Lori Freedman returns with a beautifully recorded solo album called Bridge. All nuances and colors of her playing can be noticed and fully enjoyed on this crystal clear recording. Freedman leads us through ten works that have her playing bass clarinet, accompanied by Brigitte Poulin (piano) on Flicker (Michel Galante). Some of them are improvisations. Others are compositions by well-known (Scelsi) and not so well-known composers like Monique Jean, Pascal Dusapin, Franco Donatoni, etc. Improvising and playing composed music are equally important for Freedman at this stage of her career and that’s why we find examples of both of them on this record. The contrasts I experienced do not exist between the improvised pieces on the one hand, and the composed ones on the other. Freedman choose very different works to interpret, offering a diverse richness and many contrasts. For instance, Clair (1980) by Donatelli plays intelligently with jazz idiom and is a pleasantly light and positive work. Scelsi’s Maknongen (1976) remains in dark and low sections that are interrupted by almost screaming outbursts. Improvisation and composition are combined in Brief Candles a work composed by Freedman. The closing piece Low Memory 3 by Monique Jean is the only electroacoustic work. The clarinet is surrounded here with sounds that range from ambient-like to very noisy eruptions.
