Whim Ensemble
Ofer Pelz – prepared piano
Preston Beebe – percussion
Stéphane Diamantakiou – double bass
Explore the Whim Ensemble website to discover more about our project. We delve into the musical interpretation of the ideas presented by Piet Mondrian, the renowned Dutch painter, in his abstract depictions of trees. Our primary goal is to transform his artistic process into music.
Piet Mondrian masterfully distilled the essence of harmonious forms found in nature through a visual approach. He achieved this by iteratively painting the same tree while gradually reducing its visual components with each iteration. This process allowed him to unveil the intrinsic beauty within the complex structure of a tree. In the same vein, our endeavor involves extracting elements from musical gestures to reveal their underlying structures, much like Mondrian’s tree abstractions.
As we progressed through the creative journey, we developed a profound understanding of trees themselves. Their behavior, growth patterns, diverse varieties, and habitats served as our inspiration. We found ourselves exploring metaphorical concepts related to these subjects, which ultimately became the foundation for our musical compositions. On occasion, we employed a series of graphic scores generated from tree photographs to derive gestural inspiration and structural form in our work.
For more details about our musical exploration inspired by Piet Mondrian’s visionary abstractions, we invite you to visit the Whim Ensemble website.
The album is released by Parma recordings and is available in their Ravello site.
Whim Ensemble – Trees
Ofer Pelz – prepared piano | Preston Beebe – percussion | Stéphane Diamantakiou – double bass
- Radicle
- Cambium
- Xylem
- Meristem
- Catalpa (percussion solo)
- Gryllus
- Mycorrhizal Networks
- Fitzroya (double bass solo)
- Hevea
- Inga (piano solo)
- Pinene
Recorded October 25-27, 2021 at Les Studios Opus, L’Assomption in Quebec, Canada
Engineer Sylvaine Arnaud
Recording Assistant Steeve St-Pierre
Mixing Preston Beebe
Mastering Melanie Montgomery
Cover Art Preston Beebe
Executive Producer Bob Lord
A&R Director Brandon MacNeil
A&R Chris Robinson
VP of Production Jan Košulič
Audio Director Lucas Paquette
VP, Design & Marketing Brett Picknell
Art Director Ryan Harrison
Design Edward A. Fleming
Publicity Patrick Niland