CLAUDE VIVIER (1948-1983): Shiraz for Piano, Pulau Dewata for Ensemble, Pièce for Cello and Piano, Pianoforte for Piano, Paramirabo for Flute and Piano Trio.

Description: Gilles Tremblay, student of Messiaen, was this French-Canadian composer’s most important teacher. Studies at the legendary summer schools in Darmstadt, artistic nursery to a generation of avant-garde artists, and in particular with Stockhausen, enabled Vivier to find and refine his own voice. After writing the Pièce for cello and piano, and the Pianoforte for solo piano in 1975, he undertook a pivotal journey to Asia, exploring the cultures of Bali and Indonesia, which would inform the rest of his output. Thus Pulau Dewarta, from 1977, heard here in an arrangement for piano and percussion, is unmistakably colored by gamelan sounds. From the following year dates Paramirabo, the last and most recent work on the album, which explores similiarly exotic harmonies and timbres to his larger ensemble piece Zipangu and to Pulau Dewarta, but with the instruments mostly operating in rhythmic unison. Alessandro Soccorsi (piano),Thies Roorda (flute), Joseph Puglia (violin), Sietse-Jan Weijenberg (cello), Niels Meliefste and Pepe Garcia (percussion).