Jean-Paul Dessy (b.1963)
Tuor Qua Tuor (2008)
A Quarter Quartet (2024)
Orée Oraison Hors-Raison (2000)
Tana Quartet
Jean-Paul Dessy (cello)
rec. 2024, Arsonic, Mons, Belgium
Cypres CYP4669 [42]

Some composers feel the need to go into great detail about their work before it is let loose on the audience, others say very little, preferring to allow the music to speak for itself. Belgium cellist and composer Jean-Paul Dessy does just that and the booklet notes are, as a consequence, very limited. What they say is a little enigmatic but evocative and, I suppose, offer a sideways view of the sounds created by this unique composer.

I know that it’s often said that where ‘words end music begins’ and I can normally give you a reasonable idea of what to expect from a certain composer and the works recorded, but in this case, I am a little tongue-tied – or perhaps I should say word-tied. For example, in the first quartet Tuor Qua Tuor it would be right to say that the music is not melodic, but the individual lines are often lyrical. There is no conventional tonality or tonal centre, but the last movement seems to end in the major key. Many so-called advanced techniques are employed but they fit perfectly into the whole and are always emotionally apt, as in the rapt atmosphere of the second movement. As for the mood and style of each of the work’s four movements, the score indications tell it all; for example, movement one ‘Mysterium-Destinatum’ and movement three ‘Vagum-Lucidum-Unisonum’. In addition, in his brief notes Antoine Maisonhaute, who plays first violin, tells us that the music moves between ‘spirituality and sound matter’ and the composer writes that the music evokes ‘the meditation and the silence’. The title of the work means ‘The look with which I observe’.

Another clever title is Orée Oraison Hors-Raison (Cusp Prayer Beyond Reason) and this includes the second cello played by the composer. It begins with some other-worldly animal type noises which suggest that we are deep in the Amazon rain forest. These rise to a climax and then fall back. We also have passages of incredibly quiet harmonics – and indeed that is how the work ends. There are rhythmic passages even one with a 3+3+2 pattern. There is rising chromatic scale at another point reaching a climax and even a sense of tonality creeps in towards the final climax. There is never a dull moment, and the whole concept is totally original and dramatic. The addition of the second cello gives the work a greater weight, but the use of violin harmonics creates the addition of a seeming vast space. The composer offers us six enigmatic lines to contemplate including ‘Instrumental music in which gesture is thought’ and ‘Music that is tuned for release’.

The most recent work is A Quarter Quartet which falls into seven sections. The title refers to the fact that the work lasts not much more than a quarter of an hour. If anything, it’s more tonal and more approachable than the earlier works. For example, movement five ‘Lenitur’ sets up a memorable ostinato, as happens in other movements for example in ‘Largiter’ a word meaning fulfilled or plenty (a short, fast movement) The last movement ‘Consolatum’ sets up a falling passacaglia cello line which is almost Purcellian, and builds warm Romantic harmonies above it. So, each movement is built around the cello’s lines, meaning that a sense of an underpinning ground bass is the inspiration for the work as a whole.

Obviously, the short playing time of this disc might irritate some readers, but these works are so brilliantly played, spaciously recorded and so extraordinarily original that one should remember that quality is often better than quantity. This is well worth exploring.

Gary Higginson

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