2015年にセルフ・タイトルの2CDアルバムでデビューしたノルウェー出身のパフォーマー/サックス奏者/コンポーザー、Mette Henrietteの約8年ぶりのECMセカンド・アルバム。

本作は、トリオの会話による特異で独創的な表現に貫かれたアルバムで、ピアノにヨハン・リンドヴァル、チェロにユディット・ハマン、そしてメット自身がサックスで参加し、メッテの室内楽は、繊細かつ強烈な相互作用によって、集中的かつ探求的な質を証明している。モチーフと繰り返されるパターンは、簡潔で複雑な物語を結晶化させ、明らかにしてゆく。サックス奏者であり作曲家でもある彼女は、「このアルバムはある一瞬を鮮明に捉えている。そしてどんどん動いてどこかに向かっていく。動いているすべてのものを聴くことができ、私のイマジネーションがいかに存在するかがわかります。レコーディングの前に、私はじっくりとこの新しい音楽に集中する時間を持ちました。最初から、さまざまなフォーマットで成長、拡大、縮小できるような素材を作りたかったのです。以前の作品とは根本的に異なっています」。オスロのムンク美術館で録音され、スタジオ・ラ・ビュイソンヌで、プロデューサーのマンフレッド・アイヒャーとの密接な協力により完成した、トリオの静かな質感と豊かな音色への深い探求を正確かつ明瞭に表現している。

【パーソネル】Mette Henriette(ts, composition) Johan Lindvall(p) Judith Hamann(violoncello)

発売・販売元 提供資料 （2022/11/25）

When Norwegian saxophonist Mette Henriette issued her eponymously titled double-length ECM debut in 2016, its ambition was revealed by ten years worth of compositions recorded by a trio and a larger ensemble. Drifting is performed solely by her trio. It includes returning pianist Johann Lindvall and cellist Judith Harman replacing Katrine Schiott. In the six-year interim between albums, Henriette studied, taught, and performed extensively. In 2017 she undertook two artist residencies: One at Edvard Munchs atelier in Ekely, near Oslo, and a second at the Southbank Center in London. Drifting is gentler, quieter, but no less challenging than its predecessor. Its compositions reside in the amorphous aural terrain between jazz, folk, and contemporary classical. Sound -- tone, color, vibration, duration, and timbre -- has always been key in Henriettes aesthetic M.O. Opener "The 7th Wave" finds Lindvall playing a repetitive modal chord as Harman adds fragmental yet seamless melody on top as Henriette fills the margin with economical phrasing on her alto and engages the other instruments in rounds. "Across the Floor begins similarly, although this time Lindvalls repetitive arpeggiatic statement is appended first by Henriettes expressive yet minimal phrases, then by Harmans low-register bowing adding balance, depth, and dimensionality. Its nearly pastoral in feel, but its undercurrent of implied turbulence adds force. "I Villvind commences with dissonant, droning cello as Henriette finds space between its tones to deliver elegant evocations of refracted harmony, and Lindvall cascades around and through the pair. Henriette moves her playing outside. The title cut is introduced in unison. Henriette offers a phrase buoyed by Lindvall as Harman elongates, shapes, and underscores its lilting lyricism. "Indrifting You" is both tender and abstract. Henriettes tone recalls Ben Websters as Lindvall maps the spectral chordal sequence amid poignant fills and accents. Harman plays underneath, offering tense arco flights in the space that exists between rhythm, harmony, and texture. "Oversoar" and "A-Choo" find the saxophonist and cellist playing in restrained, laid-back drones in odd metric intervals around contrasting, nearly static piano vamps, achieving tonal tension. Before one can figure out just how they might erase that boundary, Lindvall gently exhorts them to play the skeletal lyric in unison. "Indrifting You" weds assonant tonalities and dynamics. Henriettes alto is at its most spiritual and lyrical as the pianist paces her with a limited tonal palette and Harman hovers above, elevating the lyricism in the saxophonists playing. "Oo " and "Solsnu" are exercises in textural and tonal possibilities that evoke violent events in the natural world. The brief closer "Divining" is at once a tone poem and a sonic prayer. Lindvalls four-note thematic pulse highlights cello and alto saxophone breathing together in octave unity. Though much shorter and less varied than her outstanding debut, Drifting is easily just as musically sophisticated and spiritually resonant. ~ Thom Jurek

Rovi