Iancu Dumitrescu / Ana-Maria Avram - Au Dela De Movemur, etc (1991)

Definitely time for another Iancu Dumitrescu release, so why not the one that introduced Ana-Maria Avram (b.1961, Bucharest), his wife and fellow composer, and co-founder of the Edition Modern label.  Only four of the EM albums to date (of which I've already posted two) are in fact solely of Dumitrescu's music.  The rest (aside from a handful of non-Dumitrescu/Avram ones like last week's Cazaban CD) are shared roughly equally on each release, and frequently feature live recordings, a preference that dates back to this three-fifths live release.

Dumitrescu's two works that open the album are both for strings; Au Dela De Movemur for droning, Scelsi-esque (although Dumitrescu disliked the comparison) string orchestra, and two movements of Monades, for six monochords, which make maximum sonic use out of the single-string instruments.

Avram's three are the perfect introduction to her range and specialisms.  The orchestral fireworks of Ekagrata show an early Xenakis influence, and Signum Gemini is an ensemble and tape work highlighting the great Romanian (Ukranian-born) clarinettist Aurelian Octav Popa.  The final piece, and the longest on the disc, is Zodiaque III for prepared piano and electronics, performed by Avram herself.  The sharp piano notes cut intermittently across a droning landscape, before being subsumed entirely in the Radigue-like ambient smog.

Au dela de movemur