When
Rif was first issued on LP in 1987, it marked the first of numerous turning points for Dutch composer and bassist
Maarten Altena. The ensemble for this date came from vastly different musical worlds such as pop, theater, improvisation, and post-bop jazz, among others. This assemblage, and this term is used in the sense of visual art, was for the express purpose of looking at what could be done within the limits of the octet structure. How big could you make it without overdubbing? How much could you throw at the wall and still make it stick? How many layers could be piled on top of one another before they all collapsed?
Altena decided on a set that juxtaposed fixed compositions such as the noir-ish jazz of "Boa," with the minimal melodic framework of "Rondo," which then opened onto a vast improvisational field. Harmonic ranges were articulated on charts and time frames, other than that, only a skeletal, monody (all musicians playing along the same line contributing whatever they feel is necessary) was imposed. Otherwise, there are no rules.
Altena also included the compositions of bandmates, pianist Guus Janssen's and violinist Maartje ten Hoorn's in his mix along with the closing piece, "Re-Mix" (nearly a game) by classical composer Steve Maartland for dimension. Musically we cross over all genre lines, so much so that they cease to matter. What is left -- and it is plenty -- is the process of "music-making," the business of how to play together and still be true to the improvisational spirit a piece calls for. For an example of this, note the juxtaposition of the microtonal study of the ballad in "Ruis," and the conjecture that soling instruments need not have structural, timbral, or intervallic priorities in "Rif." The dynamics are radically different in each work as is their approach to restraint, but it is in the freedom of the latter that makes the discipline of the former possible. Tonality and its dissonances are only part and parcel of the individual voices that are "consonant" with one another in both pre-composed and improvised works. That consonance or, unified willingness of purpose, creates the almost limitless possibilities for tonal and harmonic exploration. The elegance and playfulness of
Rif is startling, given what
Altena had accomplished on his previous recordings. If anything,
Rif is what firmly established him not only as a composer but also as a bandleader, as later recordings would attest. ~ Thom Jurek