Un Éloge d’Oblique: Confluence #1.2.3

Constantly exploring and expanding the boundaries of her instrument, French kaval player Isabelle Courroy presents here a three-part album (which is essentially a re-release of three previous ones) showcasing her own compositions, traditional repertoire, and a collection of commissioned works from other composers. The kaval is an end-blown flute played throughout the Balkans and Anatolia and this album’s title refers to the angle at which it is held to the body when playing, as well as perhaps describing the tone of some of the music here. The first part – Confluence #1: The Dreamlike Breath of the Kaval Flutes – although recorded well into Courroy’s career, represents for her the first forays into the worlds of the transverse flutes and is an assemblage of her original compositions inspired by her musical encounters in those early years: “It is to childhood that I dedicate this album”. The second – Confluence #2: The Song of the Sources – celebrates the origins of kaval music with repertoire from Bulgaria, Greece, Turkey and Armenia. On this album Courroy has brought together a bewildering array of musicians on everything from viola da gamba to Cretan lyra; and even manages to squeeze in a choir. Gamba perfectly complements kaval on ‘Prituri sa Planinata’ while the choir on the distinctively Bulgarian ‘Bavna Melodiya’ shift colours like sonic chameleons. Confluence #3: a Praise of the Oblique uses new instruments (the crystal kavals, the mobile and the trident) in a series of newly commissioned compositions. Utterly different but just as captivating, this album explores the innate connections between breath and sound with seven reasonably long tracks called things like ‘la vibrance de l’ombre’ (the vibration of the shadow). There is enough here to engage even the least imaginative listener but, particularly for those interested in these instruments, this is a masterclass.