Martín MATALON (b.1958)
*Trame IV, for piano & 11 instruments (2001) [14:42]
+Trame II, for harpsichord & 6 instruments (1999) [15:49]
#Trame VIII, for marimba & 6 instruments (2008) [19:07]
*Florence Cioccolani (piano); +Maude Gratton (harpsichord); #Eriko Minami
(marimba)
Les Siècles/François Xavier Roth
rec. Le Méjan, Arles, Frances, 15 November 2009; La Coursive, La Rochelle,
France, 20 November 2008 (IV). Live recordings. DDD
ACTES SUD MUSICALES ASM059 [49:48] 
Argentinian composer Martín Matalon has spent the last two decades in Paris
and seems to have dropped the acute accent from his first name for general
use. That makes no difference to his music of course, and this release by
the French multimedia publishing house Actes Sud is actually Matalon's seventh
CD in all, by various labels.
Information on Matalon and his music is limited by the design of the CD case
- a foldout card design, without a booklet as such - and by the rather excessive
space given over to trendy design elements - the CD looks more like a jazz
release than anything - and to the musicians. Fortunately Matalon's
website fills in all the missing detail, albeit chiefly in French, and
surprisingly without audio samples.
Matalon's Trames series is currently at XI, with the earliest dating
back to 1997. The title comes from Argentinian author Jorge Luis Borges' poem,
'La Trama' ("Las dos son piezas de la trama que abarca / el círculo sin
principio ni fin,") published in 1981. Matalon translates it as 'weft',
though 'fabric' is perhaps more meaningful. Most of the Trames are
for soloist and chamber ensemble, although three are full-blown concertos
with a standard orchestra. All last between 15 and 25 minutes approximately.
The three Trames on this recording have in common a massive drive and
vigour, as well as a certain rumbustiousness that sometimes borders attractively
on anarchy. Matalon's inventive, throbbing music lies intriguingly somewhere
between Thomas Adès and Elliott Carter. The lightly jazz-inflected Trame
IV consists of five continuous movements based on the idea of "reinterpretation"
(variation). The surprise epilogue brings things to an open-ended 'conclusion'.
Trame II is memorable for its rather bizarre scoring, what Matalon
describes as "une orchestration fauviste": solo harpsichord, bass
clarinet, trombone, percussion - including an African udu and a steel drum!
- bandoneón (which may be substituted by a Hammond organ, though thankfully
not here), viola and double-bass. Trame VIII, the most modernist-sounding
of the three, also consists of five movements played without a break. In the
prélude, interlude and postlude, the marimba blends in
with the other instruments, with its solo role restricted to the second and
fourth sections.
Sound quality is excellent, with the three-dimensionality of a live performance
somehow captured by the recording engineers, minus the de rigueur coughing,
shuffling and clapping.
French chamber orchestra Les Siècles, under their founder conductor François-Xavier
Roth, give an enthusiastic, sassy performance of all three works, with many
fine individual contributions in the busy solo parts. The pianist in Trame
IV and the harpsichordist in Trame II are required to play almost
constantly at a literally blistering pace.
There is no getting away from the fact that this disc is ingloriously short,
but in musical and technical terms at least it is worthy of consideration
by anyone keen on exciting contemporary music that retains a recognisable
direction, rhythms and even bits of tune.
Byzantion
Collected reviews and contact at reviews.gramma.co.uk
Exciting contemporary music that retains a recognisable direction, rhythms
and even bits of tune.