Correspondence With No Words

Correspondence With No Words is an intimate, transcontinental dialogue between two leading figures of European free improvisation: Catalan pianist Agustí Fernández and Polish acoustic bass guitarist Rafał Mazur. Created during the pandemic, when the musicians were unable to meet in person, the album emerged from a unique process of exchanged solo recordings—a musical “correspondence” in which each artist responded to the other’s previous sound file.

This method produced a series of ten alternating improvisations (“Dear Rafał” / “Dear Agustí”), each deepening the shared vocabulary of textures, gestures, and extended techniques. Fernández focuses heavily on the inside of the piano—stroking, plucking, scraping, and vibrating strings rather than playing conventional keyboard lines. Mazur counters with arco scrapes, twangs, rubs, and percussive attacks across the full range of the acoustic bass guitar. The result is a sound world defined not by melody, but by timbre, resonance, friction, and physicality.

As the sequence progresses, the music grows increasingly intense and inventive, culminating in powerful final statements from both players—Fernández with “anvil‑like percussive pressure” and Mazur with resonant, wood‑and‑string climaxes.