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ImproviSatie

ImproviSatie

Michael Gees

Label: Challenge Classics
Format: SACD hybrid
Barcode: 0608917251227
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Catalog number: CC 72512
Releasedate: 29-04-11
Michael Gees: "The (listening) expectation that a piece has to sound exactly the way it was written has always been challenging to me.  For I am interested in the development potential of a composer’s idea, and not just in its rendition. I don’t like to satisfy myself with musical creation which is already completed as is, but I want to be inspired by the moment of its performance, in this particular room, with this particular grand piano, in front of and with these human beings.  This leads to spontaneous variations and unexpected listening adventures.  The composition comes into being now, at this moment, as if it was music extempore." 
  • Michael Gees is a acclaimed pianist and composer/improviser
  • He is best known for his duo with Christoph Prégardien
  • Tenor Christoph Prégardien and pianist Michael Gees were rewarded with the MIDEM Vocal Award 2009 and the MIDEM Record of the Year Award 2009 for Die Schöne Müllerin of Franz Schubert on Challenge Classics (CC 72292)
  • They also received a Supersonic Award by the Luxembourgian Pizzicato Magazine for the cd ‘Die Schöne Müllerin’
  • The CD ImproviSatie is Gees' statement as music as an 'ex tempore'- art which always changes and moves and never stays the same
  • Improvisation should not only be used with new pieces but also with existing masterpieces, such as the works of Satie in this case
  • SACD!
Music spontaneously composed originates from the presence of the spirit. This is music extempore. To achieve this, I have embraced the music of Erik Satie.  Through closely-tied and personalized improvization, I gained insights and found open windows and doors.  I looked into Satie’s music applying the rules it follows.  Every day, I interpreted its horoscope, so to speak.  What other development potential would have been “in it” for its idea?  He himself led the path.  With his “Wrong Dances,” he wrote the same piece three times: In his understanding, apparently, there is no one phrasing of a thought that remains valid through the times.  Neither in my understanding, by the way.