(2020) Snowdrops - Volutes


Review:
Two things stand out immediately about Volutes: first of all, it’s a more satisfying recording than 2019’s Manta Ray; secondly, Mathieu Gabry and Christine Ott might want to consider making violist Anne Irène-Kempf a permanent Snowdrops member, so significant is her contribution to the album. The first point is easily accounted for: as soundtrack material, Manta Ray required Gabry and Ott to tailor their material to Phuttiphong Aroonpheng’s 2018 film; when creating Volutes, Snowdrops was able to create material sans extra-musical baggage — which isn’t to suggest that such references are entirely absent. It’s natural, for example, to listen to the 13-minute “Odysseus” and visualize details from Homer’s epic tome. Gabry and Ott are listed as co-composers, with two pieces credited to each alone. The two overlap in another way, too, as both contribute piano to the album (on separate tracks, however), with Ott otherwise playing her trademark Ondes Martenot and Gabry mellotron and MS2000. The seven performances, recorded at Wurth Museum Auditorium in Erstein in July of 2019, show that the two have developed an advanced intuitive relationship since forming Snowdrops in 2015. Despite being a recent addition, Irène-Kempf, her background in classical and baroque, demonstrates a kindred degree of connection, so much so one would presume her tenure with the duo began earlier than it did. The music the three create is at times breathtakingly intimate. How integral she is to the album is indicated by the fact that its first track, “Comma (Variation 1),” begins with a near-minute of her sumptuous playing unaccompanied. As this elegiac neo-classical meditation advances, she’s joined by the Ondes Martenot, its hushed sigh a beautiful complement to the string instrument, and mellotron, its textures providing a warm backdrop. In Gabry’s dramatic “Trapezian Fields,” Ott punctuates his lilting acoustic piano with warbling flourishes while Irène-Kempf ornaments their expressions with plucking and bowing. Mellotron lovers will definitely warm to the flute-like tones with which “Ultraviolet” gets underway, but the piece has much more going for it than a single element. Here as elsewhere, his partners embellish the material magnificently, with Ott adding swooping Ondes Martenot cries and Irène-Kempf intensifying the emotional ache with mournful strings. Downplaying the electronic dimension of some of the other material, “Éloge de L’Errance” often plays like a duet for viola and piano, with mellotron emerging as a woodwinds-styled presence midway through. The impression created is of three kindred spirits creating in real-time, each sensitively attuned to what the others are doing. As powerful as such pieces are, it’s “Odysseus” that is the album’s most striking creation. As mentioned, Snowdrops’ treatment suggests parallels to the epic voyage undertaken by the Greek mythological hero when it follows emphatic chords with an evocative, wide-ranging exploration teeming with sinuous interactions. There are many striking things about Volutes, the intimate rapport between the three musicians foremost among them, but certainly another worth mentioning is the warmth of Ott’s Ondes Martenot. Anyone associating it with electronics of a cold and alienating nature will have that belief thoroughly overturned by her expert handling of the instrument.





Tracklist:
01 - Comma (Variation 1)
02 - Trapezian Fields
03 - Ultraviolet
04 - Éloge de l'errance
05 - Inception
06 - Odysseus
07 - Comma (Variation 2)


Media Report:
Genre: ambient, classical
Format: FLAC
Format/Info: Free Lossless Audio Codec, 16-bit PCM
Bit rate mode: Variable
Channel(s): 2 channels
Sampling rate: 44.1 KHz
Bit depth: 16 bits