Improvisation 

“In 2016, we invited Marc Vilanova to deliver a work for the Digital Catalogue of Audiotalaia. Impressed by the overwhelming quality and potential creativity by this Catalan musician, we encouraged him to be a part of our catalogue. After a few months and short emails, Vilanova suggested the possibility of releasing a collaboration between him and Canadian cellist Émilie Girard-Charest that would be recorded by the Swiss Sound Designer Robert Torche. Intrigued by the proposal, we agreed to it. The collaboration would take place in a short period of time and would be recorded in the best conditions by Torche.

Researching in the Audiotalaia Catalogue Vilanova, Girard-Charest and Torche realized that there are no acoustic recordings whatsoever in the whole archive. That gave both acoustic musicians a scope on what to explore, a pretext to improvise towards an end. The original premise was to aim to sound as "digital" as possible in order to create a kind of "acoustic electronic music" during the sessions that took place in the summer 2016.

They acknowledge, in their own words, that electronics have a tradition to extend, stretch, modify and even imitate acoustic instruments. With this project, their aim has been to do the opposite: with their acoustic instruments, they searched for forms and languages that recalled electronic music.

The outcome is these 8 tracks pristinely recorded and beautifully selected from a 1-hour and a half recording. Moreover, and this is very special for the catalogue, it is always a pleasure to have works fully inspired, conceptually or aesthetically with the catalogue and the artists represented on it.” Edu. Comelles.

Ceres | cs478. 2015

Cello: Sergio Castrillón
Piano, Objects, Electronics: James Andean
Saxophones: Marc Vilanova
Recorded, mixed & mastered: James Andean
Special Thanks: Centre for Music and Technology, Sibelius Academy, University of the Arts Helsinki.