JULIUS EASTMAN Femenine performed by ensemble 0 CD Sub Rosa SR501
Sub Rosa brings back the memory of forgotten genius.
Julius Eastman and his Ensemble 0 - Melaine Dalibert (piano) - Sophie Bernado (bassoon), Cyprien Busolini (viola), Jozef Dumoulin (Fender Rodhes, synthesizer), Céline Flamen (cello) Stéphane Garin (percussion, artistic co-direction), Ellen Giacone (voice), Jean-Brice Godet (bass clarinet), Amélie Grould (vibraphone), Alexandre Herer (electronics), Tomoko Katsura (violin), Julien Pontvianne (saxophones, orchestration, artistic co-direction) and Christian Pruvost (trumpet) introduce the listener to the harmonious and (however pretentious it may sound) mind-liberating composition.
A fruit of mutual understanding and somewhat spiritual connection "Femenine" is a long piece that develops slowly out of minimalistic theme. a link between a chamber orchestration, an educating experience of harmony.
It's a testament to the leader's life. Eastman was one of the very few African-Americans to gain recognition in the New York avant-garde music scene. He was politically committed, a figure of queer culture and a solar and solitary poet whose melancholy influenced his genius as well as his tragic destiny: suffering from various addictions, declared missing, actually homeless. During Winter of 1981-82, he got deported from his apartment by the police, who destroyed most of what he owned - including scores and recordings. He was found dead in 1990, on the streets of Buffalo, after years of vagrancy.
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