Bell Like Piano

I recently posted about the album pianist Vassilis Tsabropoulos made with Anja Lechner of his own music and that associated with Gurdjieff. This is a companion album called Akroasis which is entirely solo piano, based on arrangements of traditional Byzantine hymns sung over the Easter period and more of Tsabropoulos's own compositions. He states that he was drawn to the expressive simplicity and timeless essence of this music. There is hypnotic repetition but also interweaving of modes and melodic lines which illustrate the sprituality of Byzantine music. At 45 minutes, this is a relatively short album by modern cd standards but this is a case of less is more, the pieces here hang together as a set and the mood would be ruined by any unsympathetic additions. The ECM production is to their usual high standard, capturing the bell like tone of Tsabropoulos's playing and giving the music space to breathe.