Every once in a while, a recording surfaces to remind us of the value of unfettered creativity, spontaneity, and experimentalism, Open Space (2026) a model example. Comprising ten improvisations performed by clarinetist Fie Schouten, cellist Vincent Courtois, drummer Sofia Borges, and text reciter Pierre Baux, the piece was inspired by Georges Perec’s 1974 book Espèces d’espaces (“Species of Spaces”). While the parts were collectively generated in the moment, they’re not without some structural foundation as the four created a musical design that follows the chronology of the book. Texts recited by Baux aren’t spun out of thin air but are instead fragments taken from Perec’s original.
The compositions are credited equally to all…