Reviews of concerts:
Atelier Tampon, Paris, 21 Nov 2008
gee wee, 22.11.2009 (http://culturopoing.com/Musique/Concert+a+l+Atelier+Tampon+Ramier+21nov+-1398)
En seconde partie, Sebastian Lexer, jeune pianiste allemand, et Seymour Wright, non moins jeune (ou alors un tout petit peu) saxophoniste anglais. Très bons également, très fins, très inventifs, dans un style beaucoup plus minimaliste - mais peut-être moins accordés, pas forcément moins à l'écoute l'un de l'autre, mais d'univers presque antagonistes. Le pianiste avait disposé dans son piano tout un attirail de capteurs acoustiques relié à un lap-top qui amplifiait ou étendait les sons. Finalement, son travail dans l'instrument était très subtil (contre la corporéité de Blondy) et rendait musicalement proche peut-être d'un Murail, musique spectrale, une musique de nappes sonores. A l'inverse donc, le saxophoniste à l'effort dans une rude expérimentation presque formelle sur les éléments de son saxophone : aspiration plus ou moins forte dans les seuls bec et bocal (haut de l'instrument, détachable du corps) pour plaquer un fond de boîte de conserve et en obtenir des vibrations, rotation d'un petit jouet (deux petites pales en plastique souple) pour frapper le fond de boîte ou l'anche, et obtenir des sons venant résonner dans une bouche plus ou moins ouverte, puis toute une palette de jeu au bec, avec ou sans l'instrument derrière, avec plus ou moins de contrainte, convoquant très souvent à des cris d'oiseaux, piaillements, sons gutturaux, roulés ou plus directs. L'association des deux sources sonores, très distinctes, ne permettait pas de ressentir une réelle interaction (il aurait été intéressant de rebalancer le jeu du sax dans le traitement informatique du pianiste, ce qui n'apparaissait que quand le sax jouait suffisament fort pour atteindre les micros du piano), et cela jouait en "défaveur" du pianiste, plus discret qu'on aurait presque voulu découvrir en soliste. Malgré donc cette nette séparation nappe posée sur l'herbe/oiseaux picorant le pique-nique, le concert était excellent, procurant un réel plaisir musical, et une approche sensiblement différente de celle du premier groupe.
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Freedom of the City festival 2009: 4 May 2009
"In short, the performance by Sebastian Lexer and Seymour Wright was fantastic, full of surprises, sudden shifts in colour, pace and texture and no end of technical ability." (http://www.thewatchfulear.com/?p=987)
"The day had begun with what might just have been the best performance of the festival though- the pairing of Sebastian Lexer (piano+) and Seymour Wright (alto sax). My admiration for this duo was already very high, and they pushed on again here, producing a tense, vibrant set that twisted and turned all over the place. From the quiet opening as Lexer let a series of small computerised squiggles drift away at low volume Wright layered a few low buzzes over the top by vibrating a metal disc by blowing through his sax mouthpiece against it. Soon after though, as Lexer built the beginnings of a high pitched drone by stroking the strings of the piano Wright calmly put his sax back together and suddenly unleashed a series of gull-like cries from his instrument, bringing an immediate, powerful response from Lexer’s reverb soaked piano. Lexer’s piano+ set-up seems to be based on microphones inside the piano catching the acoustic sound and passing it through the software in it his laptop and back out through a speaker so that it combines with the natural acoustic sound of the piano. As Wright let rip with his loud calls his sound was also picked up by Lexer’s mics and fed through the computer processes, adding a further ghostly layer to proceedings.
Although the music of this duo was full of surprise and sudden right-angle changes I was immensely impressed at the degree of control they had over what they were doing. This was beautifully crafted music that lived on the edge, but was carefully pushed there by the musicians themselves. Later in the performance, Wright brought out his trademark radio, which was as usual pushed into the bell of his sax. At just the right moment though, as Lexer flew through a beautiful but complex pattern of fast moving sound Wright retuned the radio from its slightly detuned abstraction into a few moments grab of a local pop station, and (in a perfectly Roweian moment) a few bars of The Black Eyed Peas Where is the love? spilt out, cut short abruptly by a crashing chord from Lexer and Wright slamming his hand down to collapse the radio’s telescopic antenna which was amusingly protruding from the bell of his sax.
This set, like the last I saw from these two just kept me absolutely riveted throughout. Far from being predictable they challenged and provoked each other into every twist and turn and yet also sounded completely at home together. I have no idea how long they played but it seemed nowhere near long enough, such was my involvement in the music, working my ears around every nook and cranny, diving headfirst into each sudden chasm or burst of activity. I have said before that I can hear the spirit of AMM in the Lexer/Wright duo and that hasn’t changed, but rather than this being the direct result of the sound of a piano/radio etc being present it is more down to the way they are used, the flow, the structure, that overall feeling…. Just great anyway. Not much more to say."
Richard Pinnell (http://www.thewatchfulear.com/?p=989)
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"Kick off at 2 pm – a duo with Seymour Wright and Sebastian Lexer – alto saxophone and piano/electronics. I've seen Wright before a few years ago and didn't take to his assembling/dismantling of his instrument routine. That said – today I felt that I got what he was on about. Wright's a deadpan/zen character in a smart suit, sitting with his cohort Lexer in meditative silence before starting – crackles of sound from Lexer, Wright opening up on alto mouthpiece and various additions. Small, imperceptible breaths, spurts of air – it all sounds a bit precious until you go with it. This is musical exploration deep below the surface of the melodic/harmonic line, delving into the properties of discrete units of sound. Once the alto was assembled, Wright continued his forensic investigations of its physical properties, using a small radio inside the bell, a tambourine balanced on the same as Lexer produced complementary sounds from the piano and further processed through his rig. A riveting performance – visual as well as aural. I detect – though I could be wrong – a wry humour behind the mask. After all, he is one of us provincials, from Derby way. We do wry... Great start to the afternoon..."
Rod Warner, May 07, 2009 (http://soundsandtexts.blogspot.com/)
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INTERLACE: 1 June 2009
So last night’s show included three duo performances for piano and saxophone. The first came from Lexer himself in his ongoing, exceptional duo with Seymour Wright. This was the third or maybe fourth time I had seen them play in the last few months, and previous occasions were great experiences. This time I had only just arrived in the room, got my coat off and sat down when the music began, and I found myself taking in the grandeur of the hall and my surroundings rather than really concentrating on the music, so it took a few minutes to really engage. They were great again though, just so in tune with one another, to the point that much of the real power of their performance comes when one or the other deliberately tries to push the music out of its stride, turning things on their head. The last time I saw them, at the Freedom of the City Festival it seemed to be Seymour that took the provocative role more, but last night it seemed to be Sebastian, as several times he dramatically attacked his piano with sudden bursts of aggression right after periods of calm in the music.
Despite these moments of relative violence the performance was more subdued than I have heard the duo play before though. Lexer used a lot of live digital processing of his sound, particularly in the early stages of the set to create a drifty, floaty sound to his playing, which he then regularly undermined with sudden shifts. Wright began as I have noticed he always has done of late, with the main body of the saxophone on the floor in front of him. Generally speaking as a performance progresses he will tend to gradually put the sax back together and towards the end play it as “normally” as he ever does in this kind of group. Last night he was more restrained than I have seen him recently, still making the right decisions, picking moments for his sudden intrusions, but there just seemed to be a few less of them in this performance, as if allowing the resonance of the massive concert hall space to find its own room in the music alongside them. Certainly there were a few moments when Wright played with the acoustics of the room. Putting his sax down at one point on the wooden floor caused a light thud to echo around the place, so he used this to his advantage, rocking the instrument on the floor at one point, dragging it from one foot to the other on another. There was also a great moment midway through the set when a brief two-note xylophone sound came from somewhere. Anyway great stuff again, thoroughly engaging and captivating, very much an another chapter in an ongoing musical relationship.
Richard Pinnell (http://www.thewatchfulear.com/?p=1111)