Jérôme Noetinger – Intensior Corda Sonus CD

Chocolate Monk continues it’s slow ascent into credibility with our
third “proper” compact disk release. This time from french Revox maestro
Jérôme Noetinger.”In 2019, I was invited by Dylan Nyoukis and
Karen Constance to play at the Colour out of Space festival in Brighton.
A unique moment of incongruous music in a friendly international
gathering of freaks of all kinds. Unforgettable. I played a solo on
Revox B77 and then Dylan asked me to do a CD for his Chocolate Monk
label. After some thought, I decided to offer three compositions rather
than try to reproduce the past moment of an improvised concert. I’m
talking here about the composition of fixed sounds (to quote Michel
Chion) or musique concrète to use Pierre Schaeffer’s original
terminology. I think I’ve spent more time in my life improvising than
composing, and no one has ever reproached me for it.The Latin title
refers to the equivalence between the tension of a string and the
elevation of the sound, but also to the link between the intensity of
the lived and of the musical. Will the intensity of the former influence
that of the latter? But it’s also the tension on the trigger and the
intensity of the reaction to it. The tension-release form is one of the
most classic in musique concrète, and even more so since the advent of
computer-assisted music. In Les objets inaudibles [2018], I decided to
politicise this form, to create a struggle between these elements. In
Erase my head [2019], it is the accumulation, erasure and diversion of
random fragments that is at play. Then in Eloge des ruines [2020], it’s a
return to the founding gesture of musique concrète, that of sampling
existing material, in this case records from my personal record library.This CD is dedicated to the memory of Kiko C. Esseiva.”- Jérôme Noetinger
“Les objets inaudibles” Commissioned by INA-GRM, first played on
19th January 2019. Musique concrète in four parts composed in 2018 in
the composer’s studio.Starting with, a GRM commission received on
25th June 2018, and the urgent need to find a title. Ending with, a
discursive journey through the art of concealment, with the discovery of
unexpected voices in some of Pierre Schaeffer’s Études aux Objets
read at reduced speed, the use of Matthieu Saladin’s application La
Capture de l’Inaudible, an app which keeps only the frequencies removed
by MP3 encoding (i.e. the inaudible, according to the ideology that
governs this technology), the increase in police violence, the impact of
a 357 Magnum, and not to mention the intense pleasure of destroying a
piano.“Erase my head”A live-to-air performance originally commissioned for Radiophrenia, created in Glasgow on 19th May 2019.30
minutes = 1 800 seconds and at the speed of 38 centimeters per second =
684 meters.
 A loop of 570 cm, so that’s 15 seconds at the speed of 38
centimeters per second, i.e. a length of 2.85 meters. A mixing desk with
several inputs like CD players, cassette players, radio… each played
randomly. And then recording, processing, layering, erasing, hiss and
tape delay on the live loop.“Eloge des ruines”Commissioned
by Radio-France for Alla Breve by Anne Montaron. First broadcast on 30th
August 2020. Musique concrète composed in the composer’s studio between
January and May 2020. Dedicated to Sean Baxter (1970 – 2020).A
suite of five miniatures, each two minutes long, based on the idea of
slowing down and collapsing, using sound samples taken from vinyl
records, with the playback speed changed from 78 to 0 rpm, as well as
accelerated playback of old magnetic tapes. The work on this material is
the result of the accumulation, editing, mixing and filtering of all
these materials.Edition of 150
“Jérôme Noetinger delivers a haunting and immersive listening
experience with this album, showcasing his expressive prowess with the
humble Revox B77 reel-to-reel tape recorder. The album’s Latin title,
which roughly translates to the sound of the heart becomes more intense,
foregrounds the tensions and intensities contained on the three
compositions featured on this release, blending musique concrète
composition and improvisation via live tape manipulation.It begins
with “Les Objets Inaudibles”, a four-part suite that feels like a
descent into a sonic abyss. Drawing from Pierre Schaeffer’s Études Aux
Objets, Noetinger collages tape effects, gunshots and the violent
destruction of a piano into a disquieting assemblage. Ghostly voices,
filtered through an app that isolates the frequencies lost during MP3
encoding, mingle with slack piano wires and animalistic cries. Each
movement ends with jarring gunshots, punctuating the chaos with a sense
of finality. “Erase My Head” is a live performance from 2019, where
Noetinger manipulates a tape loop in real time. Over 30 minutes, layers
of sound accumulate, transform and are erased, creating a dynamic
interplay of repetition and mutation. The piece shifts from violent,
saturated noise to more spacious, delay-heavy textures, demonstrating
Noetinger’s ability to craft effective structure from seeming
randomness.The album closes with “Eloge Des Ruines”, a suite of five
two minute miniatures crafted from samples taken from vinyl records in
Noetinger’s collection, often with the playback speed altered. Combined
with the variable speed of the magnetic tape, these pieces revel in
cacophonous jumble and temporal chaos. Across all three works, Noetinger
creates evocative worlds as thought-provoking as they are sonically
rich. “Les Objets Inaudibles” in particular, is a potent example of
musique concrète at its most poetic and visceral.”- Leah Kardos, The Wire Magazine