo an 11-string classical guitar, tuned in quartet-tone, while Serries plays on archtop guitar, often with a bow and objects. Floating Simularities was recorded live at the Kapel Oude Klooster in Brecht, Belgium, and Serries was responsible for the recording, mixing and mastering. The seven intimate and almost chamber duets explore tension-filled, resonant acoustic timbres. Sometimes these duets sketch surreal textures or suggest brief stories, and at other times flirt with delicate, oriental-sounding elements, as in the most enigmatic, beautiful gamelan-like “The Traveller Surprised By His Dream”, with Vasseur adding wordless chanting.
About Eric Mimosa and Christian Vasseur : Les Sans-Ombres
By Jean-Michel Van Schouburg, Onyx August 12, 2024
Deux « archtop » guitares maniées artistement et audacieusement par deux improvisateurs expérimentés, soit deux guitares acoustiques sur lesquelles les six cordes sont tendues sur un chevalet. Il n’y a pas de « s » au pluriel des « Sans Ombre » car, quand il y a zéro ombre c’est comme s’il y en avait une, la langue française ayant déjà commencé son chemin avant que nos ancêtres aient adopté le zéro comme valeur numérale avant le chiffre « un ». Aussi, aucun des deux guitaristes ne fait de l’ombre à l’autre, car ils jouent à égalité sans qu’on puisse distinguer lequel joue ceci et l’autre cela. Eric Mimosa et Christian Vasseur improvisent ensemble neuf morceaux aux titres nonsensiques, à la fois béats et intriguant, comme Serpent Pois-Chiche, Tonitruant Mangemots, Sanglant Papy Roulette, Papillon Biscotte ou Roule Sans-Tête, en forme de contrepoints anarchiques, d’écarts géométriques sauvages, d’obsessions hyperactives, d’ostinatos ribouldingues, de zigzags forcenés, avec force harmoniques, intuitions automatiques, imbrications alambiquées, bruitages détaillés à l’extrême ou rêves suspendus résonnant par-dessus le vide du silence. Mantra ludique du délire guitaristique. Tous deux utilisent des techniques alternatives non conventionnelles pour obtenir une expressivité inédite dans une dimension exploratoire. J’aime particulièrement le Sanglant Papy Roulette, construction collective où leurs doigtés et imaginaires fusionnent merveilleusement , nous donnant ainsi les clés pour que notre écoute plonge plus aisément dans les autres pièces ici proposées, certaines guidées par de véritables narratifs « visuels ». Roule Sans Tête est une autre paire de manches. Christian Vasseur est un activiste incontournable de Mons en Baroeul dans la grande banlieue de Lille. Il nous a déjà livré plusieurs témoignages sonores gratifiants et décortiqués dans ces lignes. Fantastique d’avoir rencontré un super alter-ego comme Éric Mimosa, car la somme de leurs talents est superlative ! Quelle équipe ...
About Christian Vasseur & Charlie Beresford: Les Amoureuses
By John Eyles AllAboutJazz, July 14, 2023
Having first made contact in 2008, after discovering each other's music, English-speaking Charlie Beresford and French-speaking Christian Vasseur, both guitarists, communicated with one another for several years, each keeping in touch with what the other was working on. During this period, Beresford was a member of the quartet Fourth Page and was also developing his links with cellist Sonia Hammond. As well as being a member of the musical collective O.E.S., Vasseur issued a steady flow of limited-edition recordings.
Eventually, in 2018, Beresford suggested that the two could work together. This led to Vasseur arranging a small tour of Northern France plus a performance in Belgium for January 2019. That tour demonstrated that the two worked well together. In February 2020 they recorded their first album, Beresford Vasseur, in concert, in Brussels; it was released in September 2021, on The 52nd, the label Beresford set up with Canadian photographer Gaena da Sylva . That album emphasized the compatibility of Beresford and Vasseur; in the main, their voices were used sparingly and, whether singing or reciting, in English or in French, they were entertaining, and contrasted well with their acoustic guitars.
To a greater or lesser extent, the same is true of the duo's second album, Les Amoureuses, which was released on the Australian label Ramble Records, on 12-inch vinyl or digital download. Of the album's eleven tracks, three are instrumentals, while the other eight have poetry as an introduction, four in English, four in French. Thoughtfully, the poetry is printed on the inner sleeve so that those who do not speak French or English can get a quick translation.
Altogether the album runs for over forty-one minutes, of which four minutes feature poetry. On this album, Vasseur plays lap slide Weissenborn or Weissenborn-harp, so he and Beresford are distinguishable; the sounds they produce meld together well, complementing one another in a very pleasing amalgam. Their understanding of each other and their abilities to play together coherently bear witness to their long acquaintance and their touring together. This album whets the appetite to see them live in concert. Highly recommended.
About CHRISTIAN VASSEUR & CHARLIE BERESFORD LES AMOUREUSES RAMBLE RECORDS RAM 123 – LP - 2023
Claude Colpaert (Revues et corrigées), juin 2023
Steve Lacy disait, en parlant du travail de chroniqueur musical, que lorsque ceux qui écrivent emploient le terme « poésie », c’est que les mots ne suffisent plus à circonscrire la musique. S’agissant de ces « Amoureuses », je serais tenté de me limiter à de tels qualificatifs poétiques, ce qui est d’autant plus facile et évident que les onze pièces du LP, plutôt courtes, accueillent pour certaines d’entre elles la récitation, en français par Christian et en anglais par Charlie, de brefs poèmes qu’ils ont écrits (et qui sont reproduits à l’intérieur de la pochette du disque). Des poèmes, naturalistes pour Christian, plus surréalistes chez Charlie, qui créent d’autres échos, tout aussi subtils, au dialogue musical entamé depuis 2018 par les deux guitaristes, en osmose et au fil d’improvisations musicales conjointes. Chaque titre (Tous les parfums de la terre, Range of Silences, Depicted on Skin, Let Alone Rain, Ce qu’elle aimait, Smoke Rings through Dry Lips, Sa voix, Goudron, Bus Shelter, Les vies mouvantes, Dark Corners) est un instantané succinct qui se réalise au gré des trouvailles instrumentales que les deux musiciens ajoutent à leur technique de guitare classique parfaitement maîtrisée. Charlie Beresford, également illustrateur de la pochette, joue de la guitare acoustique. Christian Vasseur emploie ici une guitare et une harpe weissenborn. La musique, de coloration folk, s’enrichit de résonnances, d’éclats, de rythmes obsessionnels, de décalages ou de glissandi qui visent à atteindre l’essence du lyrisme, sans débordements excessifs : ce n’est pas pour rien que Christian est aussi un grand amateur de haïkus.
About The album Beresford Vasseur (The JazzMann, Ian Mann 2022)
Beresford and Vasseur have worked together before and there’s an easy intimacy and the sense of a shared purpose about these performances. It’s a recording that fits in neatly with Beresford’s catalogue as the duo approach their improvisations in the gentle, fragile, gauzy style that Beresford has very much made his own.
On the beautiful opener “Prelude” the duo’s acoustic guitars combine to create a lustrous, shimmering sound that sometimes reminded me of Ralph Towner, there’s that same sense of space and purity.
“The Path” is initially more abstract and introduces the use of prepared guitar techniques. It also features the voice of Beresford, his improvised English language narrative part spoken, part sung evoking images of the Welsh Borders, the rugged but beautiful area of the UK in which he lives. Essentially “The Path” is an improvised song, the spontaneous nature of its creation rendering it no less effective.
The sound of bowed guitar features on the suitably atmospheric “Within the waning moon”, played by Beresford I’d guess, having seen him increasingly deploying this technique at live shows. It’s augmented by taut, Towner-esque acoustic guitar and eventually by an eerie, high pitched wordless vocal, again I’m surmising but I’d guess that this is Vasseur.
“Thousand and Thousand Thoughts” features the intertwined speaking voices of the two performers, one speaking in English, the other in French. It’s like eavesdropping on two separate conversations and the overall effect is unsettling. Guitar bodies are used as auxiliary percussion, supporting the twinkling, hammered on arpeggios that gently propel the piece.
The introduction to “Ce que j’ai dit avant de me taire” hints at Vasseur’s fascination with Middle Eastern and Oriental music. Despite the French title the lyric is delivered in English, with Beresford’s evocative words complemented by the music, which is dark and sombre. Economical plucking and chording is augmented by eerie bowed drones and Vasseur’s wordless vocalising, which is reminiscent of throat singing.
Prepared guitar techniques simulate the sounds of percussion on the instrumental “Smoky Whisky Ronde”, which combines the influence of minimalism with a kind of twisted Americana. Both Beresford and Vasseur share an affinity with the visual arts (hence the “imaginary road movie” quote) and much of their music, and this piece in particular, would be well suited to an art movie soundtrack, the brief but insistent “A Drill of Sunlight” being another case in point.
“A Drill of Sunlight” segues into the softer “L’hesitation du cerf a la lisiere du bois”, one of the duo’s most beautiful pieces, and again one possessed with a strong visual quality.
“Les grands animaux” features animal like noises generated by both voices and extended guitar techniques, these augmented by an insistent arpeggiated acoustic guitar shimmer. Vasseur’s vocal performance becomes increasingly unhinged as the piece progresses. Even by the standards of this duo this piece ranks as one of the album’s more esoteric offerings.
By way of contrast “5h45” begins prettily as a relatively conventional acoustic guitar duet. The piece takes its title from the opening line of Beresford’s monologue, “at 5h45 traffic builds in the square”. The “burning ship” that adorns the album cover also features in the lyrics.
“Feux follets dans la poussiere” features a mix of pointillist guitar picking and bowed and prepared sounds. It’s one of the most abstract and obviously freely improvised offerings on the disc, but is no less absorbing for that.
It segues almost seamlessly into the courtly “Postlude”, which neatly bookends the performance and the album.
With no item lasting for more than six minutes no single piece or idea is allowed to outstay its welcome. The duo’s style of improvisation is tightly focussed, distilling their ideas into readily digestible bites. Each individual piece is an entity in itself yet part of a broader overall concept. Each item is thoroughly absorbing and the rapport between these two like minded musicians is apparent throughout as they blend a variety of acoustic guitar sounds and techniques with the human voice, instinctively bringing a sense of structure to the spontaneous. Beresford’s approach to improvisation is so unique and personal that he has almost created a sub genre of his own.
Whilst covering this album it’s perhaps timely to note that Fourth Page have also released a new album, “Encore With Masks” on the 52nd imprint. Both the Fourth Page recording and “Beresford Vasseur” are available via the 52nd Bandcamp page.
https://the52nd.bandcamp.com/music
About The album Beresford Vasseur (Orynx blog, Jean-Michel Van Schouwburg, 2021)
Concert enregistré dans la demeure d’un ami guitariste Steve Gibbs et sa compagne Véronique auquel j’ai eu la chance d’assister à St Gilles. Christian Vasseur est un remarquable guitariste et luthiste lillois et son alter-ego Charlie Beresford n’est pas en reste. Tous deux sont crédités guitare/ guitare préparée/ voix. Christian est un activiste insatiable de la musique vivante dans la région lilloise, accueillant des concerts intimes de multiples obédiences créatives. Charlie manie subtilement le « parler chanter » qui convient à la poésie. Les doigts agiles déroulent des arabesques, des cycles bancals, des effets de cloches perdues dans les landes, des arpèges irréguliers et dissonants croisent un effet de mandoline… La musique se situe entre un « folk » libre et folâtre et une musique contemporaine qui laisse son sérieux au vestiaire : un falsetto plane étrangement dans les hauteurs incitant un des guitaristes à jouer un moment à l’archet. Ou ailleurs, un texte sarcastique s’ imprime dans notre perception et réveille en nous la conscience endormie sous le charme. Dans les échanges, il y a ce détail touchant qui nous ramène sur terre ou nous fait rêver. Pour tous ceux qui aiment ces guitaristes utopistes tels John Russell, Pascal Marzan, Raymond Boni, Olaf Rupp, Roger Smith, cet enchaînement de pièces pour deux guitares et esprits frappeurs a bien des atouts. La cohésion des deux guitaristes est organique et naturelle. À l’écoute, l’atmosphère chaleureuse et lumineuse de cette soirée du 17 février 2020 parvient jusqu’à nous. Dans un motif du jeu de guitare, un bref trait de luth oriental parfume un morceau entier. L’art réitéré de la boucle, du cycle, du tournis. Il y a une heureuse respiration dans le déroulement de cette musique, le mariage paradoxal entre le solennel et la simplicité assumée. Excellent !!
About A Step in the Dark Stirs the Fire (AMN Reviews, 2021)
During the pandemic lockdown, noisy Chicago improviser Reid Karris recorded a number of tracks using assorted percussion instruments, such as metal bowls, springboxes, and skatchboxes. He sent these to French guitarist Christian Vasseur, who assembled them into pieces by adding his own mohan veena playing and electronic processing (the mohan veena is something of a cross between a sitar and acoustic guitar). The results are captured on the eleven recordings found on A Step in the Dark Stirs the Fire.
Vasseur’s choice of instrumentation and his deliberate and carefully-paced style stands in contrast to the organized chaos that Karris provides. There is a lilting, folky feel to the album, with Vasseur plucking notes over Karris’s object-based percussion. On the other hand, the two are not opposed to going off on freely-improvised tangents that involve twisted notes, scraping, and psychedelic structures. On at least one track, Vasseur focuses on processing Karris’s contributions into an unusual, but not unpleasant, sound wall. But for the most part, Vasseur represents a semblance of rural normalcy while Karris adds darker and odder textures and sounds in the background.
Karris and Vasseur could be framed as being at different places on multiple axes – country, culture, instrumentation, and style to name a few. A Step in the Dark Stirs the Fire is a hazy, twisted offering that does a remarkable job of narrowing the Euclidian distance between the points representing Karris and Vasseur in this multidimensional space. Strong recommendation.
About Jungle Gentle Jig (Alain Feron, composer, 2019)
What an astonishing and captivating experience it is to discover this CD that transports us into an utterly contemporary sound world, while at the same time conveying a founding essence so primary, and truly ontological, that it plunges us into a time before Time. Listening to this music, we feel our age old roots, buried in the dark night of the passing millennia, coming to life. The pieces proposed here by Steve Gibbs and Christian Vasseur recreate the concept of ritual, but outside of any socially sanctioned form, for the music here refers to no specific known ritual, while embodying them all.
In so doing, these two artists connect with the sense of the Sacred (not as some reliquary of religious spirit, but as an intrinsic human condition - insofar as the species, as far back as we can trace its evolution, has never ceased to be sensitive to the expression of all that is potent, fearful, mysterious, magical and inexplicable). This sense of the Sacred – which assuredly can only be perceived implicitly, but which remains inexhaustible despite all attempts at religious discourse seeking to induce, support or over-determine it – is expressed here in these pieces with a force so self-evident that our adhesion is guaranteed.
This “transcendent” character, musically audible and fully assumed, animates these musicians’ sonic universe, without in any way renouncing the century in which they were born, or the most avant-garde playing techniques. Many of these techniques they invent themselves, and use them as so many expressive tools - not as an aesthetic “end in itself” or an inane and sterile quest for “novelty for the sake of novelty”, but at the service of a profoundly original world of music thinking and discourse.
This “experimental” music, approaching the guitar and lute with such intelligence, inventiveness and sensitivity, carries these instruments far outside the comfortably beaten paths of the known, without a hint of compromise to fashion. For these musicians know perfectly well that fashion “is and always will be … that which goes out of fashion”. Their music, on the contrary, touches on the timeless! The experience is surprising, as our ear is immediately captivated by the mode of listening they offer us, awakening our senses to a vision of a world unknown, yet strangely familiar. A world that speaks of us, echoing a deeper self that we all have inside us, but have simply forgotten …
“Jungle Gentle Jig” is a rare and precious CD that pulls off the tour de force of taking us beyond the fragile frontier of ethos, bearer of emotion, the intangible and the unspeakable (because unnamable). A pure black diamond, an absolute must listen. As for me, I’m going back to it right now!
About A la limite du présent Vol 1, 2, 3 (Claude Colpaert, Illico, 2019)
Cette série de trois cds A la limite du présent : cent millions d’années - barreaux dans le ciel - un amour infini », qu’on trouve également sur bandcamp, et que l’on écoutera de préférence dans l’ordre, Christian Vasseur l’a composée, improvisée, enregistrée et mixée au cours d’une résidence de quatre mois dans les Hauts-de-France. Il y a rencontré de nombreuses personnes, dont des enfants handicapés et des détenus, et leur a fait lire ou dire de brefs poèmes, préexistants ou improvisés, à la façon des haïkus japonais. C’est à partir de là qu’il a construit la musique, isolant les textes, les dédoublant ou les prolongeant de guitare, d’archiluth, de piano, d’harmonium indien ou d’électronique, au fil d’un patchwork au long cours, fait souvent de toutes petites pièces, qui vont au-delà du field recording de par la complexité du montage. Ça parle avec beaucoup de sensibilité d’êtres humains, d’animaux et de nature. La tonalité « folk » du premier volume, celle plus vocale du deuxième et celle plus électronique du troisième, qui s’autorise à quelques prolongements instrumentaux de plus longue durée, forment un tout cohérent, très personnel, original et poétique. Christian Vasseur travaille souvent pour le théâtre. Sa pratique musicale, qui l’a amenée à interpréter du baroque, et à travailler la tradition arabo-andalouse au sein du groupe Djuwel, l’oriente de plus en plus vers l’improvisation et les musiques expérimentales. On jettera également une oreille sur « Valoi », disponible uniquement sur alinamusica.blogspot.com, qui associe Christian, à l’archiluth 12 cordes, joué aux doigts, au plectre et à l’archet en plus de quelques objets et de la voix, à Fred Loisel, aux plaques et tubes de métal (ferrailles récupérées) jouées avec les mains, diverses mailloches, un archet et quelques objets.
About Alam and Poèmes saturniens (Earlabs, 2009)
Christian Vasseur is a classically trained musician on both classical guitar and lute.
The album Alam is a collection of pieces on 14-string arch lute. The 11 pieces on the album are from a 16 year old improvisation recording session, though the music has an overall structured sound. The songs are build from returning patterns that could easily be composed instead of improvised. The classical training that Vasseur followed plays a major role in his work, though there is also room for a more modern approach. The returning patterns indicate an influence from folk and pop music.
As a whole this album shows a talented musician, but for me it lacks the adventure.
From a complete other level is the album Poèmes Saturniens, where Vasseur chooses to play the guitar instead. Besides the guitar he also uses soft vocals and humming as an ingredient for the different pieces here.
The improvised pieces on this album are from a complete different character than those on Alam. Where Alam was based on returning patterns Poèmes Saturniens is free music.
Not only in the play it’s free, also the feeling it leaves is one of freedom, but also sadness shows up in the music. An overall melancholy takes over the mood.
With the fragile guitar playing Vasseur takes us on an emotional journey.
As happens so often this album also got quite some plays during my daily train travels to and from work. What surprised me with this album how the fast passing landscape fits very well to the notes played. The music makes everything slow down. Reminders from the German TV film Heimat: Eine Deutsche Chronik came to mind. A down to earth experience about real people living their lives taking it with the joy and the sadness, the love and the pain, birth and death.
This association makes Poèmes Saturniens an album really worth trying.
If I have to compare Alam and Poèmes Saturniens I can’t say this is a really easy task. They both have their own character and mood. Though, I myself prefer the more experimental character of Poèmes Saturniens. The freedom lures me more into it and there is more to discover.
But both albums together are a lovely introduction to Christian Vasseur’s music.
About Alam (Smallfish, 2009)
Christian Vasseur is a classically trained musician on both classical guitar and lute and his work “Alam” was recorded 16 years ago.
Eleven very clear and fresh compositions, only Christian’s voice and a 14-string-archlute. It is a very pure work. You can hear the deep and slightly dark tone of the archelute, Christian’s fingers moving over the fretboard and his voice, sometimes humming in the background. I think the main difference with Christian’s guitar work is that “Alam” is very structured. You still have the feeling that Christian’s play is very light, free and close to improvising, but at the same time, one feels very save and guided in this compositions.
The second of the two releases by Christian Vasseur on the excellent Humming Conch imprint is the more challenging of them I believe. That’s not to say that this isn’t all about the beauty of the solo classical guitar, because it quite clearly is. There’s a slightly darker and more moody feel here though as well as a more definite classical structure to some of the melodies. Add in a feeling of freeform improvisation and you end up with another incredibly compelling series of compositions that will charm you as much as they will make your ears prick up in fascination. When it’s delicate and melodic it’s simply gorgeous, and when it moves into more abstract territory it you can really feel the sense of everything being on edge. These two styles are represented evenly throughout and the fine balance between them is one of the factors why this is such a fine album. That and the fact that the guitar playing is just plain superb.
About Alam and Poèmes saturniens (TEMPORARY FAULT, 2009)
A French musician who specializes on guitars with a larger number of strings than the norm, and in addition is technically adept on the Renaissance lute; in fact, he exclusively utilizes a 14-string archlute in Alam. These are separate releases but work better if listened consecutively, in order to have a handle on the overall vision of an artist definitely gifted with a consistently throbbing heart besides an irrefutable digital prowess. The lute album is inevitably oriented towards a classical language, but it doesn’t sound decayed or musty for a moment. One appreciates both the structure and the kindness of the pieces, and the composer’s ability to touch the right spots in the listener’s individual mood. Poèmes Saturniens is a good record as well, in which we perceive a slight veil of peripheral influence (Ralph Towner and Egberto Gismonti in particular, if only in short spurts) and lots of nascent suggestions that often remain not completely expressed yet they’re all the more fascinating for this very reason. It is interesting to note that Vasseur works, among other social classes, with disabled adults and children; the human responsiveness necessary for this kind of job indisputably transpires from his unpretentiously emotive music, which he occasionally emphasizes through murmured vocalizations.
About La vie d'un homme (E. Padilla, 2008, Dog Eared Records)
A one of a kind album from one Christian Vasseur, who seems to have no interest in sitting still long enough to be pigeonholed into any recognizable genre.
Fine music for a lighthearted tragicomedy, a versatile troupe of carnival masks going up and down on a funeral carousel that sometimes threatens to spin out of control… but always snaps back into masterly form.
About Poèmes saturniens and Alam (Christian Roth, 2009, Humming Conch)
The focus on “Poèmes saturniens” is melancholia without any doubt and from the first tune. Christian Vasseur created 10 highly emotional, warm and beautiful pieces of classical-orientated guitar music. Not as separated songs, more like a journey or dance.
Melody fragments come and go like moods or thoughts, some return like memories or reminders, some fade away and are gone forever. Most of the time, “Poèmes saturniens” is a very reserved and fragile work. But in some situations it gets loud, explosive, improvised and noisy. Just like a unexpected mood swing.
For me, the earlier mention of dance is a good image to get this wondeful piece of music. It is very fragile and balanced on the one hand, but also highly dynamic and expressive.
Christian Vasseur’s work “Alam” was recorded 16 years ago. Eleven very clear and fresh compositions, only Christian’s voice and a 14-string-archlute. It is a very pure work. You can hear the deep and slightly dark tone of the archlute, Christian’s fingers moving over the fretboard and his voice, sometimes humming in the background. I think the main difference with Christian’s guitar work is that “Alam” is very structured. You still have the feeling that Christian’s play is very light, free and close to improvising, but at the same time, one feels very save and guided in this compositions.
Not to forget the strong link to John Dowland and Elizabethan lute music with virtuosity transferred to the present days.
The focus on “Poèmes saturniens” is melancholia without any doubt and from the first tune. Christian Vasseur created 10 highly emotional, warm and beautiful pieces of classical-orientated guitar music. Not as separated songs, more like a journey or dance.
Melody fragments come and go like moods or thoughts, some return like memories or reminders, some fade away and are gone forever. Most of the time, “Poèmes saturniens” is a very reserved and fragile work. But in some situations it gets loud, explosive, improvised and noisy. Just like a unexpected mood swing.
For me, the earlier mention of dance is a good image to get this wondeful piece of music. It is very fragile and balanced on the one hand, but also highly dynamic and expressive.
Christian Vasseur’s work “Alam” was recorded 16 years ago. Eleven very clear and fresh compositions, only Christian’s voice and a 14-string-archlute. It is a very pure work. You can hear the deep and slightly dark tone of the archlute, Christian’s fingers moving over the fretboard and his voice, sometimes humming in the background. I think the main difference with Christian’s guitar work is that “Alam” is very structured. You still have the feeling that Christian’s play is very light, free and close to improvising, but at the same time, one feels very save and guided in this compositions.
Not to forget the strong link to John Dowland and Elizabethan lute music with virtuosity transferred to the present days.
About Djuwel (Isabelle Delaby, NORD)
La musique arabo-andalouse est un monument qui a traversé les siècles sans rien perdre de sa superbe. Personnellement, je suis fan. Du coup, quand j’entends parler d’un album intitulé: Arabo-andalou revisité, je piaffe et me précipite vers le lecteur.
Quel défi! Revisiter une musique plusieurs fois centenaire! Ma curiosité est à son comble.
Compositions et nouba d’Alger se partagent l’album. Les cordes s’en donnent à cœur joie: oud, violoncelle, guitare. Le chant est nettement à l’avant-plan, très clair. Le contraste entre l’instrument oriental et les instruments « occidentaux » est intéressant, j’aime particulièrement l’apport des sonorités chaudes du violoncelle.
À vrai dire, plutôt que d’une expérimentation, il s’agit d’une rencontre: celles des cultures arabes et occidentales, avec la création de ce trio à l’occasion d’une soirée de soutien à Florence Aubenas et Hussein Hanoun al Saadi. À l’heure où les médias ne parlent que de « chocs des cultures », ce trio, qui veut prouver que la rencontre est possible et belle, mérite toute notre attention.
Habib Guerroumi est le dépositaire de la tradition arabo-andalouse dans ce groupe. Il travaille sur ce répertoire depuis de nombreuses années et ses interprétations dépouillées ont fait sa réputation. Cette simplicité est d’ailleurs largement perceptible sur cet album.
Christian Vasseur et Jean-Christophe Lannoy constituent le pôle occidental du trio. Le premier est compositeur et guitariste. Il a une longue expérience en musique ancienne. Le second est violoncelliste classique. Ce côté « classique » est également prégnant sur le CD.
L’album est très beau, très travaillé, parfois un peu froid. Il lui manque cette effusion, cette expressivité propre aux musiques orientales mais, malgré ce bémol, c’est une réussite.
La musique arabo-andalouse est un monument qui a traversé les siècles sans rien perdre de sa superbe. Personnellement, je suis fan. Du coup, quand j’entends parler d’un album intitulé: Arabo-andalou revisité, je piaffe et me précipite vers le lecteur.
Quel défi! Revisiter une musique plusieurs fois centenaire! Ma curiosité est à son comble.
Compositions et nouba d’Alger se partagent l’album. Les cordes s’en donnent à cœur joie: oud, violoncelle, guitare. Le chant est nettement à l’avant-plan, très clair. Le contraste entre l’instrument oriental et les instruments « occidentaux » est intéressant, j’aime particulièrement l’apport des sonorités chaudes du violoncelle.
À vrai dire, plutôt que d’une expérimentation, il s’agit d’une rencontre: celles des cultures arabes et occidentales, avec la création de ce trio à l’occasion d’une soirée de soutien à Florence Aubenas et Hussein Hanoun al Saadi. À l’heure où les médias ne parlent que de « chocs des cultures », ce trio, qui veut prouver que la rencontre est possible et belle, mérite toute notre attention.
Habib Guerroumi est le dépositaire de la tradition arabo-andalouse dans ce groupe. Il travaille sur ce répertoire depuis de nombreuses années et ses interprétations dépouillées ont fait sa réputation. Cette simplicité est d’ailleurs largement perceptible sur cet album.
Christian Vasseur et Jean-Christophe Lannoy constituent le pôle occidental du trio. Le premier est compositeur et guitariste. Il a une longue expérience en musique ancienne. Le second est violoncelliste classique. Ce côté « classique » est également prégnant sur le CD.
L’album est très beau, très travaillé, parfois un peu froid. Il lui manque cette effusion, cette expressivité propre aux musiques orientales mais, malgré ce bémol, c’est une réussite.
About Alam and Poèmes saturniens (Textura, 2009)
A lute recording obviously doesn't date in the way one does that's tied to developing digital technologies. Even so, one can still detect clear differences between these excellent Christian Vasseur albums newly issued by Humming Conch, with the 1993 Alam recording preceding Poèmes saturniens by a decade. Firstly, it should be noted that only the former is lute-based; Vasseur recorded the latter using a number of different guitars—flamenco, steel-string, etc. Nevertheless, there's a noticeable difference in style between the two, with the first slightly more “in the tradition” and the second broader in the techniques used and more “modern” in spirit.
The lute is so inextricably bound up with traditions associated with John Dowland and Elizabethan lute music, it's almost impossible not to hear Alam in light of such references. Even so, Vasseur's material sounds fresh and unconstrained by tradition. One of the most appealing things about the album is the patience he demonstrates in his playing; no piece feels hurried, and the more ponderous settings (e.g., “A grey ground dedicated to an anonymous English composer,” “Waiting for the bells”) are given as much time to unfold as they require; noteworthy as well is the control shown in modulating between extreme tempo changes (e.g., “Peter Gabriel's dream”). The sound is crystal-clear and uncluttered, with 14-string-archlute the sole instrument (though near-subliminal vocal accompaniment appears during “No try to tie the butterfly (for Nathalie)”) and its deep and dark qualities on full display. Having formally studied the lute for many years with a number of renowned teachers in Paris and Toulouse , Vasseur is clearly a virtuoso, but technique is used in the service of the work. The chime of his rapid picking at times makes the lute resemble a banjo in “Peter Gabriel's dream,” while his supplicating over a pedal point drone in the title piece is memorable too.
Poèmes saturniens is as beautifully recorded as Alam and as expressive—melancholy, yes, but more aggressive and turbulent by comparison. On the 2003 recording, Vasseur turns his attention to guitar, specifically flamenco, nylon-string, and parlor-steel string, plus Indian zither. The beautiful Spanish-styled setting, “Fragments,” showcases the full range of his talents in a single, nine-minute setting. Resonant picking, deftly-handled tempo shifts, and a dramatic vocal-enhanced theme combine to give the opening piece a powerful wistfulness. Much like a peaceful memory reflection returning to consciousness before just as quickly being swept aside, “Il y a…” appears twice as an interlude before closing the album in its complete form. As mentioned, the range of techniques is broader in the later recording. In “E.A.P.,” his whispered voice emerges like an incantatory spirit while scraped strings briefly transform the piece into a dazzling mini-vortex. He strikes the instrument's body while rapidly picking through “Echappée belle,” scratches and scrapes the strings to create a drunken, woozy effect in “Epanchement du songe,” and accompanies frenetic guitar flurries with animal-like grunts during the fast sections in “Le rire de Démocrite.”
A lute recording obviously doesn't date in the way one does that's tied to developing digital technologies. Even so, one can still detect clear differences between these excellent Christian Vasseur albums newly issued by Humming Conch, with the 1993 Alam recording preceding Poèmes saturniens by a decade. Firstly, it should be noted that only the former is lute-based; Vasseur recorded the latter using a number of different guitars—flamenco, steel-string, etc. Nevertheless, there's a noticeable difference in style between the two, with the first slightly more “in the tradition” and the second broader in the techniques used and more “modern” in spirit.
The lute is so inextricably bound up with traditions associated with John Dowland and Elizabethan lute music, it's almost impossible not to hear Alam in light of such references. Even so, Vasseur's material sounds fresh and unconstrained by tradition. One of the most appealing things about the album is the patience he demonstrates in his playing; no piece feels hurried, and the more ponderous settings (e.g., “A grey ground dedicated to an anonymous English composer,” “Waiting for the bells”) are given as much time to unfold as they require; noteworthy as well is the control shown in modulating between extreme tempo changes (e.g., “Peter Gabriel's dream”). The sound is crystal-clear and uncluttered, with 14-string-archlute the sole instrument (though near-subliminal vocal accompaniment appears during “No try to tie the butterfly (for Nathalie)”) and its deep and dark qualities on full display. Having formally studied the lute for many years with a number of renowned teachers in Paris and Toulouse , Vasseur is clearly a virtuoso, but technique is used in the service of the work. The chime of his rapid picking at times makes the lute resemble a banjo in “Peter Gabriel's dream,” while his supplicating over a pedal point drone in the title piece is memorable too.
Poèmes saturniens is as beautifully recorded as Alam and as expressive—melancholy, yes, but more aggressive and turbulent by comparison. On the 2003 recording, Vasseur turns his attention to guitar, specifically flamenco, nylon-string, and parlor-steel string, plus Indian zither. The beautiful Spanish-styled setting, “Fragments,” showcases the full range of his talents in a single, nine-minute setting. Resonant picking, deftly-handled tempo shifts, and a dramatic vocal-enhanced theme combine to give the opening piece a powerful wistfulness. Much like a peaceful memory reflection returning to consciousness before just as quickly being swept aside, “Il y a…” appears twice as an interlude before closing the album in its complete form. As mentioned, the range of techniques is broader in the later recording. In “E.A.P.,” his whispered voice emerges like an incantatory spirit while scraped strings briefly transform the piece into a dazzling mini-vortex. He strikes the instrument's body while rapidly picking through “Echappée belle,” scratches and scrapes the strings to create a drunken, woozy effect in “Epanchement du songe,” and accompanies frenetic guitar flurries with animal-like grunts during the fast sections in “Le rire de Démocrite.”
About Poèmes saturniens (Cyclic Defrost, 2009)
Christian Vasseur is a bit of an oddity for Cyclic Defrost. He just scrapes through the “interesting music” front with tracks like ‘Epanchement du songe’ which holds a strange, mangled precision that unfolds to reveal a guitarist who can wield patterns of dissonance. This ten track album of guitar instrumentals includes many pieces that flesh out his excursions through classical guitar and flamenco, displaying a honed, controlled sense of improvisation.
Christian Vasseur was something of a self taught guitarist until he met a few knowledgeable teachers and has since extended his range into the lute. It is not difficult to hear on Poemes Saturniensand the name-checking of the guitar craftsmen is a dead giveaway of his dedication. However, what resonates more clearly through this recording is a sense of Vasseur’s humanity. You might take it as a stretch that the tonal qualities of music express anything beyond exactly that, in a scientific sense. For a generation which has been raised on the graphic representation and manipulation of sine waves, that the conveyance of waves through space is the sum total of music’s form seems to be the all of it. That Vasseur has spent 15 years teaching musical theatre to children, adults, teenagers in custody and disabled children is also somewhat of evidence for the type point I am trying to make.
To say Poemes Saturniens displays the essence of a deep humanity is about the best description I could give you, beyond cataloguing the techniques of instrumental guitar he uses. If a comparison is in order, think Fripp with more improvisation, or Pat Metheny without the clichés. October 26, 2009
Christian Vasseur is a bit of an oddity for Cyclic Defrost. He just scrapes through the “interesting music” front with tracks like ‘Epanchement du songe’ which holds a strange, mangled precision that unfolds to reveal a guitarist who can wield patterns of dissonance. This ten track album of guitar instrumentals includes many pieces that flesh out his excursions through classical guitar and flamenco, displaying a honed, controlled sense of improvisation.
Christian Vasseur was something of a self taught guitarist until he met a few knowledgeable teachers and has since extended his range into the lute. It is not difficult to hear on Poemes Saturniensand the name-checking of the guitar craftsmen is a dead giveaway of his dedication. However, what resonates more clearly through this recording is a sense of Vasseur’s humanity. You might take it as a stretch that the tonal qualities of music express anything beyond exactly that, in a scientific sense. For a generation which has been raised on the graphic representation and manipulation of sine waves, that the conveyance of waves through space is the sum total of music’s form seems to be the all of it. That Vasseur has spent 15 years teaching musical theatre to children, adults, teenagers in custody and disabled children is also somewhat of evidence for the type point I am trying to make.
To say Poemes Saturniens displays the essence of a deep humanity is about the best description I could give you, beyond cataloguing the techniques of instrumental guitar he uses. If a comparison is in order, think Fripp with more improvisation, or Pat Metheny without the clichés. October 26, 2009
About Poèmes saturniens (Philippe RENAUD, Impro jazz)
Christian Vasseur est un guitariste plutôt renommé pour son travail avec des troupes de théâtre, ou de danse et collabore avec des vidéastes. Ces "poèmes saturniens" consistent en dix pièces improvisées (sauf une composée pour un spectacle du théâtre de l'Embellie, d'après Georges Hyvernaud) sur différents types de guitare, essentiellement acoustiques, et à la cithare. Cette musique dégage d'emblée une sérénité et une volupté comparable à celle que développait Albert Gimenez dans sa période acoustique. Christian Vasseur possède un toucher qui lui permet de charger en émotion intense les thèmes qu'il développe, autant d'histoires qu'il laisse passer entre ses doigts et qui s'échappent ("Echappée belle") pour former un tout, une construction aussi modulée que fragile. L'univers poétique de Christian Vasseur passe parfois par l'humour et la dérision, jusque dans les titres ("Questions d'un somnambule", "Soleil noir") mais il sait aussi se faire convaincant dans des passages proches d'un classicisme radical qui part à la dérive ("Epanchement de songe").
About Alam (Kevin Richards, 2009, Foxy Digitalis)
It seems that Christian Vasseur was way ahead of the curve when it comes to the recent renaissance in improvised string music with neo-classical leanings. The pieces on “Alam” were performed in 1993 on a 14 stringed archlute, whose wide harmonic range is well utilized to its furthest reaches; thankfully he shows perfect restraint throughout each piece and uses this extended palette in a manner that doesn’t detract from the overall composition. Each work is created with such detail and played with such finesse that it mimics the cathedral-like performance space that the production’s reverb implies. The occasional breaths, string buzzes, and vocalizations add to the sonic atmosphere of passionate intensity in which this music was performed. This is definitely something you need to get if you enjoy Jozef Van Wissem or certain Leo Brouwer compositions. 9/10
Christian Vasseur est un guitariste plutôt renommé pour son travail avec des troupes de théâtre, ou de danse et collabore avec des vidéastes. Ces "poèmes saturniens" consistent en dix pièces improvisées (sauf une composée pour un spectacle du théâtre de l'Embellie, d'après Georges Hyvernaud) sur différents types de guitare, essentiellement acoustiques, et à la cithare. Cette musique dégage d'emblée une sérénité et une volupté comparable à celle que développait Albert Gimenez dans sa période acoustique. Christian Vasseur possède un toucher qui lui permet de charger en émotion intense les thèmes qu'il développe, autant d'histoires qu'il laisse passer entre ses doigts et qui s'échappent ("Echappée belle") pour former un tout, une construction aussi modulée que fragile. L'univers poétique de Christian Vasseur passe parfois par l'humour et la dérision, jusque dans les titres ("Questions d'un somnambule", "Soleil noir") mais il sait aussi se faire convaincant dans des passages proches d'un classicisme radical qui part à la dérive ("Epanchement de songe").
About Alam (Kevin Richards, 2009, Foxy Digitalis)
It seems that Christian Vasseur was way ahead of the curve when it comes to the recent renaissance in improvised string music with neo-classical leanings. The pieces on “Alam” were performed in 1993 on a 14 stringed archlute, whose wide harmonic range is well utilized to its furthest reaches; thankfully he shows perfect restraint throughout each piece and uses this extended palette in a manner that doesn’t detract from the overall composition. Each work is created with such detail and played with such finesse that it mimics the cathedral-like performance space that the production’s reverb implies. The occasional breaths, string buzzes, and vocalizations add to the sonic atmosphere of passionate intensity in which this music was performed. This is definitely something you need to get if you enjoy Jozef Van Wissem or certain Leo Brouwer compositions. 9/10
About Poèmes saturniens and Alam (Alex Young, furthernoise, 2009)
Christian Vasseur is a French guitarist who works with a range of instruments. His work is inspired by impressionist composers like Debussy, as well as more contemporary musicians and progressive rock bands.
Poèmes Saturniens (Conch 002) and Alam (Conch 003) are two of his releases on Humming Conch. Both feature a wide array of stringed instruments: the fourteen string arch lute, flamenca guitar, ten string guitar, and Indian zither all make an appearance. Poèmes Saturniens centres around a main theme, Il y a... which climaxes in the last piece, Il y a quelque chose qui m'échappe. The first piece, Fragments begins with elegant harmonics and a deceptively sanguine sensibility, and then drifts towards the melancholic as the piece evolves, setting the theme for the entire recording, as idiosyncratic moments give way to an overall downcast atmosphere.
While Fragments and Il y a quelque chose qui m'échappe act as the cornerstones of the recording, the third piece, E.A.P. employs a range of dejected harmonics ringing out over contemplative melodies. Confusion reins in the fourth piece, Echappée belle, in which the tempo drifts wildly to-and-fro, with some percussive use of the guitar's body.
Questions d'un somnambule has a similar feeling, with heavier hammer-ons towards the end leading into Epanchement du songe, which uses detuned sounds and later rougher bowed sounds to create almost noise-based timbres. Percussive taps of the instrument's body act as responses to the grinding backwash of sound, using repressed energies culminating in silence. Le rire de Démocrite brings us back to more familiar territory, like an angry Villa Lobos, but with occasional guttural vocal sounds. Alam, released as Conch 003 however it was recorded before Poèmes Saturniens in 1993 and has eleven pieces. Alam is far more conventional than the work on Poèmes Saturniens, as it still draws on fluid arrangements of melancholic motifs, but touches on baroque structures rather than the contemporary. It's a beautiful work for its simplicity and acts as a great introduction to Vasseur's work.
Poèmes Saturniens and Alam are both charming works, with exquisite instrumentation and engaging composition. Poèmes Saturniens has an incredible sense of freedom, while Alam feels more traditional. They feature a wealth of musical directions guided by improvisational intelligence, yet always kept human by Vasseur's occasional humming and exploration of the instrument.
Both these recordings are available from the Humming Conch shop.
Christian Vasseur is a French guitarist who works with a range of instruments. His work is inspired by impressionist composers like Debussy, as well as more contemporary musicians and progressive rock bands.
Poèmes Saturniens (Conch 002) and Alam (Conch 003) are two of his releases on Humming Conch. Both feature a wide array of stringed instruments: the fourteen string arch lute, flamenca guitar, ten string guitar, and Indian zither all make an appearance. Poèmes Saturniens centres around a main theme, Il y a... which climaxes in the last piece, Il y a quelque chose qui m'échappe. The first piece, Fragments begins with elegant harmonics and a deceptively sanguine sensibility, and then drifts towards the melancholic as the piece evolves, setting the theme for the entire recording, as idiosyncratic moments give way to an overall downcast atmosphere.
While Fragments and Il y a quelque chose qui m'échappe act as the cornerstones of the recording, the third piece, E.A.P. employs a range of dejected harmonics ringing out over contemplative melodies. Confusion reins in the fourth piece, Echappée belle, in which the tempo drifts wildly to-and-fro, with some percussive use of the guitar's body.
Questions d'un somnambule has a similar feeling, with heavier hammer-ons towards the end leading into Epanchement du songe, which uses detuned sounds and later rougher bowed sounds to create almost noise-based timbres. Percussive taps of the instrument's body act as responses to the grinding backwash of sound, using repressed energies culminating in silence. Le rire de Démocrite brings us back to more familiar territory, like an angry Villa Lobos, but with occasional guttural vocal sounds. Alam, released as Conch 003 however it was recorded before Poèmes Saturniens in 1993 and has eleven pieces. Alam is far more conventional than the work on Poèmes Saturniens, as it still draws on fluid arrangements of melancholic motifs, but touches on baroque structures rather than the contemporary. It's a beautiful work for its simplicity and acts as a great introduction to Vasseur's work.
Poèmes Saturniens and Alam are both charming works, with exquisite instrumentation and engaging composition. Poèmes Saturniens has an incredible sense of freedom, while Alam feels more traditional. They feature a wealth of musical directions guided by improvisational intelligence, yet always kept human by Vasseur's occasional humming and exploration of the instrument.
Both these recordings are available from the Humming Conch shop.