December 16, 2015

  • Piano Music by Yann Tiersen

    Yann Tiersen’s beautiful, Satie-esque waltz in Amelie (2001) is still one of his most well-known works.  The composer had a string of albums prior to breaking into the awareness of film music lovers.  His unique blend of minimalism, and a variety of folk styles from French musettes and street music and songs, to more serious wistful sounds.  The music tends to have a somewhat romantic tone with slightly more open harmonies reminiscent of Satie but with a bit more rhythmic complexity that adds a subtle jazz undertone.  The melodic ideas also are somewhat slight but grow increasing more animated often as the undercurrents bubble away.

     

    This new Brilliant Classics collection features Dutch artist Jeroen Van Veen performing a great variety of music from Tiersen’s films including Amelie, Goodbye Lenin (2003) and Tabarly (2008) as well as other selections from some of the composer’s earlier commercial albums (Valse des Montres, 1995).  Unfortunately, the booklet is completely lacking in detail about where these pieces are from other than that they are “piano works” on the first CD.  There is a predilection for waltz ideas though on this opening disc with often somewhat sad musical gestures that have a nice poignancy. One of these is the simple, and yet very touching waltz “La dispute” which is followed by the equally beautiful and melancholy “Sur le fil.”­­  These are from Six Pieces for Amelie which appear in the center of this program, though not clearly identified as such.

     

    The second CD focuses on piano settings of the score for Goodbye Lenin.  Here the music has a bit darker tone at times, exploring lower colors on the piano with occasional chords set against 3-4 note motifs that shift subtle in pitch material.  Where the first CD had a lighter nostalgic touch, the score material here tends to have shifts from darker drama to more reflective moments.  But, Tiersen is evidently a miniaturist as well, more in line with nocturne-like Chopinesque musical suggestions.  “Selling Dishes” has a bit of the salon with some fun rhythmic ideas that recur in “The Decant Session”.  It does give way to a quite beautiful “First Rendez-vous”.  The music is bookended with “Summer 78”.

     

    The performances here by Jeroen Van Veen are quite magical.  The music is given brilliant realizations with engaging interpretations.  The result here is a rather relaxing collection of music of slight colors and minimalist ideas that feature the occasional compelling melodic idea. The sequencing is overall equally nice, though again not helping connect the many different pieces to their sources is frustrating as it does not really allow the listener to discern any musical growth or shifts in style by Tiersen as a composer, especially on disc one.  Sometimes the music from the films is not really shaped to provide a more satisfying concert ending lending the music a sort of sketch-like quality.  Minimal notes for some minimalist-influenced piano music that is somewhat different from that of Glass or Reich.  So, while cataloguing the album may be a nightmare for a librarian, at least they can put the music on and refresh and relax to this often gorgeous and mesmerizing music.