We'll spare a thought for François-Bernard Mâche's tribute to Olivier Messiaen in Brûlis, a rhythmically astute trio, well-sounding but too long. Form, form again, the stumbling block for so many contemporaries who know neither how to make something short nor long.
 					 
                         Alain Lompech, Le Monde February 18, 2000

Mâche Normalien poète

C'est superbe: a trite phrase for a living composer, alumnus of the ENS, a disciple of Messiaen. This CD devoted to François-Bernard Mâche by Accroche-Note is nothing but a source of joy in the form of discoveries. Mâche is both a bird and an insect, foraging in the realm of sounds and making honey of everything his ears catch. For he believes in "universals" in music as Messiaen believes in God. Never mind that the result is constantly poetic. It's both constructed and natural, thanks to the multiple sources from which Mâche draws his inspiration, from birdsong to Javanese gamelan.

                                   J.Doucelin Le Figaro July 4, 2002
                         (Assai CD: Kengir, Phénix, Brûlis, Figures, Aulodie)

In his chamber music, François-Bernard Mâche retains the aesthetic options of his symphonic work... In Mâche, we sense the importance of melodic relief and interval. But the fine touches of color at the beginning of Brûlis herald a different type of writing, where the more traditional layout takes over. The perception of the music, however, becomes detached from the concrete as soon as the cello and clarinet introduce a more offbeat pulse...Here and everywhere, we appreciate the detached exactitude and intelligent playing of the Accroche Note ensemble.

                   Costin Cazaban, Le Monde de la Musique, September 2002
                                         (CD Accroche Note, Assai)

In the sometimes noisy to-and-fro of contemporary music, François-Bernard Mâche is a kind of microcosm of silence all his own... A silence made of light and learned music at the same time. He has his own original flavour, influenced by mythologies, texts and music, which he cultivates sparingly and simply, from work to work. He even seems to have created his own influences... Among the other works on this disc, with the clarinet as the supporting instrument, Brûlis, for clarinet, cello and piano, is particularly noteworthy. Although sometimes uneven, François-Bernard Mâche's music is always well thought-out and accomplished, and always stands at the crossroads of clarity and poetry.

					Dominique Feniès, Écouter, voir November 2002
						            (CD Accroche Note Assai)

Assai CDs: Kengir, Phénix, Brûlis, Figures, Aulodie

An enviable university education (agrégation de Lettres Classiques), musical studies without blinkers, an assiduous, patient and lucid study of non-Western music, the writing of important works and - of course! - an open and critical ear for the music of his contemporaries, François-Bernard Mâche is a respected musicologist, an ethnomusicologist with very personal views, and an independent composer whom I deeply admire. In his introduction to the disc booklet, Martin Kaltenecker presents the whole with great sensitivity and intelligence, before briefly commenting on four of the works played on the CD. These pieces were composed between 1991 and 1999, and feature percussion - both acoustic and synthetic - treated with mastery and originality. Familiar with Mâche's work, the Accroche Note ensemble once again demonstrates its talent. The group's percussionist, Emmanuel Séjourné, gave an analysis of Phénix in Percussions...Excellent booklet (English, French) with the lyrics of Kengir. I really like this record.

	                                      Percussions, November 2002

Profile of an independent

For years, François-Bernard Mâche (b.1935) has maintained an independent career, far removed from the main currents of the avant-garde. Mâche is the case of an intellectual/artist, whose work is born in line with a position towards music based on a considerable activity of reflection and research. In parallel with his creative work, the French composer has carried out an extensive and fruitful activity as an essayist, the most ambitious fruit of which is the book Musique-Mythe-Nature (1983). In these pages, Mâche develops his main theses: the criticism of serialism and a large part of the musical avant-garde of the second half of the 20th century for its cult of writing and abstract formalism. Mâche's poetics revolves around the so-called "musical paradigms", structural codes present in Nature, which composers have always assimilated and used in music. Mâche has been defining and determining them thanks to a profound study of the music of Nature (a field in which he has an impressive erudition) and throughout the history of music. His aim has always been the elaboration of complex musical models without losing the ability to communicate directly with the listener.
This CD on the Assai label is the third monographic album dedicated to Mâche, following those released on Erato (1993) and INA (1999). It brings together five relatively recent works (from 1982 to 1999) which, given the homogeneity and coherence of the composer's thought over the years, can be considered a good sample of his aesthetics and offer a valuable introduction to his music. The reference to instruments and musical forms from non-European cultures, the assimilation of the lessons of Varèse, Messiaen and Xenakis are the most striking elements of his work, although not the only ones... Sometimes Mâche's pieces seem to be born from an abstract idea to which the composer imposes a sonorous translation. Brûlis (1999) for clarinet, cello and piano, the most successful piece on the disc, escapes such suspicion. Conceived in a clear confluence between the memories of Messiaen, Stravinski (and perhaps also Bartók), it is made up of five  movements endowed with great rhythmic vehemence and bright timbral colour. This is possibly the most direct way of accessing the French composer's universe of sound.

                                          S.R. Diverdi 115 (Spain) May 2003

...in the trio Brûlis (1999), ...Armand Angster's clarinet, Gregory Johns's cello and Michèle Renoul's piano led a lively conversation, somewhere between playfulness and the Sabbath. 

                           Christian Fruchart, Dernières Nouvelles d'Alsace 28 January 2004