BOOKLET

 

Marilyn Crispell & David Rothenberg

One Dark Night I Left My Silent House

ECM Records 2010, Catalog ID# ECM 2089

Personnel & Recording Information:

Marilyn Crispell: Piano, Soundboard, Percussion

David Rothenberg: Bass Clarinet, Clarinet

Produced by Marilyn Crispell and David Rothenberg

Recorded & Mixed March 2008 by Chris Andersen

Mastering by Christopher Stickel, MSM Studios, Munich

at Nevessa Production, Woodstock

Album Title courtesy of Peter Handke

Some Song Titles based on poems by Robert Gibbons

Tracklist:

01 – Invocation 3:33.15

02 – Tsering 4:57.20

03 – The Hawk And The Mouse 6:31.37

04 – Stay, Stray 5:01.59

05 – What Birds Sing 2:19.70

06 – Companion Silence 3:29.11

07 – Owl Moon 7:01.63

08 – Still Life With Woodpeckers 4:22.39

09 – Grosbeak 4:46.07

10 – The Way Of Pure Sound (for Joe Maneri) 5:56.44

11 – Motmot 3:48.32

12 – Snow Suddenly Stopping Without Notice 6:50.47

13 – Evocation 4:21.13

Total Playtime: 63:00.07

…Review:

Michael G. Nastos, AMG wrote:

A duet performance between pianist Marilyn Crispell and clarinetist David Rothenberg offers nebulous mystery and thematic, ECM-style theatrical contexts you should expect from longtime veterans of creative improvised music. The liquid piano sound of Crispell and the pithy, earthy, throat tones of Rothenberg’s bass clarinet in the main shapeshift back and forth during this mercurial program of deep blue, darkest night, after-hours modern jazz. It’s not so much programmed as it states anchors of melody and centerpieces of coalesced thought process, rambles into free discourse, then returns to an identity. Fans of Crispell will note her evolving presence as a force for stark beauty during wandering but far from lost tracks such as “Tsering,” or “Snow Suddenly Stopping Without Notice,” also employing the inside strings of the piano, and using percussion instruments including bells. Rothenberg’s expertise as an accompanist for Crispell is never more telling through all the material, but as a spontaneous improviser he’s really in his element during “The Hawk & The Mouse,” and especially a comical “Still Life with Woodpeckers” alongside Crispell’s playful percussive rat-a-tat-tat. As intriguing as it is deep, spiritual, and compelling, these two have chemistry bubbling under the surface, with the kind of geothermic energy available to slightly warm up any living space, vacant or not.