REVIEW: KENT CARTER - BEAUVAIS CATHEDRAL

 

KENT CARTER - BEAUVAIS CATHEDRAL (Emanem Disc, 2001):

Technical data

Recorded at the music room of the Chateau de Maignelay (except 12 recorded at a radio station in Paris)

Recorded by Daniel Deshay and Kent Carter.

Mastering and design by Martin Davidson

Track List: 1- Cello Solo: Pinch, 2- Dance Two: Rhapsody, 3- Play Time, 4- Stretch, 5- Bass Time For Max, 6- Chateau de Maignelay, 7- Other Fingers, 8- Cello Solo 2: Beginnings, 9- Michala Dance, 10- Bass Suite Nº1: Fingers, 11- Beauvais Cathedral, 12- Thumps, 13- Steps, 14- Tarragona

Free Improvisations done by cello and double bass master Kent Carter during 1974 and 1975 , recorded at the Chateau de Maignelay. This are spontaneous ideas that MR. Carter had in his brain while playing in that moment. You can listen a lot of variations in his music, going from melodic lines using the lower spectre of the instrument sound to some high pitched sounds. But it is incredible how coherente and yet experimental is the music that Kent Carter does...how he has in mind certain structures nad he constantly uses them and breaks them and puts them together in a different way creating a collage on its own. While being certainly strange in some moments, the music here is not as difficult for the normal ear as sometimes improvised or spontaneous music can be. In fact the sound of the cello and double bass is so warm and the mastery of the instrument that Carter has are enough to guarantee a great result. Favorite tracks: "Cello Solo 1: Pinch", "Bass Suite No 1" and "Tarragona". Contact: www.emanemdisc.com