Although it is a soundtrack, this album represents a sort of summa of the work of the Belgian pianist Wim Mertens, as it contains a series of pieces - more or less reworked - already published or presented in other situations. This does not detract from the fact that "The Belly Of An Architect" is an album with its own autonomy and indeed, precisely for the reason mentioned above, it has an extremely captivating musical relevance.

It is worth clarifying right away that the original album also features two orchestral compositions by Glenn Branca at the beginning and end, because director Peter Greenaway wanted to include them in the soundtrack of his film. Given that these pieces are stylistically quite different, Mertens' contribution remains well-highlighted and constitutes the bulk of the work.

Wim Mertens is counted among the contemporary minimalists and, using mainly the piano, here gives a remarkable showcase of his talents and evolution. Starting with one of the main themes of the film, "Birds For Mind", which Mertens himself reworks in different versions, the expressive strength of seemingly mechanical and repetitive scores immediately stands out. The sound texture is compact and metronomic, offering overwhelming rhythmic sensations without the use of properly rhythmic instruments. There are baroque, neoclassical, romantic echoes and yearnings: a fabulous counterpoint that unfolds through repetitions and inversions of the same measures, inspiring joy, ancient melancholy, and ironic drama. Which is perfect for the plot of Greenaway's film.

Then there are the very famous "Close Cover" and "Struggle for Pleasure", pieces that many know without being aware of the composer due to their use in advertisements, TV themes, and so forth. The former is sweet and dreamy, the latter strongly dramatic and pressing. Certainly two absolute masterpieces of the pianist.

And then there is the marionette-like "4 Mains", a piece for solo piano performed at four hands, and the delirious "The Aural Trick", where a cascade of low and high notes runs across the keyboard in cycles that increase in number with each passage, with a sound almost akin to a clavichord.

The listening is hypnotic, the music grand even without the film's images; which in a certain sense almost end up restraining the emotion of the various compositions by tying them to the Roman architectures and the vicissitudes of a man (Stourley Cracklite, the protagonist architect suffering from cancer, betrayed by his wife, and hindered by his collaborators) who becomes aware of his tragedy and bravely disillusions himself about everything.

Those who do not know Wim Mertens should procure this record to realize the artistic height of this discreet and shy European pianist. Apart from the atonal and somewhat harsh orchestrations of Glenn Branca, 90% of the album is an enjoyable feast for the senses, performed with a piano and a few other instruments.

Tracklist Lyrics and Videos

01   Augustus (01:34)

02   Birds for the Mind (04:44)

03   The Aural Trick (02:40)

04   Struggle for Pleasure (03:54)

Instrumental

05   4 Mains (03:10)

06   Close Cover (03:15)

07   Time Passing (01:35)

08   Tourtour (02:29)

09   And With Them (01:30)

10   Andrea Doria (01:01)

11   Galba (01:38)

12   Caracalla (01:55)

13   Hadrian (03:00)

14   Augustus (01:30)

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