Kris Defoort - Pianoworks (2025) [Hi-Res]

Kris Defoort – PIANOWORKS: Dedicatio Book 1 & 2 (W.E.R.F. 276, double CD)
With the release of Dedicatio Book 1 & 2, Kris Defoort takes another significant step in his multifaceted career. This double album brings together, for the first time, his complete body of composed solo piano works — two cycles that bridge the personal and the universal, the world of jazz improvisation and that of fully composed classical music.

Though internationally acclaimed as a jazz composer and opera creator — his recent opera The Time of Our Singing won the 2022 International Opera Award for Best World Premiere — Defoort takes a different path in these piano works. The release coincides with the premiere of his new piano concerto, commissioned as the compulsory piece for the final week of the Queen Elisabeth Competition on May 26, 2025.

Dedicatio Book 1 (2004–2006) was commissioned by LOD music theatre Ghent, Concertgebouw Bruges, deSingel Antwerp, and Kaaitheater Brussels, among others. Its sixth part, DEDICATIO VI: Treasure of Emotions (dedicated to Keith Jarrett), was previously chosen as the compulsory work in the semi-finals of the 2007 Queen Elisabeth Competition. This nine-part cycle consists of intimate musical letters to loved ones — sonic poems born from memories, images, and personal experiences.

Crucial to the composition process was Defoort’s close collaboration with pianist Jan Michiels, who served as a bridge between Defoort’s improvisational background and the classical piano tradition, providing valuable technical input. The compositions are fully notated down to the smallest detail, leaving no room for improvisation. For Defoort — himself a seasoned improviser — this represented a wholly different approach: an intense process in which imagined improvisations gradually crystallised into refined, virtuosic scores.

Dedicatio Book 2 (2021–2023), commissioned by Flagey, also consists of nine pieces and marked a renewed return to the piano following a long period focused on opera. Each piece began as a spontaneous improvisation and was then developed organically into a full composition. Titles were added later, as tributes to artists Defoort admires — including Henri Matisse, Toni Morrison, Mark Rothko, and Louise Bourgeois. Thus emerges a duality of sound and image, where echoes of Debussy and Satie resonate, alongside influences from the Baroque, Renaissance, and contemporary music.

The performance of Dedicatio Book 2 is entrusted to the French master pianist Cédric Tiberghien, recommended by Flagey. His interpretation immediately captured the essence of Defoort’s musical vision — a perfect interpreter for this layered and evocative music.

Tracklist:
01-01 Kris Defoort - I: Undressed Conversation (to my mother) [3:57]
01-02 Kris Defoort - II: Opera Fever (to Hans Bruneel) [1:27]
01-03 Kris Defoort - III: Lonely Men (to Otti) [2:21]
01-04 Kris Defoort - IV: Genius Time (to myself) [4:54]
01-05 Kris Defoort - V: Sleeping Boys (to Umi & Kaito) [3:37]
01-06 Kris Defoort - VI: Treasure of Emotions (to Keith Jarrett) [5:24]
01-07 Kris Defoort - VII: Indispensable Beauty (to Kaname) [3:07]
01-08 Kris Defoort - VIII: Deadline Dreams (to Jan Michiels) [3:09]
01-09 Kris Defoort - IX: Midnight Cantate (to my father) [3:09]
02-01 Kris Defoort - X: Improvisations aux éclats des couleurs joyeuses (to Wassily Kandinsky) [8:45]
02-02 Kris Defoort - XI: voilée/dévoilée (to Louise Bourgeois) [3:16]
02-03 Kris Defoort - XII: Reflets de lumières nocturnes (à Léon Spilliaert) [4:11]
02-04 Kris Defoort - XIII: Valse en forme de mangue (to Dan Siren) [2:29]
02-05 Kris Defoort - XIV: Le réel transfigurée par l'émotion du souvenir (to Cédric Tiberghien) [2:18]
02-06 Kris Defoort - XV: What the nerves and the skin remember (to Toni Morisson) [9:30]
02-07 Kris Defoort - XVI: Sense of the unknown (to Mark Rothko) [8:38]
02-08 Kris Defoort - XVII: dévoilée/voilée (à Henri Matisse) [3:26]
02-09 Kris Defoort - XVIII: Silence précieux (à Philippe Boesmans) [2:59]