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Beyond Noend with
Errante is a most interesting recording by F. Gerard Errante, a clarinetist,
composer, and author based in Virginia. Errante, who also is a professor of music at
Norfolk State University, has performed extensively all over the world, and was second
prize winner in the international Gaudeamus competition for interpreters of contemporary
music.
The music on this CD
evokes a lot of images. It is filled with music of seeming contradictory elements; at
once, dark and mysterious, at the same time bright and optimistic. It is jagged and
disjointed, and at the same time structured and cognizant. At times it is psychedelic and
even psychotic, yet it is also full of strength and sanity, and there does appear to by a
internal logic at work throughout each and every piece on this disc. The names of the
pieces themselves evoke a lot of emotion and intrigue- names like "Silent
Tears", "Kaleidoscope", and "Twilight." Special effects
such as echo and delay are used throughout to augment what is at times, clearly a 20th
century classical approach that harks back to inventions in atonality and chromaticism
made famous by composers such as Schoenburg and Stravinsky.
As dissonant as this music gets, it is also at the
same time largely accessible. In fact much of Erranti's music is strangely beautiful, and
eerily peaceful. A work of obvious conviction brought forth with a lot of heart and
courage. Recommended. |
All About Jazz Flibbert Goosty |
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Ten compositions for
acoustic and electronic clarinet performed by superb clarinetist F. Gerard Errante. These
works, three of them first-time recordings, blur the line between contemporary classical
music and jazz. Errante has a beautiful and ringing tone, well suited to his repertoire.
Several of the compositions, including Jane Brockman's Tagore Songs (1999) and
Joshua Chan's Innerutterance (1991) are ethereal settings for clarinet and
synthesized sounds. F. Gerrard Errante and John Toomey's Silent Tears (1999) is
an evocative work for clarinet, effects processor, and prerecorded electronics. Also
included is Jack Delano's Cantabile (1953, a transcription by the composer of his
Viola Sonata), Jody Nagel's Kaleidoscope (1969), Mark Carlson's Twilight
(1990), Peter Terry's 'Captured Light' (1999), John Toomey's Interlude
(1998) for soprano sax and piano, Robert Scott Thompson's The Widening Gyre
(1999), and Carl Della Peruti's Lyric Prelude (1990). |
Electronic Music Foundation
November, 2000 |
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I always jump to the chance
of hearing a new Errante CD. I know it will be a real feast of exciting, exotic and
often daring sounds and contemporary techniques produced both on clarinet and by
electronic means, all performed to perfection. This CD is everything one has come to
expect from Gerard Errante and much more! In a surprising and somewhat curious
juxtaposition he has framed the larger contemporary/electronic works with light but truly
delightful little clarinet and piano works which are real gems. The first track, Silent
Tears composed jointly by Errante and Toomey is dedicated to the memory of the late
photographer and humanitarian Phil Egert. It is a deeply moving piece which
describes an event relayed to Errante by Phil's son which he heard for the first time at
his father's funeral in 1998. The event took place during one of Phil's trips to
Ethiopia. I will not elaborate here as I feel it is important to hear the work as
you read the details of the event.
Jack Delano's Cantabile (1953) is the second movement of his Sonata
for Clarinet and Piano in A minor transcribed from his viola sonata. It
features a folk-like melody evocative of Puerto Rican 'jibaro' music. I was so
impressed with this movement that I will be seeking the score for the entire sonata.
In Tagore Songs for clarinet and live
electronics, composer Jane Brockman manages to cleverly merge the clarinet part with the
electronics to create a truly integrated work with strong Indian influences. In
contrast, Jody Nagel's Kaleidoscope has much less determinate form. There are seven
computer generated sections where the performer decides on the order in which they are
performed.
I highly recommend this CD to all clarinetists. |
Australian
Clarinet and Saxophone
June, 2000 Philippa
Robinson |
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F. Gerard Errante is an
accomplished clarinetist who has performed extensively in the United States and
internationally, focusing on contemporary composition. Here, he is featured in a highly
attractive set of what appears at first blush to embody 'classical crossover,' but which
is actually an exciting blend of black stick, synthesizers, and electronics in settings
ranging from pastoral to vigorously adventurous. Errante boasts a full, sweet tone, and he
negotiates some prickly passages that test his abilities. Pieces include a daring and
emotional memorial to humanitarian Phil Egert, entitled Silent Tears; the second
movement of a gorgeous sonata by Jack Delano originally written for viola; and a
fascinating movement from Mark Carlson's The Hall of Mirrors, incorporating a
kind of fusion of pop and classical elements. The electronic elements are tastefully
added, so that the overall effect has a serious, though engagingly modern ring. three and a half stars |
All-Music Guide
September, 2000 Steven
Loewy |
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The ten tracks on this 61.5
minute CD show an artist who has depth in both traditional and experimental clarinet
music. His experimental side features mildly processed clarinet blended with digital
effects (both taped and performed) in an elegant manner. His traditional side features
over-the-top sweet, melancholy songs, sans lyrics. He clearly has no problem exploring
both of these musical worlds in a concise, professional way. If you have no problem
exploring both of these worlds, then enjoy this well-tempered and well-studied collection. |
The Improvisor |
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Should you fail to turn your
volume up to the maximum level during Silent Tears, there's a good shot you may
not even hear the first half of it. Since it's the first track on the record, Silent
Tears succeeds in forcing the listener to play close (if not always rapt) attention
to Errante's music. My favorites, time and again, end up being the pieces featuring John
Toomey on keyboards and synthesizers. They're not deep or overly complicated, but possess
a wonderful prettiness (particularly Cantabile and Interlude). While
similar moments of beauty pop up in the five Toomey-less tracks, there's also a good deal
of banality or schlock, with Twilight among the sappiest instrumentals ever
composed for a non-Disney project. It's the type of composition that makes you want
to break the CD in a thousand pieces, then maybe hug it. For the most part, though,
this is a nice hour of pretty music that's hard to dislike. It's not like the work of more
adventurous jazz artists (not even on the rare experimental track, like Innerutterance)
whose pieces will set your mind reeling with thought, but it's great for those days when
you're looking for rest from thought and from rock. |
Splendid Ezine
August 14, 2000 |
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If your perception of contemporary music
is coloured by intimations of ear-crunching dissonance, multiphonics in tandem with
electronic howls, and a general impression that effects take precedence over content, then
think again. This CD from F. Gerard Errante is the most mellifluous and beguiling
selection from the avant-gard that you are likely to encounter. Those who were
present for the clarinet conferences in Ghent and Budapest will remember him as a volatile
performer of contemporary music, and it is good to renew acquaintance with his talent via
this CD.
Ten pieces comprise a
recital of just over an hour's duration, and even within the parameters of
piano/synthesizers and electronic enhancement there is much variety and sheer virtuosity
on display. Cantabile (Jack Delano) draws on Puerto Rican folk music with a
plaintive melodic line, helped by a haunting ostinato piano accompaniment, while Twilight
(Mark Carlson) is almost in popular song mode. Both these pieces are with piano, as
is Interlude (John Toomey), which was originally composed for soprano sax and has
affinities with the works of pianist Bill Evans. Other pieces by Jane Brockman, Jody
Nagel, Peter Terry, Robert Scott Thompson, and Carl Della Peruti have electronic
enhancement and computer generated devices using reverb, percussive elements and tape
components. The composers are not familiar names in this country, but to say that
all these works are more than interesting is almost a denigration of the fare on offer.
Unlike much new music these neither intimidate nor
antagonise, but persuade and insinuate their way into one's musical conscience. The
programme presented is in places tough, muscular and macho, but all is as if filtered
through honey. Played with an attractively warm rich sound and an exemplary
technique Gerard Errante takes us by the hand into the 21st century, so that the challenge
of new music is not the throwing down of a clanking iron gauntlet, but the sophistication
of a suede glove.
Recording facilities must have been a delight to the
soloist, for seldom has there been a better mix and match of all the elements involved:
electronic, percussive and acoustic. At no time is the soloist swamped by what
could have been formidable forces. The discovery of rare and exotic flavours can
turn one's palette n new directions, and the CD has the same effect for those in search of
new clarinet experiences.
Further information can be obtained from Drimala
Records as above, and early investigation is recommended. Their music is exclusively
distributed via the internet. |
Clarinet
and Saxophone
Summer, 2000 Gordon
Lewin |
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Here are two instruments, and a plethora
of sounds. Gerard Errante does a lot with his clarinet: icy shrieks, moans like a wooden
flute, and effects I can only call "otherworldly". John Toomey does the rest:
exotic synth whoops on Silent Tears, then a deep click like a bass drum. Gerard
answers with echoes, a crystalline purity that seems to cry. Cantabile has the
same tone gone cheery: Toomey plays a calm cycle on piano, as Gerard takes a walk down the
scale. Two moods so far – and eight to go.
Each tune is by a different composer; most have their background in classical
music. Tagore Songs, inspired by a Nobel-winning poet, has a spooky reed, peeking
over Toomey’s drone. The synth turns hokey (one part sounds like video-game music!)
while Gerard remains placid – and mysterious. Kaleidoscope belongs on the
Hearts of Space radio show, with bubbling harp and whispering keys. Then suddenly it
screams with a dozen looped clarinets; a kaleidoscope, all right. Twilight
is a soft romantic moment, which also describes Interlude (Toomey’s tune
inspired by Bill Evans.) Innerutterance pits jagged synth loops against
Gerard’s acidity; sounds like ‘50s electronic music. And we leave with a wishful
sob: Gerard is alone for Lyric Prelude, telling his tale in an echoed room. It
leaves you stunned, the tune and the album: there’s very little jazz, but a whole lot
of heart. |
JazzUSA,
July, 2000 John
Barrett |
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Errante is a clarinet player and composer
who explores the
lyrical interface between electronics and free improvisation.
Although, duo ballad performances with piano like Cantabile, Twilight
and Interlude confirm his engagement with the more traditional harmonic continuum
of players like Bill Evans, it is in the works that combine clarinet and synthesizer
voicing that show Errante breaking radical new ground, from the oscillating dirge of
Innerutterance to the split tone over-blowing explored in the four
sections of the miniature suite The Widening Gyre. |
Exclaim,
May 8, 2000 David
Lewis |
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Contemporary music virtuoso Gerry Errante
needs no introduction; he has been and continues to be at the forefront of new music for
clarinet and electronics, from the early clarinet and prerecorded tape pieces through
music in today's interactive digital world. Errante has performed throughout the
world, turning us all on to the myriad possibilities of performing with electronics and
inspiring numerous composers to dedicate works to him.
His latest recording contains ten works, all except for one written in the
1990s, and presents an extremely wide variety of musical styles, from the somber, haunting
multiphonics of Silent Tears, written by Errante in collaboration with John
Toomey, to the rhythmic, Indian- inspired Tagore Songs of Jane Brockman, to Mark
Carlson's Twilight, which hearkens back to the popular standards of the 1930s and
1940s.
A tragic and moving story inspired the composition of Silent
Tears, and Errante creates a reverent spaciousness and contemplative mood at
the outset through his beautifully paced and executed multiphonics; a middle electronic
section, composed by Toomey, provides the framework for a clarinet improvisation, and the
piece returns to the quiet multiphonics at the end.
Each of the other works with electronics pursues its
own timbral identity, which results in an extremely rich palette of colors manipulated
through a wide variety of compositional techniques. Jane Brockman's Tagore Songs
are inspired by fragments from the writings of Bengali poet and philosopher Rabindranath
Tagore. A vocal-like quality and quasi- improvisational rhythmic drive characterizes
these pieces; Errante swings.
Jody Nagel's Kaleidoscope consists of seven
accompanimental sections which coexist with corresponding clarinet melodies, and which may
occur in any order according to the parameters of the computer algorithm. The effect
is an hors d'oeuvre tray of moments for contemplation and aural ingestion: quite literally
'sound bites.'
Captured Light, on the other hand, is
intended to be dramatic: according to the composer, "a dreamscape where the
clarinetist negotiates between the dreamworld of the synthetic and the warmth of the
acoustic clarinet." Errante spins out long flowing lines over expansive reverb-
soaked prerecorded electronic pedal points. The second section features rhythmic
punctuations which provide the complementary counterpoint for Errante's cascading
arpeggiated lines. In Joshua Chan's Innerutterance, the music unfolds from
a lonely melancholic lament, then explodes with a shower of delay effects and synthesized
sounds. This is a serious and intense piece, and Errante contributes considerable
angst to the texture.
Robert Scott Thompson's The Widening Gyre
uses the clarinet and tape in counterpoint, not as a clarinet solo accompanied by
tape. Peppery splashes interspersed with multiphonics and other colored long
tones make up the sonic landscape of this work.
One critical challenge of performing works with
prerecorded electronics is to create an overall musical shape which minimizes the lack of
immediacy inherent in the medium. What is stunning about this recording is
Errante's masterful sense of timing, his ability not only to create a compelling musical
line on the clarinet, but through his timing and subtle control of shape to breathe life
in the immutable prerecorded sounds, thus giving us the illusion that some new wondrous
analog organism has emerged from the primordial swamp of "binarism." This
of course is Errante's forte, as he has honed his skills through performances of hundreds
of such pieces throughout his trailblazing career.
Achieving sonic unity while dealing with the plethora
of timbres produced electronically as well as the processed and acoustic clarinet sounds
presents unique difficulties for the engineers and sound editors, and occasionally the
radical shifts in soundstage from one work to the next detract from the feeling of the
whole as a unified musical statement. This unsettled feeling is exacerbated by the
fact there is almost no lead time between pieces.
The Delano, Brockman, and Carlson works are single
movements from larger compositions. While this excerpting allows for a greater
variety of music to be included on the recording and simulates a recital atmosphere, I
tend to view the sound recording as a permanent archival medium and would therefore prefer
to have the opportunity to contemplate these works in their entirety; the remote
facilitates excerpting.
Although I prefer the works with electronics,
Errante's sensitivity carries over in the purely acoustic works (Cantabile, Twilight,
Lyric Prelude), and the results are convincing musical statements which flow with
a great natural ease. This recording will appeal to many palates and overall is very
lyrical, rich in melodic line and timbral variety. |
The
Clarinet,
June, 2000 Eric
Mandat |
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Clarinetist F. Gerard Errante offers more
than just his warm, sensual tone on Beyond Noend with Errante. The mix of
musical styles -- from Bill Evans-inspired jazz shadings to avant-garde electronic
concoctions to Middle East evocations -- displays the possibilities of the instrument in
Errante's unique personal manner. The electronic selections are terrific. Tagore
Songs sparkles with creative effects and lays a firm foundation for Errante's
carefree, improvisatory meanderings, while Captured Light, with synthesizer, is
dramatic and energetic. Errante's own run-on and lengthy Silent Tears is
the least engaging composition of the bunch. The Widening Gyre, for
clarinet and computer-generated tape, is the most esoteric work on the disc, and its
varied sounds are hypnotic and engrossing. Among the traditional compositions Cantabile,
a tuneful song transcribed by Delano from his 1953 Viola Sonata, is simple and beautiful.
Toomey's nostalgic, slightly bluesy Interlude also makes a favorable
impression. The music here is good, and Errante's performance of it is superb.
Fans of solo literature and certainly clarinetists will want this disc in their
collection. |
The
American Record Guide,
May/June, 2000
Allen
Gimbel |
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Those with an adventurous streak for
exploring new music will harvest plenty of rewards listening to Beyond Noend with
Errante on the Drimala label. F. Gerard Errante, a brilliant clarinetist who
finds time to direct the Norfolk Chamber Consort, teach at NSU and travel around the world
making music, has gathers works by gifted contemporaries. Joined by pianist John
Toomey and the occasional electronic music support, he weaves a tapestry that is at once
accessible and utterly fresh.
Mark
Carlson's Twilight is especially tuneful and haunting, but John Toomey's Interlude
is not far behind. Errante can take things out on the edge as in Thompson's The
Widening Gyre, but the overall tenor of the disc is one of wistful lyricism with the
occasional patina of very sophisticated jazz.
My only complaint was a set of program notes which
required me to number the works so I could match tracks with titles and notes. Other
than that, I was mesmerized. For an hour of pieces you've never heard before, but I
suspect will want to hear again, pour yourself a glass of wine, find a great sound system
and a comfy chair, and prepare to be convinced that wonderful new music is being written
and splendidly performed. |
Port
Folio,
Feb. 22-28, 2000 Raymond
Jones |
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