Guy Vandromme - Bruno Duplant: l'infini des possibles

This double CD comprises twelve etudes for solo piano, ranging in length from eight-minutes-forty-seconds up to fifteen minutes, altogether totalling two hours and eight minutes. The etudes were written in 2019 by the French composer Bruno Duplant, and mark his second appearance on Elsewhere, previous compositions of his having been performed by the Dutch pianist Reinier van Houdt on the acclaimed Lettres et Replies (Elsewhere, 2019). The etudes here were performed by the Belgian pianist Guy Vandromme, in his Elsewhere debut, both his previous albums—of music by Satie, and by Cage—having been released by Edition Wanderweiser.

According to Michael Pisaro-Liu's sleevenotes, Duplant's score consists primarily of lowercase letters which stand for the "white keys" of the piano. Full stops and spaces are placed in the letter stream to give a suggestion of phrasing. Occasionally, these letters are affected by accents, uppercase shifts, cedilles and apostrophes, with each of these marks open to interpretation. A line of letters should last about one minute; each etude consists of a single page of eight lines. While the order of the letters is fixed, their combinations and repetitions are determined by the performer. The performer is asked to play "soberly, slowly and with a sweet melancholy."

All of which gives a pianist plenty of leeway to interpret the pieces in their own way, including use of pedals, pauses between notes, which octave to use, and countless other considerations. No wonder the album is entitled l'infini des possibles (infinity of possibilities). That is doubtless why Vandromme recorded the pieces at his home studio, in Messelbroek, Belgium (on a Steinway C-Grand piano from 1896). It took him from March until May 2021—yes, months to record two hours of music.

The results of Vandromme's labours do not hint at the trials, tribulations, trial and error which he must have gone through in those months. The end products certainly fit the instruction to play soberly, slowly and with a sweet melody. From start to finish, the music is tranquil and relaxing, with a natural, unforced flow to it. There is enough variety to engage listeners throughout the album's two hours without any of the music sounding like filler. Duplant and Vandromme deserve equal praise for the final result,