Einaudi: Waves, The Piano Collection, Composer Ludovico Einaudi, Artist Jeroen van Veen piano, Format 7 CD, Ludovico Einaudi's aesthetic of emptiness has won him legions of fans worldwide, and Jeroen van Veen's survey of the piano music which is central to Einaudi's style belongs with his survey of minimalists including Glass and Nyman who are less concerned in music as an expressive language than as a commercial artefact. Likewise, his listeners absorb the music less in the sense of engaging with meaning than as backdrop to activity or release from stress. The works on this compendious collection are nearly all 'songs' of between 3 and 7 minutes, with the influence from pop culture that this brevity implies, and sharing with the pop world an economically aware employment of simplicity and repetition so as not unduly to tax the attention-span of the consumer. As Jeroen van Veen remarks, 'Contrary to ordinary classical music, minimal music demands little of the listener but to escape life's troubles for a moment; no comprehensive musical structures ask their full attention.' All his compositions are more or less based on the music he heard when he was a child, when his mother played Chopin Preludes. Einaudi (grandson of the politician Luigi Einaudi) loved the almost hypnotic soft sound of the upright piano. Because of her he started to play the piano and tried to find his own way. The melody (if there is any at all) always goes down, hardly leaving the classical path of harmonies. His music is ambient, calm, meditative and often introspective, drawing on minimalism and contemporary pop. Ludovico Einaudi may well become the "Satie of the 21st century". His minimalist, deceptively simple piano works reach a massive audience well beyond the strict boundaries of traditional classical music. CDs with his music break sales records, the hypnotic calmness of his works being the perfect recipe against modern world's stress and fatigue. Einaudi's piano works fit in logically with Jeroen van Veen's survey of Minimalist Piano Music, and this 7-CD set is the most substantial collection available at present.

Tracklist:

Le Onde: No. 1, Canzone Popolare
Le Onde: No. 2, Le Onde
Le Onde: No. 3, Lontano
Le Onde: No. 4, Ombre
Le Onde: No. 5, La Linea Scura
Le Onde: No. 6, Tracce
Le Onde: No. 7, Questa Notte
Le Onde: No. 8, Sotto Vento
Le Onde: No. 9, Dietro L'incanto
Le Onde: No. 10, Onde
Le Onde: No. 11, La Profondita Del Buio
Le Onde: No. 12, Passaggio
Le Onde: No. 13, L'ultima Volta
Eden Roc: No. 1, Fuori Dalla Note
Eden Roc: No. 2, Due Tramonti
Eden Roc: No. 3, Nefeli
Eden Roc: No. 4, Giorni Dispari
Eden Roc: No. 5, Julia
Eden Roc: No. 6, Fuori Dal Mondo
Eden Roc: No. 7, Un Mondo A Parte
Eden Roc: No. 8, Password
Eden Roc: No. 9, Exit
Eden Roc: No. 10, The Dark Bank Of Clouds
Eden Roc: No. 11, Corale Solo
Eden Roc: No. 12, Sarabande
I Giorni: No. 1, Melodia Africana I
I Giorni: No. 2, I Due Fiumi
I Giorni: No. 3, In Un'altra Vita
I Giorni: No. 4, Melodia Africana II
I Giorni: No. 5, Stella Del Mattino
I Giorni: No. 6, I Giorni
I Giorni: No. 7, Samba
I Giorni: No. 8, Melodia Africana III
I Giorni: No. 9, La Nascita Delle Cose Segrete
I Giorni: No. 10, Quel Che Resta
I Giorni: No. 11, Inizio
I Giorni: No. 12, Limbo
I Giorni: No. 13, Bella Note
I Giorni: No. 14, Melodia Africana IV
Una Mattina: No. 1, Una Mattina
Una Mattina: No. 2, Ora
Una Mattina: No. 3, Resta Con Me
Una Mattina: No. 4, Leo
Una Mattina: No. 5, Dolce Droga
Una Mattina: No. 6, Dietro Casa
Una Mattina: No. 7, Come Un Fiore
Una Mattina: No. 8, Nuvole Nere
Una Mattina: No. 9, Questa Volta
Una Mattina: No. 10, Nuvole Bianche
Una Mattina: No. 11, Ancora
Una Mattina: No. 12, The Snow Prelude No. 3
Una Mattina: No. 13, The Earth Prelude
Divenire: No. 1, Uno
Divenire: No. 2, Divenire
Divenire: No. 3, Monday
Divenire: No. 4, Andare
Divenire: No. 5, Rose
Divenire: No. 6, Primavera
Divenire: No. 7, Oltremare
Divenire: No. 8, L'origine Nascosta
Divenire: No. 9, Fly
Divenire: No. 10, Ascolta
Divenire: No. 11, Ritornare
Nightbook: No. 1, In Principio
Nightbook: No. 2, Lady Labyrinth
Nightbook: No. 3, Nightbook
Nightbook: No. 4, Indaco
Nightbook: No. 5, The Snow Prelude No. 15
Nightbook: No. 6, Reverie
Nightbook: No. 7, The Crane Dance
Nightbook: No. 8, The Snow Prelude No. 2
Nightbook: No. 9, The Tower
Nightbook: No. 10, Bye Bye Mon Amour
Nightbook: No. 11, The Planets
Nightbook: No. 12, Tu Sei
Nightbook: No. 13, Berlin Song
In A Time Lapse: No. 1, Corale
In A Time Lapse: No. 2, Time Lapse
In A Time Lapse: No. 3, Life
In A Time Lapse: No. 4, Walk
In A Time Lapse: No. 5, Discovery At Night
In A Time Lapse: No. 6, Run
In A Time Lapse: No. 7, Brothers
In A Time Lapse: No. 8, Orbits
In A Time Lapse: No. 9, Two Trees
In A Time Lapse: No. 10, Newton's Cradle
In A Time Lapse: No. 11, Waterways
In A Time Lapse: No. 12, Experience
In A Time Lapse: No. 13, Underwood
In A Time Lapse: No. 14, Burning
In A Time Lapse: No. 15, Luce

UPC: 5029365945226
Label: Brilliant Classics
Release Date: 1.28.14
Format: CD

Van Jeroen Veen - Waves: Piano Collection (CD)