Patricia Brennan & Sylvie Courvoisier - Talamanti (2026) [Hi-Res]

I heard Sylvie Courvoisier play long before I ever imagined we might share a bandstand. What struck me immediately was that she approached the piano, not simply as a harmonic instrument, but as an entire physical world. She seemed to be searching for sounds that were hidden inside it: unexpected resonances, fragile textures, sudden bursts of rhythm. Listening to her made me feel that the instrument could always reveal something new if you stayed curious enough.

That sense of curiosity is something I carry with me whenever I play the vibraphone. The instrument can sing with a clear melodic voice, but it can also dissolve into color and resonance, like light dancing across water. I’ve always been fascinated by how a single strike can open a whole array of overtones. When Sylvie and I eventually began playing together, I realized that our instruments were already speaking a related language. The duo Talamanti grew out of that discovery.

Piano and vibraphone share a similar physical gesture: something strikes something else, and the sound blooms outward. But they live in very different worlds of vibration. The piano can feel architectural: dense, grounded, capable of exerting enormous weight. The vibraphone tends to float, its tones suspended in air, diaphanous. When we play together, we’re exploring the space between those two qualities: gravity and suspension.

The name Talamanti comes from tlamantli, a word from Nahuatl that can describe things that resemble one another while still remaining distinct. That idea reflects what happens when Sylvie and I play. Sometimes our sounds merge so closely that it’s hard to tell which instrument is which.
At other times our sounds move in divergent ways. Both situations feel completely natural. Playing as a duo means there’s nowhere to hide. Every
gesture matters. Silence matters too. Sometimes the most important thing is leaving space so that a single sound can fully exist.

Working with Sylvie reminds me that music can surprise us, even after years of playing. Each time we perform these pieces, they reveal different paths, new rhythms, unexpected textures, moments of quiet that weren’t there before.

For me, that sense of discovery is the heart of this music.

Patricia Brennan - vibraphone & marimba
Sylvie Courvoisier - piano