The only collected survey of George Benjamin’s piano music on record, from a Dutch pianist who specialises in new music and has worked closely with the composer.
Benjamin was an accomplished pianist as well as composer from his early years, and it seems natural in retrospect that his first published work should be the Piano Sonata he composed in 1977-8, as a prodigious student of Olivier Messiaen and Yvonne Loriod. Certain harmonic touches may mark the sonata out as the work of ‘a Messiaen pupil’ but the unsettled, leaping gestural sense of the piece is particular to Benjamin. So much of Benjamin’s later music is fascinatingly prefigured here, including a sense of timing for a gradual accumulation of tension (‘stormy eruptions’ and ‘savage violence’ in the composer’s words) that marks out his first major orchestral score, Ringed by the Flat Horizon. Underlying that sense of timing is a feeling for dramatic gesture which has found its natural expression in a series of operas written during the last 20 years.
Dedicated to Loriod, Sortilèges (1981) makes clear its French heritage in the notes as well as the title, while the three subsequent Studies for piano, composed over the next four years, find Benjamin working out intricate rhythmic problems and their solutions. Even the Relativity Rag takes a quirky, sideways look at its superficially familiar material. The next piano pieces had to wait until 2001, and the Shadowlines which Benjamin wrote for Pierre-Laurent Aimard. This set of six canonic preludes takes Benjamin’s inclination to distill and pare back to a new level, while the piano writing itself is richer and more unselfconsciously informed by the heritage of piano literature. Finally, there are the Piano Figures of 2004, written for students of the piano and accordingly pitched at a technically lower level than the other pieces, but no less preoccupied with the rhythmic games and sudden swerves of thought that are hallmarks of his most complex music. All these pieces have been recorded, but never by the same pianist, making Erik Bertsch’s new collection unique, and indispensable for any collector of new music.
- George Benjamin, born in 1960, stands as a luminary figure in contemporary British classical music, renowned for his innovative and evocative music. A composer whose sonic palette transcends conventional boundaries, Benjamin's compositions reveal a distinctive voice that seamlessly weaves together tradition and avant-garde elements, bridging the gap between intellectual rigor and emotional resonance.
- One of Benjamin's notable piano works is ‘Shadowlines’ (1979), a piece that showcases his early exploration of intricate textures and meticulous craftsmanship. The composition unfolds with a series of delicate, intertwined lines, creating a sonic tapestry that captivates the listener with its nuanced beauty.
- Moving forward in time, ‘Piano Figures’ (2006) marks a mature phase in Benjamin's exploration of the piano's possibilities. This composition exemplifies his mastery in creating sonic landscapes that are at once introspective and virtuosic. Benjamin's unique harmonic language and rhythmic complexity are palpable, creating a musical experience that challenges and engages the performer.
- The Piano Sonata can be considered Benjamin’s first work. At the time seventeen year-old Benjamin was in Paris, studying composition with Olivier Messiaen and piano with Yvonne Loriod.
- Born in the Netherlands and based in Italy, Erik Bertsch is a pianist who focuses his attention on contemporary repertoire with curiosity and spirit of research. His commitment to the music of our time has given him the opportunity to work intensively with established composers like George Benjamin, Marco Stroppa, Ivan Fedele, Fabio Vacchi, Alessandro Solbiati and Fabio Nieder. His debut album dedicated to Marco Stroppa's First Book of Miniature Estrose, was received with enthusiasm and unanimous praise by national and international critics, obtaining 5 stars and the recognition of Cd of the Month for Classic Voice and 5 stars for Diapason (‘Erik Bertsch y déploie une électrisant virtuosité’ Patrick Szersnovicz).
