Inventio Jean-Louis Matinier & Marco Ambrosini

• 1 Wiosna 04:47
• 2 Tasteggiata 03:46
• 3 Basse Dance 06:18
• 4 Szybko 02:17
• 5 Presto from Sonata in G Minor, BWV 1001 03:04
• 6 Inventio 4, BWV 775 03:08
• 7 Taïga 01:41
• 8 Qui Est Homo 04:19
• 9 Praeludium from Rosary Sonata No. 1 02:19
• 10 Oksu 02:18
• 11 Hommage 04:29
• 12 Kochanie Moje 03:31
• 13 Balinese 00:52
• 14 Tasteggiata 2 01:05
• 15 Siciliènne 02:45
• Total Runtime 46:39

Info for Inventio

Inventio” takes its title from Bach’s Invention No 4, heard here - in a programme of great variety – in an arrangement by Jean-Louis Matinier and Marco Ambrosini. Bach’s Inventions originally had a didactic function, intended to develop a player’s ideas and give “a foretaste of composition”. Inspirations from Bach and from Biber (specifically the Rosary or Mystery sonata) and from the lyrical cadences of Pergolesi radiate into a musical journey of remarkable invention.

This is an inventive project at all levels, from the unique instrumentation onwards. Marco Ambrosini is one of very few musicians playing nyckelharpa outside the Swedish folk tradition, and Jean-Louis Matinier has similarly taken the accordion beyond any ‘folkloric’ frame of reference. On the present disc, the French-Italian duo follow a path from ancient to modern music, finding new sound-colour combinations in the special blending of their instruments and dissolving demarcations between improvisation, arrangement and composition.

“Inventio” is a recording that will intrigue listeners who have appreciated Matinier’s ECM recordings with Anouar Brahem, François Couturier’s Tarkovsky Quartet, and Louis Sclavis, as well as Ambrosini’s discs with Rolf Lislevand, Giovanna Pessi/Susanna Wallumrød and Helena Tulve. Or indeed Matinier’s association with singer Juliette Gréco (he has been the singer’s accompanist since 1999)or Ambrosini’s still longer involvement with early music consort Oni Wytars.

Matinier and Ambrosini are, clearly, musicians who cover a lot of ground, their imaginations and musical curiosity inspiring pan-idiomatic experiment as well as investigation of the regions where the genres meet. One of Matinier’s early recordings was entitled “Confluences”. Sometimes it’s a matter of allowing oneself to follow the implications of the music. “My music develops by chance and at the mercy of events,” the accordionist has said. “I make music with musicians. It is first and foremost a human relationship.” Matinier partticilar enjoys the challenge of the duo setting.

Jean-Louis Matinier was born in 1963 in Nevers, France. After studying both classical music and jazz, he first attracted national and international attention as an outstanding soloist in the Orchestre National de Jazz at the end of the 1980s.

“Inventio” was recorded at the Auditorio of the Radiotelevisione Svizzera in Lugano, and produced by Manfred Eicher.

Jean_Louis Matinier, accordion
Marco Ambrosini, nyckelharpa

Recorded April 2013, Auditorio Radiotelevisione svizzera, Lugano
Engineered by Lara Persia
Produced by Manfred Eicher

Jean-Louis Matinier
born in 1963 in Nevers, France, studied both classical music and jazz, and attracted national and international attention as an outstanding soloist in the Orchestre National de Jazz at the end of the 1980s, when it was under the direction of Claude Barthélemy. Since 1999 he has accompanied chanson legend Juliette Gréco on concerts around the world. Matinier can be heard on ECM recordings with Anouar Brahem (Le pas du chat Noir, Le voyage de Sahar), François Couturier (Nostalghia, Tarkovsky Quartet) and Louis Sclavis (Dans la nuit), as well as Sounds and Silence (music for the film of the same name). Others of his duo projects have included bassist Renaud Garcia-Fons, and clarinettist Michael Riessler. In such contexts – and in his work with the groups of Brahem and Couturier – Jean-Louis Matinier has taken the accordion far beyond any ‘folkloric’ frame of reference.

Marco Ambrosini
was born in 1964 in Forli, Italy. He studied violin, viola and composition at the G.B. Pergolesi Institute in Ancona and at Pesaro’s Rossini Conservatory. One of very few nyckelharpa players working outside the Swedish folk tradition, he took up the instrument in 1983 and has since become one of its most outstanding exponents, shaping a new role for the instrument in baroque and contemporary music. Ambrosini has played on more than a hundred albums. He is the co-founder of the early music consort Oni Wytars. In addition to work with Matinier he has played in diverse contexts with Michael Riessler, Valentin Clastrier and many others. Marco Ambrosini can be heard on ECM recordings with Rolf Lislevand (Nuove musiche, Diminiuito) Giovanna Pessi/Susanna Wallumrød (If Grief Could Wait) and Helena Tulve (Arboles lloran por lluvia) as well as the Sounds and Silence anthology.

Booklet for Inventio