Isabella Soupart and Guy Vandromme present a new piece by Craig Shepard in collaboration with trumpeteer Sam Vloemans, dancer-performer Elsa Tagawa, wadi label host Adriaan Severins and Bureau Doove at Fondation Blan in Brussels.
This presentation is the result of the collaboration and dialogue since 2020 between Isabelle Soupart and Guy Vandromme around the work of Craig Shepard .
December for solo piano is the kind of sonic pleasure that is connected to the effort the mind of the listener makes to understand (or properly hear) the sound situation initiated by the composition. The musical situation will get some degree of its structure from the composition; but the composition cannot account for everything. In the written work, something might be said about the time, or sound, or player or instrument (or all of these), but it is essential to keep in mind that much (most?) of the sonic reality will occur in the situation itself.
I remember the first time I sat at a piano, my feet dangling over the edge. As I tested the keys, I felt a wonder and joy at the sound coming out of the instrument. I still feel that joy every time I sit at a piano. In the two drone works in this release: “December” and “Thomas,” I was intrigued by the contrast of the rhythm of the hammers striking the strings with the rhythm of the swelling overtones. On “Thomas”, the trumpet tones blend and contrast, sometimes revealing the piano, and sometimes sprouting out of it. “Thomas” was commissioned by Thomas Stiegler, who performed piano on the premiere. “Gelassenheit” was a commission from Nicolas Horvath as part of an homage to Philip Glass.
Guy Vandromme
The 20-minute piece December is the start of the recording followed by two additional compositions: Gelassenheit and Thomas. The shorter composition Gelassenheit explores the piano’s overtones in a distinctive way, allowing more space between the chords and letting the resonant frequencies slowly dissolve into the room tone. Thomas builds on the sonic ideas introduced in December, taking them a step further by adding a trumpet layer-performed by Sam Vloemans – that interacts, and at times contrasts with, the piano’s overtones.
At this occasion the digital release of December at wadi will also be presented.
Saturday 14 December at 4 pm
Fondation Blan – Bld Géneral Jacques 26, 1050 Ixelles, Belgium
*Tickets (21/13 €) and reservation via this link.
Craig Shepard grew up in Connecticut, where he would go for long walks in the middle of snowy nights, stopping to listen to the sheen of millions of snowflakes hitting the ground. Recent projects include On Foot: Aubervilliers, a 24-day, 250-mile walking residency in the Paris banlieues, and Trumpet City, a mass outdoor installation for 40 or more trumpets. His music is published by Wandelweiser. Recordings available on Infrequent Seams, Inexhaustible Editions, and Edition Wandelweiser Records. Shepard has worked closely with Antoine Beuger, Jürg Frey, Christian Wolff, Erin Rogers, Dan Joseph, and Tony Geballe. He has performed at the Whitney Museum, the Guggenheim Museum, Experimental Intermedia, The Stone, Kunstraum Düsseldorf, and many others. He has been an artist in residence at Loghaven and Les Laboratoires d’Aubervilliers.
Sam Vloemans is a Curaçao born, Belgian based composer, musician, arranger and producer. Driven by his passion for creation, he enjoys bridging different (musical) worlds. Tours have taken him across Europe, the USA and Canada. Radio Stations in Europe, North- and South America have picked up his music, and interdisciplinary projects brought his soundtracks to Asia. Vloemans is the driven force behind the international music collective Cargo Mas. Cargo Mas has collaborated with Cory Wong, Ida Nielsen, Fred Wesley, Mike ‘Maz’ Maher, Simon Oslender, Reggie Washington and Ian Hendrickson-Smith. Compositions by Vloemans are performed by ensembles such as HERMESensemble and I Solisti del Vento.
about the recording
As its fourth release, wadi is proud to present three piano compositions by Craig Shepard, marking their debut as a digital release and later as a vinyl for the very first time. The works and ideas of Craig Shepard have profoundly influenced the collaboration between Guy Vandromme and wadi label host Adriaan Severins. Their artistic dialogue on the interplay between listening, sound art, and modern composition cannot be fully appreciated without considering these compositions. In 2016, pianist and curator Guy Vandromme introduced the term ‘timemonochromes’ to encapsulate the concept of monochromy in music. December serves as a quintessential example of this idea.
about wadi
wadi is a platform dedicated to circular music
from remnants of past experiences new sounds are built
wadi’s trail is inspired by natural processes
wadi is curated by Adriaan Severins and located in Belgium
wadi’s playbook
we will only release a project when we feel it’s the best way to communicate the work
we aim for finding the right audience, rather than the biggest (therefore no uploads to the digital streaming platforms, except for Bandcamp)
for every project we look for the most fitting sound carrier
the goal is to be as sustainable as possible with a physical product
sustainability and regeneration also in the way we build relationships with partners, artists and our audience, wadi wants to give back
wadi’s catalogue has to feel like a laboratory, we release sounds that have not yet become indebted to a genre, wadi tries to find comfort in a space of musical uncertainty
wadi cultivates a radical openness to remixing, a project is never finished, the final product always becomes source material for something new, the artists wadi works with are encouraged to connect with this approach
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