Sophie Agnel
Sophie Agnel is a French pianist born in Paris in 1964 who works in free improvisation. Trained as a classical musician, she took an interest in modern jazz before committing to improvisation in the early 1990s. She is known for an extended approach to the piano that reworks John Cage's prepared piano techniques. Agnel has worked with saxophonists Michel Doneda, Daunik Lazro and John Butcher, vocalists Phil Minton and Catherine Jauniaux, guitarist Olivier Benoit and electronic musicians Jérôme Noetinger, Lionel Marchetti and eRikM.
Rare
Sophie Agnel on piano and John Butcher on saxophones, live at the 40th Victoriaville festival on 18 May 2024: spontaneous compositions of inside-piano sounds, extended techniques and quick, attentive interplay.
foam & mesh
Recorded by Karl Winand and Markus Massinger at artacts – Festival for Jazz and Improvised Music, Alte Gerberei, St. Johann in Tirol, Austria. Mixed and mastered by John Butcher
Sophie Agnel - pianoJohn Butcher - saxophonesPascal Niggenkemper - doub…
Learning
‘Learning’ - Sophie Agnel’s first solo LP, feels like the dark, physical inversion of her excellent ‘Song’ which came out on Relative Pitch earlier this year. Sinking her unique sound into vinyl for the first time, the LP arrives as Agnel recovers fr…
Ella
With solid training as a classical musician, Sophie Agnel took a close interest in modern jazz before committing in the early Nineties to the shifting, deliciously uncertain ground of free improvisation, thanks to her fascination for the powers of ex…
Ella
With solid training as a classical musician, Sophie Agnel took a close interest in modern jazz before committing in the early Nineties to the shifting, deliciously uncertain ground of free improvisation, thanks to her fascination for the powers of ex…
Draw Bridge
"Sophie Agnel and Michael Zerang are relentless on every surface and in the diving pit of improvisation. You've got to hear it to see it to believe it: it's a water lily drum set in the soundboard of a pond piano. At times, it seems as if a single in…
Three On A Match
Sophie Agnel plays the whole piano. Its body matters as much as its strings. The keyboard's lid is just as good closed as it is open - in fact it’s best slammed open and closed rapidly. Joined by bassist John Edwards and drummer Steve Noble, Three on…
Quartet Un Peu Tendre
Improvised music from Sophie Agnel, Kristoff K. Roll, Daunik Lazro.
Tasting
Recorded live at the June 2006 Jazz à Poitiers festival, this gem pairs two extraordinary musicians in an unusual and very welcome configuration. Phil Minton - the legendary British vocalist with decades of experience exploring the outer possibilitie…
Spiral Inputs
Four beautifully crafted improvisations by an exceptional European trio: French pianist Sophie Agnel, French saxophonist Bertrand Gauguet, and German sound artist Andrea Neumann. Recorded between 2008 and 2010 at various locations in France – La Fila…
Detour Tunnels of Light
"In my experience listening to the music of both Martin Küchen and Sophie Agnel, I’ve often detected what I perceive to be a (sometimes hidden) strain of romanticism, a deep and dark vaguely lyrical content that one doesn’t routinely identify with fr…
Animals
"Radical playing techniques, curiosity and the exploration of sound possibilities create constant tension. Their first trio release Animals brings together 13 tracks full of twists and turns, creative lightness and complex virtuosity."
Gargorium
A Fou Records production, like a large part of the music of its producer, Jean-Marc Foussat, is a bit of a puzzle.
La Pierre Tachée
"… a kind of ideal duet, no imitation conversation but two simultaneous composers each repeatedly provoked and silenced, prodded and enchanted by the other…" – Stuart Broomer (liner notes) Sophie Agnel piano John Butcher tenor and soprano saxophones
Marguerite d'Or Pâle
Sophie Agnel, piano, Daunik Lazro, tenor and bariton saxophones. Recorded at Dom, Moscow, June 22, 2016 by Maxim Khaykin
“C'était à Moscou au déclin d'une journée printanière particulièrement chaude. Deux citoyens firent leur apparition...”
Mikhaï…
isotopic
Cremaster: Ferran Fages - feedback mixing board, electro-acoustic devices / Alfredo Costa Monteiro - objects on electric guitar, electro-acoustic devices & Sophie Agnel: piano. Recorded separately in Barcelona and Montreuil between 2009 and 2011. Fin…
Reps
Sophie Agnel, piano. Olivier Benoit, guitare. Recorded at Césaré, July 2011. Highly recommended ! 'In my mind, the music of Sophie Agnel and Olivier Benoit has always contained something like a disclosure of the intimate. They are not overly prolific…
Capsizing moments
A veritable tour de force of 'inside' prepared piano playing - preppiano extensif. The whole of a solo set performed at Les Instants Chavirés near Paris. Sophie Agnel's preparations, neither static nor fixed, evolve during the course of her playing a…