kuwayama - kijima / 02.08.31 ( CD by trente oiseaux Germany ) kuwayama kiyoharu : cello kijima rina : violin recorded at the warehouse no 20 ,garden pier in port of nagoya Japanese Duo Kuwayama - Kijima have recorded their second release for Trente Oiseaux in an empty warehouse at Nagoya Port. The sound of crickets and waves picked up by microphones placed outside the building were transmitted into the space, where Kuwayama and Kijima played along with them, taking advantage of the natural reverb of the space, and changing their position in it while playing. Compared to to Kuwayama - Kijima ﾕs first release on Trente Oiseaux, where cars going over a mid-night highway bridge provided a very vivid ambience, this recordingﾕs atmosphere is much quieter and more static, thus drawing more attention to the duoﾕs excellent playing, and providing a kind of pea-ceful canvas if front of which they pursue their musical and sonic explorations. 02.08.31 is a record that asks the listener to pay close attention and to become immersed in the ongoing transformations of sounds and musical figures - when this attitude is taken, listening to the record is a very gratify-ing experience. 02.08.31 is scheduled for release in early April 2003. bernhard gunter, January 2003 Reviews kuwayama - kijima / 02.08.31 Recorded 14 months after 01.16.16, the Kuwayama Kijima duo's second opus for Bernhard Gunter's Trente Oiseaux label consists of another session of site-specific free improvisation. The cellist and violinist have traded the busy background (actually, overground) of a highway bridge for the damp calm of an abandoned warehouse. The reverb of the empty building and the sound of water drops falling in puddles give the music a cold, dark feel it probably wouldn't have in the studio. This is backdrop, setting. Kuwayama Kiyoharu and Kijima Rina don't integrate these sounds into their playing; they play for them. And once again they do so with fragility, lyricism and a special way to stretch conventional instrumental techniques without getting dry. Their long pieces work out the best, as they have a chance to wrap up the listener into their plaintive song. Because this pair use arco playing almost exclusively, the way the sounds swell up ― thanks to the reverb-heavy acoustics ― has a narcotic effect. Even when they get feverish, the music remains somewhat sedated, letting you draw closer and closer to the center of this unusual chant. 02.08.31 f," the last piece on the disc (but there is a 02.08.31 g" before it), hits a creative peak when Kijima starts shifting between too much pressure on the bow (resulting in a screechy sound) and a feather-like touch. One can find the dripping water annoying, but if recording on site is what allows these musicians to improvise so well, this reviewer heartily agrees with the stratagem. ― Francois Couture KUWAYAMA - KIJIMA: 02.08.23 Trente Oiseaux | TOC032 | CD A new collaboration between Kuwayama Kiyoharu (cello) and Kijima Rina (violin), featuring recordings made late August 2002 at a warehouse on the port of Nagoya. As with their other recordings (see, for example, 01.06.16, also on Trente Oiseaux, reviewed in Issue 054), location plays a big part in the performance, the sounds of their performance environment finding their way into the recording, as the two players perform around them, sensitive to their various qualities, their appearances and disappearances, their fluid nature. Here, especially in the opening pieces, the sounds of water, dripping, falling in uneven movements, clusters of droplets, are heard as the cello and violin sound their tense, delicate tones. Later, it's just the echoes of the warehouse; one imagines it's vast spaces, probably abandoned, with high ceilings and concrete walls. The music itself is sometimes tranquil, sometimes tense and uneasy; the first 3 tracks being the most intriguing for me, the pieces that seemed like they were exploring more ideas, the interactions with the natural sounds becoming more immediate, each strike commenting on the last, anticipating the next. At other times, listening to the latter pieces on the disc, it seemed that not much is going on, as if the two players just kept on going, appearing to lack any defining structure to anchor their progress. This music still manages to capture a unique energy, however, a careful cooperation of elements, sensitivities, tonalities. The unique aspects of this performance space brings something new to their work and has drawn out some new ideas and strange tensions, although my feeling is that in this case a full length might not have been necessary to explore them. [Richard di Santo] Kuwayama-Kijima: 02.08.31 CD One might have noticed that Kuwayama-Kijima use the date to name their albums. After 01.05.10 on Alluvial Recordings and the first album 01.06.16 on Bernhard Gunter's Trente Oiseaux label, the Japanese duo consisting of Kuwayama Kiyoharu, who plays cello and Kijima Rina, who plays violin delivered another lovely improv album. Compared to both previous albums, 02.08.31 is much calmer and more introvert. Especially the first part of the album is quite atmospheric and almost meditative. The artists placed microphones at the pier outside the building to transmit the sound of waves, water, insects, and an occasional ship motor into the space they were playing in. The recordings took place in a warehouse again, which give the album a spacious effect. The music breaths a feeling of lonelyness as if nothing else exists except from nature. The second part of the CD, which is more intense and more hectic, can be compared with the music on 01.05.10, nevertheless this album has a better soundquality. Phosphor KUWAYAMA / KIJIMA - 02.08.23 (CD by trente oiseaux) Once again these two Japanese string playes have embarked on a tour of Nagoya city. This time they have found an abandoned warehouse in the port area. In this warehouse they have made the recordings for this CD. Of course the acoustics of the location play an important role in the work, as well as other wanted environmental sound events. In this case there are two sounds up front: water and cycadas. The water is not so strange, because the place is in the port and the cycada's make me guess that the 08 in title refers to august. As always the pieces are very well done, concentrated and absolutely to the point. These two have mastered great skills on their instruments as well as improvising with each other, this is clear from the start. It is also no wonder that this work is released on this label: there is is strong sense of timelessness to it, one listens and at a certain moment, time seems to have gone somewhere else and one wakes up from a state of sleepy wakefulness. Very strange indeed. But also high qualtiy stuff. (MR)Vital Weekly.