"The Bulgarian born Biliana Voutchkova works in Berlin where she is in many ways typical of the experimental scene where the music takes place in clubs as well as homes. Her solo record is a sensation. The tone in her violin is full and as she opens with flageolets over a flux of sounds, she is one with her instrument. And thus I have said that she is not one of the musicians in Berlin to have ”alienated” her instrument. This is totally violin sound. And her music shows patterns that are traded in the history of solo violin. The crux is though that she made it sound very different. The leaps are there, the natural use of the bow, the will to mix staccato and legato, but it is as though she succeeded in melting it all into something different and new. She chews the notes in the same way as the trombone player Günter Christmas. She expands the sound and mixes it with her voice, not to achieve polyphonyic sound, but to achieve a sharper sound from the strings. She is not one of those either who turns analog music into a sound of electronics. But she has indeed listened to other instruments. Do I hear the minimalism of such players as Evan Parker when she puts the mute on the violin and lets the bow dance over the strings? You can clearly hear her mixing classical tradition with the most subtle improv. I think that Biliana Voutchkova and her violin improvisations are today's answer of what improv achieved several years ago, a peak in this art. She answers, and at a distance she is full of her own references. And indeed this is a glimmering performance, one of the most personal and beautiful albums I have heard in a very long time. A solo performance carried by necessity. This will be a classic album…" Original translation by Thomas Millroth of his review, Orkesterjournalen nov/2016 |
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