Saturno o Cipolla ?

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So very unspectacular and yet so very accomplished. Good for Eric Aldéa, a French citizen who has apparently been writing for the dance theatre (exclusively for "La Baraka" under the choreographic leadership of Abou Lagraa) lo these past five years. Five of seven the tracks on 'Saturno o Cipolla ?' are excerpts from some of this work, which despite their lack of pretention and bombast immediately cause me to recall the tingle I felt when first hearing the fragments collected on Philip Glass' 'Dancepieces'. It's a music which is its own reference point, unique and vital without having to make a lot of undue racket in order to draw attention to itself. Or what do you say to crediting J.M. Berthier with playing "???" on track two (no titles, just numbers and timings). Though there are indeed some points of reference - the first track, taken from a 1998 work entitled "Violatus" positively reeks of a Mideastern mindset and just sucks the listener in to its hermetic world like a friendly, toothsome salesman at your neighbourhood souk. Sustained strings, stirringly motionless electronics, some laptop crackle, cello and hidden rhythms display a smorgasbord of compositional flair. Enticingly exotic, comfortably unfamiliar, and downright emotional at time - strong praise for a music which for all intents and purposes has, by transposing it to disc, been divorced from its original element, the stage. A sleeper of the year