Roberto Fabbriciani & Robin Hayward
nella basilica

“Flute and tuba might sound like an odd pairing, until you learn that Roberto Fabbriciani plays bass, contrabass and hyperbass flutes, the latter a plumber's nightmare of his own design consisting of over 25 feet of tubing and capable of sounding notes below the range of the piano. Indeed, it's often hard to tell who's playing what, and the players seem to delight in trying to trick us, with Robin Hayward's microtonally inflected tuba producing surprisingly delicate flurries of notes in registers normally associated with the flute, while Fabbriciani growls and purrs at the lower threshold of hearing. The instruments are even harder to tell apart when played more unconventionally, whether huffing and puffing without pitch or clicking key pads. As you might expect, such huge beasts aren't capable of making much noise or moving quickly, but just because the music is quiet and takes its time doesn't mean it's cold and unemotional. There's something tender and sensual about this fuzzy gurgling, like a couple of hippos making love.”
Dan Warburton, The Wire

“Fabbriciani (bass, contrabass and hyperbass flutes) is a new name to me, someone from whom I hope to hear much more. Here we have five pieces with Robin Hayward and the combination of flutes (albeit low ones) and tuba is delicious. As with most of the music of Hayward's that I've experienced, this is serious stuff but it's never, ever dry. Instead, the setting inside the Basilica di San Domenico in Arezzo imparts a contemplative, even reverent (in a good way!) aura. It's almost all very quiet and, though extended techniques are used by both musicians, the listener hardly notices as it's the music  that comes to the forefront. I want to say "European shakuhachi"; there's something of that here. Some ruffles in the air appear on the fourth track, a not unwelcome change of pace, but by and large this is as lovely a recording of paired winds as I've heard in quite some time. Strongly recommended.”
Brian Olewnick, Just Outside

“Nella Basilica is the title of a new album on Another Timbre  by the duo of Robin Hayward and Roberto Fabbriciani. It comes as part of the newest batch of four AT releases, all of which are acoustic duos, and more specifically each involves a brass instrument of some kind, thus creating the informal “Brass” series to follow on from the equally imprecise piano and guitar series from the same label. If the name Fabbriciani is a new one to improvised music followers then maybe this isn’t a surprise, given that this disc captures his first ever improvisation release. The flautist is better known however for his realisations of many works by Luigi Nono amongst a long list of contemporary composers. Reading his CV is impressive, he has worked directly with just about everyone, from Cage to Kurtag, Stockhausen to Scelsi. His website even hints that he might have a fanclub. I’m not sure anyone else I’ve ever reviewed here can say that! Given that he plays on my favourite recording of Nono’s wonderful Das Atmende Klarsein I may well try and join myself…

On Nella Basilica the two musicians each play the instruments for which they are best known, but at the same time each plays a different, adapted version. Robin Hayward plays a newly adapted tuba that has been adjusted to include a fully microtonal valve system. Fabbriciani plays bass, contrabass and hyperbass flutes, the last one of which doesn’t sound overly dramatic until you read that it is apparently gargantuan in size containing over twelve feet of plastic tubing. It produces bass tones so low they stretch the lower limits of human hearing. Anyway, that’s the sleevenotes rewritten as a prelude to this review, how does the music sound?

The word that comes to mind, after much consideration is balanced. I have been fortunate enough to have been able to spend a couple of months with this music, since Simon, perhaps knowing my love of Nono gave me a CDr to listen to and give my opinion on. I have played it a lot, and come to know the music here well. Throughout the music, looking at it from varying perspectives, I feel and hear a sense of balance throughout. While not something you could really call reductionist with any conviction, Nella Basilica is a quiet, gently paced set of five pieces. The mood of the music is studious, and each sound we hear feels like it has been very carefully picked out and placed beside the others after a longer amount of time than we know could have been feasibly possible. Perhaps then the music sounds close to a realised composition, or maybe Fabbriciani’s involvement here just leads me to imagine the music that way. Certainly the pair first met while performing Nono’s music together in the same ensembles, perhaps some of that experience informed the collaboration.

Although it is often very hard to tell who is making which sound as so much happens in the lower registers occupied by both instruments, the chosen sounds seem to complement the ones around them very well, so the music feels balanced, a short sound offset by a longer one, a dry hiss paired with something more tonal, but all taking place within quite a slim range, with few surprises but instead a feeling of precision and considered placement. The music here reminds me somehow of a Calder mobile, at first glance a set of ungainly shapes/sounds, but put together in such a graceful, carefully balanced manner that it all hangs together in equilibrium. Many of the actual sounds we hear are booming, deep guttural groans and roars that are in themselves far from beautiful, but the way they have been combined here into the delicate, fragile structures of the music is exceptional.

As well as the soft tones, the deep gurgles, the booming bass surges, there are percussive moments, the pads of either flute or tuba used as tiny tapping devices, while (I think) the tuba is also stuck at several points to add little moments of sharp clarity into the otherwise deep, murky sounds. These are used sparingly, as are Haywards sudden blasts of air every now and again, creating more acute counterpoint to the blurred, longer contributions. There are no wasted sounds here. The music is far from empty, there are no elongated silences, but it all sounds thoroughly considered, each part of the structure balancing out another, the mobile kept from tipping too far in one direction or another.

I’m not sure what else there is to say about this music. There are no electronics, no histrionics, but also no lack of invention. The music sounds thoroughly modern, and yet also explores the extended possibilities of a very traditional family of instruments. Nella Basilica was recorded by Simon Reynell all the way out in Italy in late 2009, in a basilica in Tuscany. The setting for the music seems to flow into the recording, the slow pace of life, the grand, stately, finely crafted (I am guessing) building, a sense of space. This is a magical recording to me, an absolute joy to sit quietly and involve yourself in, putting aside the stresses and pressures of the world outside. Just great music.”                                Richard Pinnell, The Watchful Ear