CD + DL – 8 tracks – 56:36
Track listing:
1: Far and Beside
2: Sonneur
3: Luminance
4: Far in the Distance
5: Grus
6: Fringilla
7: Far Behind
8: Closer
Released 27th June 2025
Idylla is the third of part of a trilogy of nature-based recordings that Polish composer Michał Jacaszek has recorded for Touch. The first, Catalogue des Arbres (Touch TO:94), was a collaboration with Kwartludium that celebrated the earlier inspiration of French composer Olivier Messiaen’s Catalogue des Oiseaux (1958). Gardenia (Touch TO:117) was a response to a field recording workshop organised by Francisco Lopez in Limpopo province in South Africa, on the border with Botswana, the participants living in a subtropical nature reserve in the middle of nowhere.
Idylla takes Jacaszek’s unique approach to field recording a step further. Faced with the spectre of AI and the progressive blur between digital simulation and the natural world, Jacaszek has made a series of source recordings and then used MIDI technology to isolate key sounds before scoring them for classical instruments and the vocal treatments performed by the 441Hz Choir from Gdańsk, under the direction of Anna Borkowicz.
It is said that there is nothing new under the sun. Here is a collection of recordings that are poised between a lamentation for a disappearing world and a joyous reflection upon the beauty of being sat by a river, listening to birdsong amidst the movement of trees in a soft wind. Idylla consolidates Jacaszek’s work as being amongst the most essential of any contemporary composer, its symphonic quality matched by its beauty and detail above and beneath.
Mastered by Denis Blackham. Photography and design by Jon Wozencroft.
Reviews:
Boomkat (UK):
Rounding off his trilogy of nature-based albums for Touch, Polish composer Michał Jacaszek uses MIDI technology to isolate sounds from field recordings, before scoring and arranging them for a classical ensemble and choir to blur the line between the natural world and the impending digital future.
Following last year’s subdued ‘Gardenia’, that was based on recordings made in South Africa, and its predecessor ‘Catalogue des Arbres’, a celebration of Oliver Messiaen’s Catalogue des Oiseaux, Jacaszek eyes the ominous creep of AI on ‘Idylla’, roping in Gdańsk’s 441Hz Choir to help him realize his vision. And it’s peculiar, uniquely fascinating material that takes a genuinely novel approach to field recording. Jacaszek’s field recordings of birdsong, wind and washing waters guide the compositions, but they’re nudged into orchestral and choral directions, with voices tracking the pitch of chirping insects and gusts of wind, and instruments following bird calls.
Leaving the original recordings playing in the background, we can hear Jacaszek’s thought process, and it’s an intriguing, deviously subtle way to comment on AI models. As you’re listening, it’s hard not to think about the nature of sound – the way music in its earliest forms always followed natural, environmental sounds, and by inverting this process, Jacaszek almost makes a loop back to the beginning as progress itself hits an infinite plateaux. Haunting, honestly.
STNT (France):
Depuis son génial ‘glimmer’ de 2012, Michal Jacaszek a bougé les pions sur le grand échiquier du field recordings.
En 2014, il a lancé une trilogie chez Touch dédié à la nature. J’ai été embarqué par le nom très poétique du premier disque de la série. Excusez du peu : ‘catalogue des arbres’ (Touch TO:94). Bruissements, vents, gouttes, un piano sombre trafiqué façon synthé en arrière plan où des bribes d’électroniques viennent accompagner et s’immiscer dans la danse éternelle du son des arbres. Pause toi, imagine, on se laisse aller à la poésie justement. Un instant dans le temps et un regard de drone attendri par tant de simplicité.
Pas évident de rendre encore plus belle la nature avec autant de technologie.
Le deuxième disque est une ode à MESSIAEN et son fameux ‘Catalogue des Oiseaux’ enregistré en Afrique du Sud dans la province du ‘gardiena’ qui a donné son nom à l’album. Les enregistrements d’insectes, d’oiseaux, de grenouilles (etc… ) sont issus d’une résidence organisée par Francisco López en 2019. J’ai pensé ici aux travaux du poitevin Thomas TILLY lorsqu’il s’aventure en pleine jungle guyanaise surtout dans ces passages de grouillements et de grésillements d’insectes.
JACASZEK crée un disque de stridences aux tons noirs voulant pointer la disparition des oiseaux, acte militant et surtout acte de création profonde où des voix lointaines viennent réveiller les vivants. Un disque qui frise les oreilles, celles qui entendent précisément les soubresauts même sous acouphènes d’animaux imaginaires morts désarticulés à cause d’une activité humaine nuisible et délétère.
L’homme est un loup pour l’homme, c’est animal…
‘Idylla’ sonne comme un requiem. La mort est actée, il faut célébrer la vie. Il n’est jamais trop tard. La stridence et la violence latente des précédents disques laissent place à l’espace du souvenir. Les drones sont plus présents, les silences aussi, le rythme s’absente, le recueillement en ligne de mire. Il y a un souffle que j’aime dans ce disque, des voix s’entremêlent encore, des stridences aussi mais petit à petit le silence gagne du terrain, les notes de piano aiguës un peu étouffées et présentes sur tous les disques reviennent poser la vie. Enfin surtout la mort et la nostalgie en fait.
Les notes graves s’étalent maintenant plus tranquillement, plus distinctement, le rythme s’apaise, les voix étranges s’estompent, les nappes s’échappent et le temps s’allonge puis passe dans un profond dernier souffle, le piano s’éteint et puis se tait.
JACASZEK signe une trilogie noire et passionnante dans l’espace électronique et expérimental. [Erwan]
Norman Records (UK):
Michal Jacaszek completes a trilogy of nature-inspired works for Touch with Idylla, following on from Catalogue des Arbres and Gardenia. Where the former took cues from Messiaen and the latter emerged from field recordings in South Africa, Idylla explores the intersection between organic sound and digital simulation.
Responding to the encroachment of Al and the erosion of the natural world, Jacaszek recorded natural environments before using MIDI technology to extract sonic motifs, which he then reinterpreted for classical instruments and vocal arrangements. The 441Hz Choir of Gdansk, conducted by Anna Borkowicz, provides vocal treatments that elevate the compositions into something both reflective and symphonic.
A delicate balance of lament and celebration, Idylla captures the melancholy of a vanishing world and the quiet joy of listening to birdsong by a riverside. It’s a record of striking detail and emotional depth, cementing Jacaszek’s status as one of the most vital contemporary composers.
Bandcamp (USA):
Michał Jacaszek’s field recordings have always been haunting, hovering just this side of the limits of hearing. Those on Catalogue des Arbres and Gardenia were just perceptible against his gentle instrumentation, lending them a plangent, nostalgic atmosphere. For Idylla, the third part of his trilogy of nature-based recordings, Jacaszek goes one step further by using MIDI technology to filter out all but the most necessary sounds. His recordings flicker in and out of minimalist compositions for classical instruments and voice choir, seeming to dissolve in real time. It’s a simple metaphor for the disappearance of the natural world, but one that works brilliantly, at the same time evoking a sense of grandeur and loss. [Matthew Blackwell]
