The music of French composer Gérard Pesson (born 1958) is thoroughly modernist in its aesthetic -- there is no nostalgic Romanticism here -- but it's accessible because his harmonic language is fairly straightforward. Whereas serialism tends to keep the listener in a state of harmonic disorientation, Pesson's music, while certainly not tonal, uses enough repetition to create a sense of harmonic stability, freeing the listener to focus on other parameters: the rhythm, the intriguing gestures, and varied textures. There are 35 tracks on the CD, so most of these pieces are very short, and one lasts only 11 seconds. Their brevity increases their accessibility; they make their short, distinctive appearance and are gone. The harmony within a piece is often static, which also contributes to its individuality, and heightens the differences between the movements. Pesson's often quirky gestures include playing off the keys, primarily rhythmic tapping on the wood with the fingers (and occasionally, it sounds like, with the feet), but also sometime on the strings. These miniatures have the charm and character of bagatelles and should appeal to fans of new music that doesn't adhere to any strict compositional doctrine. Italian pianist
Alfonso Alberti (who also contributed the impenetrable program notes) plays with conviction and fluency and makes a strong case for Pesson's work. The ambience seems to vary some from track to track, but the sound is generally clean. The piano seems to be miked a little closely, but that's probably intentional, to capture the subtleties of the playing off the keys. It sounds, in fact, like we're sitting on the bench next to pianist, so that even the pedal changes are clearly audible, but that may well also be intended as part of the musical experience.