Keith Rowe & Michael Pisaro 2017 13 Thirteen

Keith Rowe & Michael Pisaro ~ 13 Thirteen ~ 2017
Erstwhile Records erstwhile 085-2.

http://i6.imageban.ru/out/2017/07/22/d354095c8dd9e13517b724b63f28a7d1.jpg?042148

1 Untitled 72:05
2 Untitled 68:05

Recorded in Nantes, France in May 2016

On this two-and-a-half hour, semi-improvised opus, the two guitarists and composers approach finely wrought detail and vast empty space in ways that can warp one's perception of time itself.
The first recorded collaboration between veteran guitarists Keith Rowe and Michael Pisaro is dauntingly ambitious. Before making a note of music, the pair decided 13 Thirteen would last 140 minutes. They each separately wrote and recorded scores, then improvised together along with those pre-recorded elements. Pisaro’s score includes four samples from Shostakovich’s 13th String Quartet, each occurring three times in 10-minute intervals, and the composition is divided into 13 discrete sections. As if to emphasize their ambition, Rowe calls his own score “Fate” and his half of the improvisation “Life” (a reference to Russian author Vasily Grossman’s novel Life and Fate).........
As Rowe and Pisaro’s motifs build, 13 Thirteen becomes physically and emotionally affecting, and in the right frame of mind, it can slow you down, warping and even dissolving your internal clock. More subtly, 13 Thirteen will likely stretch your understanding of improvisation. Free-form music often toggles between bracingly abrupt moments and placid stretches where players spin wheels before regaining momentum. But Rowe and Pisaro find a middle path where all sounds are surprising yet none are shocking. Following their interplay is like taking a meditative roller coaster ride. By working their craft in such a thoughtful, considered manner, Rowe and Pisaro open up space, both within their music and within anyone who chooses to listen. - Marc Masters, pitchfork.com