Home » Jazz Articles » Album Review » Sylvie Courvoisier – Mark Feldman Quartet: Hotel Du Nord
Sylvie Courvoisier – Mark Feldman Quartet: Hotel Du Nord
By
Hotel Du Nord is shot through with heightened sensitivity. In the wake of To Fly To Steal (Intakt, 2010), the group did a series of European tours and this experience of playing together has resulted in heightened musical understanding.
The quartet's musical currencywith the original lineup intactis as informed by Twentieth Century chamber music as it is by creative improvised music, which means their work is about deft strokes as much as rhetorical flourishes. Pianist Sylvie Courvoisier's "December 2010" highlights this for all of her co-leader's heat. The compositional framework incorporates plenty of space, and all four members make the most of it. Drummer Gerry Hemingway is a master craftsman in the art of working with a group, while bassist Thomas Morgan's economy has the effect of making the ear yearn for what he's going to play next.
The slightly unsettling piano motif which is a recurrent factor in violinist Mark Feldman's "Plan A" renders his work positively unearthly. However, that impression is counteracted by Morgan, whose work is both exploratory and the sun around which the other players seem to orbit. In the suspension of momentum, a point made stark by Hemingway's skittering brushes, the tension builds as a consequence of players falling silent. When Hemingway solos it's with a singular lightness of touch, whilst Feldman's solo is as close to trenchant as anything this group produces.
"Inceptions" is a stark example of where the group's currently at. Courvoisier goes under the piano lid to supplement the sonic palette, and utilizes a low area of the keyboard for further emphasis, while Feldman's sly yet tonally true lines have the perhaps unsurprising effect of counterbalancing Morgan's work. Hemingway's playing is of an order which suggests this is molecular musicor at least it would if it wasn't for the fact that this is a group which always has a firm collective identity.
The quartet's musical currencywith the original lineup intactis as informed by Twentieth Century chamber music as it is by creative improvised music, which means their work is about deft strokes as much as rhetorical flourishes. Pianist Sylvie Courvoisier's "December 2010" highlights this for all of her co-leader's heat. The compositional framework incorporates plenty of space, and all four members make the most of it. Drummer Gerry Hemingway is a master craftsman in the art of working with a group, while bassist Thomas Morgan's economy has the effect of making the ear yearn for what he's going to play next.
The slightly unsettling piano motif which is a recurrent factor in violinist Mark Feldman's "Plan A" renders his work positively unearthly. However, that impression is counteracted by Morgan, whose work is both exploratory and the sun around which the other players seem to orbit. In the suspension of momentum, a point made stark by Hemingway's skittering brushes, the tension builds as a consequence of players falling silent. When Hemingway solos it's with a singular lightness of touch, whilst Feldman's solo is as close to trenchant as anything this group produces.
"Inceptions" is a stark example of where the group's currently at. Courvoisier goes under the piano lid to supplement the sonic palette, and utilizes a low area of the keyboard for further emphasis, while Feldman's sly yet tonally true lines have the perhaps unsurprising effect of counterbalancing Morgan's work. Hemingway's playing is of an order which suggests this is molecular musicor at least it would if it wasn't for the fact that this is a group which always has a firm collective identity.
Track Listing
Hotel Du Nord; Dunes; Plan A; December 2010; Little Mortise; Inceptions; Gowanus.
Personnel
Mark Feldman: violin; Sylvie Courvoisier: piano; Thomas Morgan: bass; Gerry Hemingway: drums.
Album information
Title: Hotel Du Nord | Year Released: 2011 | Record Label: Intakt Records
Comments
About Sylvie Courvoisier – Mark Feldman Quartet
Related Articles | Concerts | Albums | Photos | Similar ToTags
Sylvie Courvoisier – Mark Feldman Quartet
CD/LP/Track Review
Nic Jones
Intakt Records
Gerry Hemingway
Thomas Morgan
Hotel Du Nord