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Spheres Duo Release "Works, Vol.1"

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Those familiar with previous releases of this singular duo - such as Cycles, Registers, Spheres Duo In Concert - are by now well aware of its unique instrumental combination and sound production. Each of their albums, the present one included, is enhanced by the duo's playing (almost) exclusively their own composition. Both Zvi Joffe (vibraphone, percussion) and Arnon Zimra (piano) are well-educated, well-trained musicians who co-compose their works.



This disc thankfully delivers me from any braggadocio about having enjoyed its release preview, since the album itself was partly recorded by myself, post-production included. I will therefore leave comments on the quality of the effort to others and concern myself with impressions of the music itself which, by now, belongs to us all.



The new disc, entitled simply Works, Vol. 1, comprises nine miniatures, ranging from two to seven minutes in length with the exception of the last, 10th piece, which is Spheres Duo's eleven-minute-long Sonata No.2. The miniatures genre implies, I think, the notion of epigrammatic musical compositions, brief encounters if you wish, where the composers attempt to convey a mere musical mood, an atmosphere, perhaps a fleeting musical idea, an aural painting, that is not necessarily followed by development or improvisational ornaments.



Although the short pieces are impressively improvisatory in nature, the music was composed and written well before its rendition. This constitutes perhaps another dimension of Zimra's and Joffe's work, which is their ability to sound as extemporaneous as it comes, yet with material that had been previously worked over in some detail.



While some of the miniatures are five and seven minute long - usually long enough to allow structured pieces some development - the notion of sheer atmosphere and diaphanous color is the dominant precept, nowhere better imparted than in Miniature No.5 (unofficially entitled “The Hypnotic"). It is a story of color in sound, of altering moods, a dialogue of, but also intermingling, sonorities. It progresses and cushions the listener as if in a dream, with an underlying tension-resolution interplay and with a final awakening, fortissimo chord on the vibraphone. Here and there the initial theme is fleetingly and obliquely alluded to. Most of the eerie atmosphere is achieved with pedalled and muffled instrument playing and in spite of the piece's clear two-section configuration, the hypnagogic “trance and daze" feeling is sustained throughout. Perhaps it is a reverie after all.



For a more structured example the listener can turn to the Sonata No.2 which concludes the disc. With its uninterrupted two or possibly three “movements", the sonata offers a wider thematic material with extended solo passages, delivered with congruent bravura. I particularly like the very blurred sections' seam lines that preclude and resist firm and “learn-ed" classification. There is little doubt that both players are masters of their respective instruments and possess an unusually wide vista of sound effects.



The Sonata opens with an imaginative, improvisatory-like theme introduced by the vibraphone, giving way to a substantial piano solo of brisk tempi. Tempi - because in spite of an overall adherence to metronome marking, Zimra manages a left-right hand interplay which breaks the metric monotony into fragments of broken rhythms, leaning and borrowing rubato even on single chords and one-bar runs. The almost ethereal hovering vibraphone sound returns, this time intersected by a piano “ide fix" bass chord, eventually leading into the second section. This starts in a reposed, rather classical procession and builds up in amplitude and tension--a veritable mini-bolero--into the final, furious resolution. The fury's building blocks are then revealed to have been seeded in that capricious, recurring piano low chord. If the listener discerns some distant echoes of Bartok and Ravel in the sonata, he won't be too far off the mark, as both are acknowledged influences on Spheres Duo's muse.



The general ensemble playing is outstanding--perhaps unsurprisingly so, considering that the two musicians collaborate and play together for over 12 years. From this as well as previous recordings, it is clear that both are intimate with each other's instrument--Joffe himself plays quite a bit of piano--else either would quite easily drown his partner's instrument on some similarly pitched/timbred registers. It never happens; each instrument is allowed its own distinctive voice, fusing as they do into an overall ensemble of - pardon my cliche--far greater essence than the sum of its parts.



Other miniatures display further instrumental combinations, with Joffe alternating between the vibraphone and the percussion - sometimes playing both at the same time (Nos. 7, 8 and 9). The overall effect retains little doubt that any demarcation line - real or artificial - which might exist between super modern, avant-gard music and modern jazz is blurred to a diminishing point. Whether such a fusion still awaits or not its nomenclature is immaterial, as these two musicians excel at coalescing the two streams into one congenial, artistic, even noetic current. Most of the miniatures are very expressive but, perhaps inevitably so, some are more engaging than others. This is not to be taken as a derogatory comment for listeners will no doubt find their own favourites among them and in any case the panoramic diversity of thematic material, timbre and sonority will, in my opinion, keep them thoroughly riveted and fascinated.



Although consisting of mainly miniatures, this release is a substantial and important addition to Spheres Duo's overall collaborative effort and recorded legacy. It is a macro window onto the duo's art of microcosm creation. Having lived with the pieces for some time and having come to know them rather intimately, predisposes me perhaps to some bias. If so, please let me know--you'll be the judge.

~ Arthur Vered

Note: miniatures 1, 4, 6 & Sonata No.2 recorded at the Tel Aviv Music Academy Studio, 2005; miniatures 2, 3, 5, 7, 8, and 9 recorded at The Pit Studios, Tel Aviv, 02/01/2006.

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