Michèle Bokanowski has written music for many of her husband’s films, indeed, her current project is the soundtrack for his next film. The only film music she’s allowed to appear alone on disc, however, is the music for L’Ange. Written only a couple of years after Pour un pianiste, L’Ange shows how naturally Bokanowski’s musical ideas, as heard in the earlier work, a concert piece, sound just as good when applied to film. Of course, it may be that all her music is “cinematic,” and it certainly doesn’t hurt that Patrick Bokanowski makes the kinds of films he makes, with lots of abstract images and non-sequiturs, and narrative only for small, isolated bits—very like tape music. And while I would agree with Michèle that the music for L’Ange can stand alone—she only agreed to release the music if it were simply the soundtrack, played straight through—I hope that everyone who buys this disc will also want to see the film, too. It’s a stunner. Plus, you’ll want to hear how different the music sounds alone from how it sounds with the film. It’s quite remarkable how, for instance, an obsessive pattern that accompanies an obsessive sequence in the film can sound even more obsessive played alone. (And if “obsessive” seems negative to you, just substitute the word “energetic,” then, to get the idea.)

–