CD ECM Records Terje Rypdal: Q.E.D.

1993

Terje Rypdal - chitara electrica
Borealis Ensemble , dirijor Christian Eggen

Terje Rypdal :
- Q.E.D. ( Quot Erat Demonstrandum) Op. 52
- Largo Op. 55

Terje Rypdal, the Norwegian electric guitarist born in 1947, has been writing symphonic music for more than 20 years. The recent compositions on this disc are not in 'cross-over' vein: the contrasts in Q. E. D. between complex, aggressive music and warm melodiousness are no greater, and no more incongruous, than they might be in much mainstream contemporary composition: and even the strongly exploited differences of tone-colour between the guitar and an ensemble dominated by strings and woodwind are not used to celebrate the incompatibility of rock and art musics. Rypdal is unselfconscious in his pursuit of a personal style that leaves the rock world firmly to one side.
Largo seems to me a better work than Q. E. D. because it explores a single, interesting idea, and sustains a 16-minute structure without monotony or strain. It is slow moving and uniform in texture, but the gradual harmonic shifts preserve an effective and engaging level of tension. Nor is there anything simplistic about the unsparing ending. Q. E. D., with four short movements followed by an 18-minute finale, is less well-proportioned, much more diverse, and also less coherent, as if the balance between what is to be played from score and what is to be improvised remained to be worked out on the basis of the experiments which this performance represents. Even in Q. E. D., however, Rypdal is never banal, and never solemn. The recordings are over-bright, the instruments too closely-miked, but the disc celebrates a distinctive talent.'

[ Gramophone ]