Trio Massot / Florizoone / Horbaczewski Touring with New Music and a New Album
After Cinema Novo (2006), Balades Ephémères (2011), and Secrets (2016, featuring soprano Claron McFadden), Massot/Florizoone/Horbaczewski will be touring Belgium and the Netherlands again from late September 2024 to May 2025, presenting their fourth album, Lignes de fuite.
When it comes to repertoire, Marine Horbaczewski (cello), Tuur Florizoone (accordion), and Michel Massot (tuba, euphonium & trombone) refuse to be confined to a single musical genre. Their style navigates from Nino Rota-like melancholy to lyrical pieces, dances lightly through waltzes, and flirts with jazz and contemporary classical music. One might imagine elephants and mice, joyful princes, wistful princesses, and overworked clerks strolling down a whimsical catwalk.
A Unique Trio
Their instruments—tuba, accordion, and cello—may initially seem an unusual combination, but the assets of this ensemble are utterly captivating: a beautiful tonal palette, a wide register, and a photogenic stage presence at every concert. The trio’s fluidity on stage, their melodic elegance, and the pinpoint precision of their performances surprise and inspire. Through improvisation, they conjure the most extraordinary, delightfully eccentric, and above all, moving sounds from their instruments. With nearly 20 years of experience together, it’s no wonder they perform in perfect harmony, understanding each other’s musical intentions instinctively.
Lignes de fuite
Tuur Florizoone describes the creative process behind Lignes de Fuite: “We set ourselves various compositional challenges, which resulted in around 30 pieces that we examined, weighed, and refined. This process led to the name of the CD: Lignes de fuite, or escape lines. The title reflects the contrapuntal nature of the compositions. No fixed chord structures, but many intertwining voices form the foundation. Voices can be played together or separately, hence the lines—long-short, fast-slow. Usually, both cello and wind instruments can only play a single line at a time, whereas the accordion can handle multiple. All these lines were then distributed, but not necessarily along the predetermined path: the tuba can solo, the accordion can play bass lines, and the cello can harmonize, etc.”
Recordings at TOOTS Studio
After an intense creative period, the trio held several try-outs for a small audience and then embarked on a tour in China, where they immediately tested their new music for an international audience at the reopening of the Belgian Embassy. “It was an unforgettable concert and a great success, which reinforced our belief in the power of the compositions and showed us that the time was right for recording,” says Michel Massot. The recording sessions lasted four days at the legendary TOOTS Studio of the VRT in the Flagey building, under the technical direction of Stef Van Alsenoy, known for his countless AB concert recordings. A video clip from an earlier recording at this TOOTS studio, showcasing its stunning acoustics, can be found on YouTube.
All 14 compositions on Lignes de Fuite are evenly distributed among the three musicians but collectively arranged. The compositions are fresh, timeless, melodic, and narrative, with an inexhaustible sense of adventure as the guiding principle. It’s no surprise that the album is being released under Tuur’s own label, Aventura Musica, for which he is also the producer.
Line-up
A key element in their creative process and performance is the cultural heritage of the musicians, which contributes to the magic that has bound them for nearly 20 years. Marine Horbaczewski lives in Liège and carries the Ukrainian surname of her father. Born and raised in Brussels, Michel Massot is a quarter Congolese through his mother. Tuur Florizoone was born in Leuven, resides as a multilingual in Brussels, and owes his surname to his parents who emigrated from the Westhoek region. The French title of the new CD/LP also refers to the common language shared by the three musicians.
Support
The CD/LP Lignes de Fuite was created with the support of the cultural departments of the Flemish and Walloon communities, and the radio station Klara (VRT). As with the previous albums from Aventura Musica, the artwork was designed by Christine Elinckx. Bruges-based photographer Femke den Hollander provided the visuals, and Lina Kusaite, a Latvian illustrator residing in Brussels, created the drawings. She had also previously illustrated the artwork for Balades Ephémères, another of the trio’s albums.
