A Vol d​’​Oiseau

There are many illusive or ephemeral descriptions that are often part of how words seek to elucidate the listening experience. In the music we have on this recording from Florestan and the trio he has formed to venture his musical initiatives, words such as space, transparency, suspension, stasis, momentum, tension, multiplicity, flow, cohesion, dimension, release are some of the ingredients that come to mind to articulate the musical experience this recording offers. To me, Florestan’s musical structures and settings allow the interaction between Norbert and Francesco to utilize all these elements. It’s clear there is an understood patience, a desire not to hurry but rather to be in the landscapes that are formed and to value their nature. Some of the tropes of jazz and improvised music are evident, such as the roles each member plays as the music goes through its forms, for example on a piece like a title track, „A Vol d’Oiseau”. In this, we clearly hear a guitar solo supported by the bass and drums and at another point a bass solo; agreed areas where one or another of the trio is in the foreground. But to my ear, there is more often the tendency, even in the soloistic sections, for the composite of the three voices to be our experience. I would imagine you as a listener will share my experience of this music as a peaceful, centered, and grounded place much needed in such an unstable time.
Gerry Hemingway
Luzern, October 2023