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Fanfare

Coal (Métier) presents the music of Dorone Paris, an Israel-born composer and saxophonist who is now living in Ireland. The brief bio included in the booklet for Coal describes Paris as ‘specialising in New Music and Avant Garde performance.” According to her bio: “Being raised in Israel influenced her political ideas and affected her musical creativity, aesthetics and philosophy.” Both the Israeli-Palestinian conflict and women’s rights are central to Paris’s political activism.

In Coal, Paris turns her focus to “the compounded challenges of the last several years: from a climate crisis to a global pandemic to the possibility of an international nuclear war….” Paris expresses her reactions to these crises “via an exploration of the vast colours and sonic world of saxophones.” Abyss, Chapters 1-3 is scored for solo saxophone, loop, and saxophone quartet. Hollow Memoryis a work for saxophone duo (alto and tenor). All the Roads are Blocked features a solo tenor sax and echo. In her liner notes, Paris observes: “Some of the soundscapes in this album are harsh and unforgiving… a call for light.” To be sure, the music of Coal stands outside the categories of accessible, easy, or pleasant listening. The opening Chapter of Abyss, by far the most extensive of the work’s three (13:32), is dominated by an insinuating ostinato. Its constant presence is unsettling enough, but the ostinato is also punctuated by frequent guttural interjections and shrieks (instrumental evocations of the human voice?), as well as numerous episodes of silence, some quite extended. Chapter 2 (2:35) alternates a chorale passage with manic activity (here, the spirit of Stravinsky’s Neoclassical works comes to mind). Chapter 3 (2:34) brings the work to a hushed, but far from peaceful resolution.

Hollow Memory (3:37) also juxtaposes lyrical expression with moments that combine harsh dissonance and abrasive instrumental sonorities. The concluding All the Roads Are Blocked (10:07) offers much of the same, here in the guise of a work for solo tenor sax, with echo effects.

The music of Coal wholeheartedly embraces the “New” and “Avant-Garde.” I approached the
works on those terms, and found the recording to be an intense and thought-provoking experience, if not a conventionally pleasant one. If in Coal, Dorone Paris has sought to express the anguish, fear, and helplessness engendered by the crises referred to above, she has succeeded in impressive fashion. And this she achieves in music that requires virtuoso execution by the musicians, both by traditional and non-traditional technical means. The saxophonists, led by Noam Dorembus (who appears in all three works), play with the utmost skill and intensity. To be sure, the opportunities for songful expression are rare, but they are lovingly executed, and all the more affecting given the surrounding chaos. The playing time of this disc is barely more than a half hour. According to promotional materials, Coal  will be issued as a “lower-price ‘mini-album’ CD.” Recommended to the adventurous.