Lebigot - Becoming A Child

It takes a thoughtful composer to reimagine the musical language of the late 19th century, fuse it with the spirit of the late 20th century, and avoid a skewed pastiche of the solo piano music heard in fin de siecle Paris salons. Eric-Olivier Lebigot – or EOL, as this writer/performer likes to be known – seems to be just such a composer.

For proof, hear the 27 compositions on his engaging release, Intuitions. Becoming A Child, arguably the most striking of these pieces, might worry some with its unpromising title, but four minutes of trite piano noodling this is not. The work’s musical ideas are deceptively simple, hiding complex fears that will be familiar to many.

Past masters

The influence of Debussy, Faure and Satie on Lebigot’s piano writing is immediately apparent. So is his affinity with fellow living composers Michael Nyman and Philip Glass. All those who fell in love with Nyman’s music for The Piano will feel at home with many of Lebigot’s relatively short pieces – Becoming A Child being the longest of these.

It begins hesitantly, like a piano introduction to a Tori Amos song (T18-0:00~1:10). As fans of her music will know, this usually signals the start of something lyrically intricate and personally profound. Such depth is not as obvious in Lebigot’s main theme (T18-1:10~1:44), yet there is more to this music than its easy lyricism lets on.

Future hurts

Here’s how Lebigot sees this work. It’s about a mother who, understanding that life involves a degree of suffering, nonetheless (and naturally) wants to keep her child from experiencing it.

What we hear is a parent inwardly bearing imagined future trials; and it’s her empathy that gives this piece its title. By “becoming a child”, says Lebigot, the mother can believe she’s shielding her youngster from life’s crueller adventures.

The images this music conjures up aren’t disturbing, but nor are they reassuring. For much of the composition’s length, it’s like watching an old Super 8 video of a young boy dancing by a window. Midsummer sunlight streams in and glares off of the polished wooden floor beneath his feet. Focus on the silhouette the light makes of the boy, and you become uncomfortably aware that it also makes darker the shadows in the places where it doesn’t reach. Less a sinister picture, more a disquieting one.

Present times

And so to the early 21st century. It’s unfortunate that Lebigot’s debut release will probably never feature in the reviews pages of the mainstream classical music press. Pushed for space and time, they’ll overlook this sensitive contribution to modern piano music, or mistake it for “New Age”; presuming this an album which pretends to Minimalism but fools only itself. A shame, as there’s substance beneath the naive sincerity on the surface of Lebigot’s writing. Substance open-minded listeners can these days evaluate for themselves at the click of a mouse - thanks (amusingly) to the digital salons of our new age.