SOMMAIRE MUSIQUE

SZERKEZET I SONATA
YOCHK'O SEFFER
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SONATA BETWEEN BARTOK, MESSIAEN AND COLTRANE
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SZERKEZET I Sonata by Yochk'o SEFFER

(Alain BOUHEY, Carol LIPKIND, Yochk'o SEFFER,
alto saxophone , written piano part, improvised piano)

 

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SZERKEZET I was completed May 15, 1981 and played for the first time in concert by the saxophonist Philippe Gisselmann, before beeing played by the SCRIPTORAL TRIO :

Carol LIPKIND (classical pianist), Yochk'o SEFFER (jazz pianist) et myself (on alto sax.).


THE CADENZA

This sonata is special in that it requires two different pianists : one to play the written movements 1, 2 and 4, and the other to improvise the cadenza which can also be played by saxophone a cappella.

A third possibility is also planned for this cadenza in the edited version now in preparation : Saxophone and CD, with the improvisation pre-recorded, and cues adapted for the sax part.

In the present recording, about four fifths of this cadenza are read by the saxplayer and 100% improvised by the pianist (the saxplayer improvising about one fifth). In any case, wether the latter reads or improvises, he finds himself in improvisational territory which favors "feeling" over precision execution of the written note. A "mistake", a "quack, is not to be considered as such if it is lively and meaning-ful, even though it contradicts the written text. The reading player must defend his concept. Hence the
"bonus" of this page.

This is an excellent example of the difference - noted in many instances on this site - between the type of conception governing composition and its execution, forever questioning and filtering its primary inspiration, so as to arrive at the top of the pyramid, perfection, where it disappears and dies, and the form of intelligence governing improvisation, refusing to filter in favor of a boiling over of raw artistic material, cf. Pyramid, Utopia ?, Integration ?, etc... etc...



IMPROVISER / PLAYER OF WRITTEN PART
SEEKING A BALANCE


This means that, for the recording, there must be a compromise between the reading player and the improviser necessitating adapted recording techniques. For example : the two musicians see each other through windows in two different recording studios and hear each other with headsets, which would allow the improviser to retain his freshness and the reading player to redo troublesome phrases. Each could then be satisfied.

On the other hand, the two versions here recorded of the cadenza are fresh starts for both parties. The first was chosen over the second which may have been better having more "feeling" but less faithful to the written text, in my eyes and so I eliminated it. I give it only as a bonus to support my arguments.



The first recording of SZERKEZET I by the SCRIPTORAL TRIO was made in 1988 on the (manifesto) LP "LA VOIE SCRIPTORALE", edited by myself:


Szerkezet, i.e. "jigsaw",
a sonata
born of obsessive dreams
of serpents running through rings.



AUTO-EDITION ALAIN BOUHEY
mailto:abouhey@wanadoo.fr
33LP record 30 cm. pamphlet 16 pages, with Scriptoral Manifesto.


The writing of this sonata "swims" in the words of its composer, between Bartok, his spiritual father, and Messiaen whom he particularly appreciates, with a jazz "Feeling", à la Coltrane :


"A unique guy, fantastic,
his faith in the universe and in God gave him fundamental energy
with which he devoted his life to become the best saxophonist in the world.
And he made it !",
(Yochk'o SEFFER, bulletin de l'ASSAFRA n° 26, avril 1985).


COLTRANE AND BARTOK


"As concerne Coltrane, I connect him to Bela Bartok. In addition to his incredible technique, he substituted original chords and discovered in Hindu music the 16 synthetic modes and parallel fourths. He assimilated everything to know about harmony. Whatever you hear him play, it's elegant - not a note is outside the harmony. You have to remember that this is a cycle going from C to C. Starting from five or six situations, you can learn everything in one year and can't do anything new. Coltrane is fantastic !

"Like Bartok (who transcribed 6000 pieces) he was interested in ethnic music. He appreciated Bartok's second violin concerto and played it on the saxophone. That is how he acquired his fantastic technique - by playing difficult violin works on his instrument. You can't do more with a tenor sax. Even he is a genius that I deeply admire, I don't play like him. Something keeps me from growing in that direction. May be because I'm not a mimic which is also my strength.
(Yochk'o SEFFER, ASSAFRA bulletin n° 26, april 1985).






"FEELING" !
Did I hear you say
"FEELING" ?...

"FEELING"

""Feeling" is natural, there's no music without it. Look at how much there is in the hungarian gypsies. All Bartok's music bathes in it. Imagine you're playing with a drummer and, all of a sudden, with your phrases, your accents, you feel light as a bird. The drummer is pushing you to phrase beyond the tempo. It's magic, inexplicable, and neverthelessit would be useful to define it so that young classical musicians could grasp it and include it in their work. Actually its a sensation like internal boiling, thanksto the external sensation of tempo. It is brought about by correct placement, anticipated or behind the beat. Understanding tempo can be different for different musicians, even classical musicians ! Stern, Perlman, Zuckerman, Oistrakh creat "feeling" with the energy they throw into their playing. Music must be alive ! What good is dead music ?" (Yochk'o SEFFER, ASSAFRA bulletin n° 26, april 1985).

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ITS COMPOSER / IMPROVISER,
MUSICIAN, PAINTER, SCULPTOR

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Yochk'o SEFFER was born in Miskolk, the second largest city in Hungary, near the Russian border. His grandfather was solo clarinette at the opera and his father also played the clarinette. At six he started conservatory studies and started with the piano, which was required of all beginning musicians in Hungary.


"In 1956, at the age of sixteen during the revolution with the Russians I was given the possibility of emigrating to Canada, France, America or Australia. I chose France. At eight, I indicated on the Atlas where I wanded to live : Paris...

"(...)

"I Studied saxophone in Paris with Marcel Josse (one year), then Marcel Mule, at the C.N.S.M. where I remained for two years. I was to do one more year. Marcel Mule wanted me to stay. He was a great man : generous, wonderful. He taght me so much...

"But I had lots of jobs in popular music. There was a lot going on. I mainly played "cuban" in nightclubs. At the time I didn't like doing that, but nothing is totally negative. I learned a lot about tempo and sax sound. As soon as I arrived in Paris I bought a recordplayer, and my first record was by Miles Davis, it wasn't classical ! There is one eternal locomotive in my life : imagination."
(Yochk'o SEFFER, ASSAFRA bulletin n° 26, april 1985).



He applied to the school of graphic arts, Beaux-Arts
:


"I do figurative paintings which can decompose into geometrical abstractions."
(Id.), (cf. chromophonie_scriptorale.htm).


Yochk'o SEFFER was part of the groups : MAGMA, PERCEPTION, ZAO, then developped his own ideas in NEFFESH MUSIC, Music of the Soul. This is when, in about 1982, he met yours truly and collaborated on SCRIPTORAL, a quest for synthtesis, between written and improvised musics, through hungarian gypsy music, jazz and contemporary music and, more broadly, synthesis of music and plastic arts with ist "sculptophonies" : musical sculptures.

"ONE LOCOMOTIVE
IN MY LIFE :
IMAGINATION !"
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THE PLAYERS
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With Yochk'o SEFFER,
Carol LIPKIND, American pianist living in Paris
and yours truly, originator of the Scriptoral project, and professor of saxophone in Rennes (CNR) and in Paris (Francis Poulenc Conservatory). For more information.


 
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