The beauty of library music, or at least the good stuff, is that it isn’ weighed down by the need to please or be popular. Whilst numerous great musicians weighed in simply to earn a buck, the best aren’ simply content to go through the motions, and many like French composer Patrice Sciortino used the opportunity to take risks, experiment and defy convention.
This is the second Omni reissue of Sciortino’ work and it sees the composer, exploring some dark and perhaps more difficult material. There’ a certain baroque intensity to the first half of the album, with urgent, almost violent harpsichord and metronomic woodblock rhythms. As a combination it’s nothing short of bizarre, if not a little creepy. A kind of stark repetitive minimalism. And whilst it’s highly inventive, one wonders what kind of television or radio would have utilised this, as it’s totally over the top.
The second half of the album showcases Gymnorhythmies 1, which begins with a nervous stalking Exercises Avec Cerceaux No1. This album is apparently designed for contemporary dance or gymnastics, though again it’s hard to imagine what kind of nervous twitchy gymnast would use this music for their routines. Later tracks are significantly different, bearing significant similarities to the kind of lilting breezy work of Stereolab or High Llamas. There’ a kind of wondrous wide-eyed beauty to this music, where his avant-garde schisms tend to be masked by a youthful exuberance. The palette here of course is very different, utilising in the main a glockenspiel type instrument though there is still a sort of relentless percussion alongside, which at times tends to impose a certain kind of tension.
There is something quite hypnotic about these experimental though quite minimal works. Again it’s another example of Sciortino’ dexterity and why he should be considered alongside the likes of Bernard Herrman and Ennio Morricone.
Bob Baker Fish
