After studying under Lachenmann in Germany, Annette Mengel settled in France where she completed her training with Emmanuel Nunes and Toru Takemitsu. In 1997, the composer joined the timbres of the Saxophone and the Cello in Identification I. Identification II represents the equally bold challenge of bringing the Accordion and Baritone Saxophone together in the same piece. The two instruments present natural affinities; indeed, the emission of sound through a single reed predestined their association.
This duo tells an undeniably epic story, with rumblings of matter rising up from the depths. Rhythmic bellow shakes, split sounds and clusters bring out fits of gratuitous violence, preluding a rise towards softness and luminous, serene horizons. Here is the possibility of attaining silence, of touching the void, of catching one’s breath before it begins all over again and we fall back into the dirt and into ordinary, human baseness. A quasi Beethovian quest that allows us to leave the world of shadows and slip away into a world of light.
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