Pauset - Canons

The Guardian 60

Nicolas Hodges
(Wergo, two CDs)

Canons have been a feature of western music since at least the 13th century, and it seems that composers are still fascinated by their possibilities. Brice Pauset, the French-born, German-resident former pupil of Gérard Grisey has taken that fascination further than most; as well as these cycles of canons for solo piano, he has composed equivalent cycles for chamber ensemble and chamber orchestra.

The 18 pieces in these four collections were composed between 1989, when Pauset was studying at the Paris Conservatoire, and 2010. They range from spare, rather Webern-like contrapuntal pieces lasting barely a minute, to much denser, virtuosic showpieces, in which the canonical techniques generating them are hard, if not impossible to discern. It’s not easy music to get on terms with. The later sets were composed for Nicolas Hodges, who plays them with his typical combination of cool precision and expressive freedom. He’s also the pianist in the single work on the second disc, Perspectivae Sintagma I, for piano and live electronics, also based on canons.