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Electroclarinet, Jean-François Charles's first solo album, presents a unique blend of acoustic performance and live electronics. The album features each of the six clarinets with live electronics, from the small Eb clarinet to the classical Bb clarinet to Mozart's cherished basset horn to the exuberant contrabass clarinet. Charles has played the Electroclarinet works in China, France, Finland, and the United States.

Charles has performed with classical, jazz, and other sound artists, from Maurice Merle to Douglas Ewart, from Gozo Yoshimasu to Karlheinz Stockhausen; you will hear all of these influences in the Electroclarinet series. In four of the featured works, Charles pays homage to the spirit of freedom, theater and adventure that animated four great composers: Claude Debussy, Olivier Messiaen, Igor Stravinsky and Carl Maria von Weber.

Track List

  1. Electroclarinet 1
    Bb clarinet & live electronics
    Première: Shanghai, China, Shanghai Conservatory, Electroacoustic Music Festival, 2009
  2. Electroclarinet 2
    Contrabass clarinet & live electronics
    Homage to Claude Debussy
    Première: Cambridge, MA, USA, Harvard University, 2009
  3. Electroclarinet 3
    Basset horn & live electronics
    Homage to Carl Maria von Weber
    Première: Montbéliard, France, Hôtel de Sponeck, 2011
  4. Electroclarinet 4
    Eb clarinet & live electronics
    Homage to Olivier Messiaen
    Première: with Andrew Bentley, Iowa City, IA, USA, Voxman Recital Hall, 2017
  5. Electroclarinet 5
    A clarinet & live electronics
    Homage to Igor Stravinsky
    Première: Brest, France, 2014
  6. Electroclarinet 6, Pt. 1
    Bass clarinet & live electronics
    Première: Helsinki, Finland, Sibelius Academy, MuTeFest’14 Festival, 2014
  7. Electroclarinet 6, Pt. 2
  8. Electroclarinet 6, Pt. 3
  9. Lina
    Contrabass clarinet
    Première: Boston, MA, USA, 2007
  10. Electroclarinet 5 Alternate Take

Credits

Clarinets & live electronics recorded in Iowa City, Voxman Music Building, Recital Hall
Tracks 1, 3, 4, 5, 10 recorded on January 8, 2018
Tracks 2, 6, 7, 8, 9 recorded on January 9, 2018
Recording James Edel
Recording Assistant Jessie Lu
Mixing James Edel & Sylvain Thévenard
Mastering Sylvain Thévenard
Photography Miranda Meyer
Graphic Design Marc Dannenhoffer
Poetry Alice Gervais-Ragu (CD insert & pdf booklet)