Parque, The Earworm Versions

Parque, a Portu- guese new music avant improvi- sation group with six members, performed three pieces as part of Ricardo Jacinto's "Earworm Exhibition" at Culturgest/Lisbon. Parque: The Earworm Version (Shhpuma 003) is the recording of that performance. The group consists of Nuno Torres, alto saxophone, Ricardo Jacinto, cello and percussion, Nuno Morao, melodica and percussion, Joao Pinheiro, vibraphone and percussion, Dino Recio, percussion, and Andre Sier, electronics.

This is high abstraction music and each piece seems to have pre-planned compositional guideposts and what the liner notes call "instrumental devices concept," all by Jacinto. There is live interactive electronics software developed by Sier and utilized for the first two works. The third work brings in a "Pendular Speaker". The second, longish work includes a sci-fi narrative from "The Left Hand" by Hugo Brito.

That gives you the nuts and bolts of what is going on. The sound of the music is an evolution, an original contribution in the "tradition" of high outside, often electronically expanded modernist live music as MEV, AMM, Il Gruppo and the Spontaneous Music Ensemble pioneered it back in the early days of European improv. It is fascinating, full-fledged avant music of a very high order. If you know what all that means you will like this. If you have an adventurous spirit you will like this.