Wim Mertens / Solo Recordings

Wim Mertens

Happy New Year! I'm back after a little bit of a holiday and wanted to kick the new year off with something a little different for the blog. If you're not familiar with Wim Mertens, he is a composer from Belgium that's been creating a combination of minimalism with New Music, since the early 80's. His music is engaging, relatively easy compared to some of the other modern composers and has a delicacy that's undescribable.

Today, I'm concentrating on his music for solo piano and voice.

Wim Mertens / A Man of No Fortune, And With a Name To Come
Released 1986

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"For many of the fans of Wim Mertens, one of the first things we did upon discovering the Internet was to search for him. I spent years unsuccessfully looking for his CDs in stores and catalogs before going online in 96, and was most gratified to find that I could now acquire them. And I have. His fans in the US are few but fierce, and releases like A Man Of No Fortune, And With A Name To Come, explain that ferocity.

This is an absolutely beautiful CD. Wim is like no one else, so if you've never heard him or of him, be prepared for the unusual. If you have heard a lick here or there and wonder where to begin, this is a great place for his solo output. His music is an intoxicating whirlwind of just enough repetition to be hypnotic, just enough movement to keep the mind engaged, and tunes that are almost surreal in their sublime beauty. Add his otherworldy voice soaring above those piano lines, and you have something truly extraordinary.

This is an older release, but still one of my favorites. The first track, Casting No Shadow, is among the most beautiful compositions of our time. I am amazed at how he makes so much out of so little. And You See is another that cannot be ignored, a pounding piano line that sucks the listener in and a sad and dervish-like voice that, while uttering syllables meaningless to me, sounds as if it knows all there is to know of time and history. That sounds melodramatic, but this is powerful music, expertly constructed and deeply intense. The other tracks are equally enticing.

That being said, not everyone likes Wim's weird soprano-like voice and minimalist style. But if you're open to the new and the offbeat, give it a try. It is just a stunner." - Amazon.com review

Wim Mertens / After Virtue
Released 1987

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Wim Mertens second major release for solo piano picks up where A Man of No Fortune leaves off. Somewhat uneven, there are some beautiful tracks contained in the album.

Wim Mertens / Strategie de la Rupture
Released 1991

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A few years ago I saw the documentary 'Here we are, waiting for you' by a brazilian filmmaker. During the film I had more and more problems paying attention to the visual content, because of the music. I had never heard anything like that before, and it was magnificent! The credits at the end told me the music was from Wim Merten's album 'Strategie De La Rupture'.

To be short: I have never heard music which 'hypnotizes' me more then this piece of masterwork. I have a classical music education, play the piano myself and have listen to a lot of piano music in various genres, but this album by far impresses me most. It's hard to tell what exactly attracts me in the music of Wim Mertens, but I think it's the simplicity and space in his music which gives you time for your own interpretation of the music. The simplicity doesn't make the music 'easy', but rather hypnotizing. No speedy fingerwork, no complex (jazz-)chords, no mind boggling chord progressions (which all have their charms), but pure true music. Sting once said that the power of music is in the silence between the notes; the emptiness lifts you higher, the notes being the helpful environment... I think Sting meant something like this album of Wim Mertens. Hear it yourself! - Amazon.com Review

Wim Mertens / Epic That Never Was
Released 1993

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Oh, the Mertens confusion. CDs all over, with duplicate tracks, different arrangments, obscure titles, and those prices! Solo? Ensemble? Which to choose?

Well, this is a stunner. I have had it for over 7 years, and enjoy it more now than I did when it first arrived. This is in many ways my favorite of the solo CDs. I cannot grow tired of it. Wim is an astonishingly talented musician who creates the most lovely and moving tunes out of the smallest pieces, tiny tunes, endlessly varied, repeated, twisted and turned upside down, played with a superbly confident pianism and that otherworldy voice that startles, then challenges, then finally comforts. And as the other reviewer says, the tracks available only here are absolutely grand.

There are many pretenders to the throne of "The Best" in this field, which I guess would be minimalist/ethereal/ambient music, but there is nothing ambient about this CD. This will engage and grip and not let go, just as it did when performed to that lucky audience in Lisbon in 1993. - Amazon.com Review

Wim Mertens / Jeremiades
Released 1995

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This is Wim Merten's fourth studio album with solo piano and his unique vocal style. He stretches to the limit with the first track, a 23-minute repetition of a 4-bar piano theme that builds to an impossibly beautiful conclusion. Unlike most minimal or repetitive music, this piece shows that repetition can be a powerful device without alienating the listener. The first time I heard it, I didn't realize that there was such a short theme being repeated because the variations in melody and in the vocal work kept developing in a subtle way. Mertens sings in a unique "medieval falsetto" voice that some find irritating, but which is deeply emotional. He has developed a highly personal style in his piano/voice work that likely cannot be duplicated by others. While this is not the most accessible of his piano albums (try "After Virtue" for a starter) this is a strong, sometimes exhilarating album. - Amazon.com Review

Wim Mertens/ Lisa
Released 1996

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No voice on this album, just his great piano playing, and some additional whisteling. The album is hauntingly beautifull, but terribly short - it only lasts about 20 minutes. It's a kind of Brad Mehldau meets minimalism album; it might sound very simplistic, it still is beautifull enough to blow you away. If it would be a bit longer, it would be a five star album for sure. - Amazon.com Review

Wim Mertens / Der Heisse Brei
Released 2000

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It is hard to describe what Wim Mertens' vocal music sounds like to people who haven't heard him. The music is piano and voice; the piano is a kind of Philip Glass minimalistic music, though more melody minded, and quite a lot better. It has more direction, evolves and vibrates more. Wim Mertens makes you feel like you're not listening to 'his' piano music, but to the instrument in general. The tricky part is: he sings. I don't know anyone who 'likes' it. Either you hate, or you love it. Needless to say, I do love it. I have heard people call him the 'singing teletubbie', as he doesn't use words, but 'sounds' (comperable to Meredith Monk or Lisa Gerrard), and it's very direct, instictive, playfull yet haunting music. On this album, he seems to push to melodic powers of his voice further then on the previous ones; it album is less repetitive, though it still makes you think you've known these melodies forerver. If you don't know his music, you should check it out (especially his 'piano and voice' albums). If you do, I'm sure you've already bought it, and all of these words are in vain... - Amazon.com Review

Wim Mertens / Sin Embargo
Released 1997

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And we thought him an ordinary man! The Man, his Voice and his Piano now become The Man, his Whistle and his Guitar. WM plucks and strums decently. He ably transplants beautiful ordinary chords from the piano to the guitar and extended, painfully questioning melodic lines from winds to the single guitar strings. It's the sound that comes as a suprise, not the musical matter, which is of course carefully recycled WM vocabulary. And yes, this time he whistles where he would normally sing - just one piece, as on "After Virtue". WM's self-irony reaches its peak in this brilliant travesty. - Amazon.com Review

Wim Mertens / Un Respiro
Released 2004

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Un respiro, Mertens' new solo album offers 10 new compositions, often very rythmical tracks composed for two pianos and two voices all performed by the composer himself. It shows Mertens' passion for the voice, not using it as an instrument but presenting the voice as a guide for the piano, always looking for pure expression only. Un respiro is Mertens' 6th solo studio album as a solo performer pianist/singer. - Amazon.com