Radu Malfaltti

i knew this wz a julio thread when i spotted the MISSPELLING!!

RM = cool — not sure if i own anything that he's on though

shit!

I have him on a 30 minute track from the Improvised Music from Japan 2002-2003 magazine CD, performing with guitarist Taku Sugimoto. However, I have to say it is the one track on that CD that completely threw me for a loop. Most of the time they are silent, and when they do play it's usually just short "pings" amd scrapes. I think what threw me was that even with onkyo performers, there is a lot to hear when you really listen closely, but here it just felt like a beating. I did stick with it though, and probably just need more time to "train" myself to its pace. I'd be thrilled to hear anyone else's experience with it.

I have heard the Taku Sugimoto solo record that came out a year or two back and 'silence' dominates much of it. Radi is the one of the 'old school' who has made the transition to working in that kind of improvisation (but is it improvisation: have they already decided that it was going to be quiet before they even began?!).

I read a short interview he did in the wire: as i recall Radu Malfatti did talk abt his dissatisfaction with the 'old' school and the need to move on.

I think it makes him v interesting and that's why i did a thread.

About 15 years ago (very roughly speaking) Malfatti completely renounced the type of UK big band free jazz and Incus/Emanem-style improv he'd been associated with, and since then has focused intensively on composed music - has gotten increasingly quiet and spare, and he's also become more harshly critical of what he sees as "old school" improv.

Only has two solo albums to his name documenting this period - _Ohrkiste_ & _s/t_ - both worth checking out. Has played on a few other interesting things, eg:

-first Polwechsel album (before he got kicked out of the group)
-King Ubu Orchestru 'Trigger Zone' [FMP]
-two trio CDs with Phil Durrant and Thomas Lehn (*very* quiet)
-Dachte Musik 2CD on Grob - with Franz Hautzinger, Gunter Schneider & Burkhard Stangl (also *very" quiet)

All very interesting, and much of his work presages by several years developments over past 3-4 years in "electro-acoustic improv" (Durian, Erstwhile, Grob, etc).

Interesting interview at: http://www.paristransatlantic.com/magazine/interviews/malfatti.html

Discography at http://www.shef.ac.uk/misc/rec/ps/efi/

In the first issue of the _Improvised Music From Japan_ magazine there's a dialogue between him and Sugimoto, and the accompanying CD has a duo track by them as well.

[Footnote: a little birdy told me that the 2 hour-long recordings that make up the Dachte Musik 2CD were originally 2 30-min recordings - they were accidentally mastered at half-speed, and the musicians preferred the way they sounded, so it got released like that. Which may - or may not - give some insight into their mindset[s]...)

if anyone has those two recs (they are apparently quite a blast: made with guitarist stephan witteter (sp? most prob yes!)) then we must trade:

1976, Thrumblin', FMP 0350.
1977, Und?, FMP 0470.

''All very interesting, and much of his work presages by several years developments over past 3-4 years in "electro-acoustic improv" (Durian, Erstwhile, Grob, etc).''

I do like lots of this sort of stuff I've heard and thanks for the recommendations.

there's a double CD of Sugimoto/Malfatti coming out sometime in the next six months on the Improvised Music from Japan label. to answer your question, Dominique, I don't get much out of that long duo track accompanying the magazine either, for me, both of their current approaches are simply too sparse (this doesn't apply to most of Sugimoto's recordings, it's only recently for me that he's moved into this range, and it hasn't been documented much, that long duo track is one example).

the "dach" CD I released of Radu's is about where my own personal minimum line is in terms of sparseness in improv, and that one only works (for me) because of the extra ambient noises present.

the conversation between the two in that magazine is great, though, it's incredible how they've ended up in virtually identical places from totally different backgrounds. it was actually edited a little, Radu named a bunch of names of current musicians he felt were stagnating or moving backwards, but Suzuki chose to drop that part (don't ask me who, I don't exactly remember, but it's safe to say he doesn't like almost anyone else in improv).

I am proud to say that I introduced Taku to Radu's work when I gave him a copy of dach; it's really a perfect match, even if it is a bit of white on white.

oh, and just for the record, Dachte Musik is a single hour-long piece, stretched as described above. I'm not sure it's entirely accurate to say that Malfatti was kicked out of Polwechsel, I think it was somewhat mutual at least. and I think that Trigger Zone record is awful, no one gels at all, I know there was quite a bit of tension backstage at the show, and the audience hated it, I have no idea why FMP chose to release it.

this is an astonishing rec. I mean, its not really ambient but it relies and works with its ambience to break down the character associated with strings and thrombone - that is a fairly original quality, I think, even though making up new (extended) techniques for instruments is common enough, as a practice, in classical circles.