Maurice Methot’s realization, although seemingly abstruse and esoteric, delivers a heartfelt statement of admiration through an equally angular representation of another artist’s (Jean Cocteau) existence. In a romantically inspired atonal style (if that’s possible), Methot abstractly orchestrates a beautifully deranged coalescence of life forces. The kind of life forces that could potentially drive any purely and intrinsically motivated artist into noteworthy obscurity.
It is in gesture and dynamics that a story of unabashed creative force is told. Although each piece (track) holds it’s own, it is the narrative whole depicting the life of a beautiful artist that is ultimately the prize for those who might wonder about the man, Jean Cocteau.
This is a truly innovative expression of music for solo piano, utilizing self-constructed technology for the sake of compositional liberty. Using a “toy” Midi guitar for performance and composition, Methot was able to capture the essence of his rhythm, force and gesture. In turn, the Midi generated data triggered by his guitar was sent through his own custom designed software environment calculating melodic, harmonic, dynamic and rhythmic content based on factors of his own technical finger picking facility. Ultimately, the compositional data triggers the sound source, which is a digitally sampled acoustic instrument spewing forth convincing piano tones. In a surprisingly seamless fashion his toy guitar is transformed into a concert grand.
Fittingly, transformation seems to be a thematic backbone to this musical structure. The music morphs seamlessly throughout the disc, never quite allowing you closure, but mischievously inviting you in for more. “Vingt chansons pour Jean Cocteau” is unresolved success.
The French poet, writer, artist, and film maker Jean Maurice Eugene Clement Cocteau was born to a wealthy family on July 5, 1889 in a small town near Paris, France. Throughout his life, he collaborated with the likes of Pablo Picasso and Erik Satie, while establishing friendships with artists such as, Igor Stravinsky and Sergey Daighilev. Cocteau's father committed suicide when he was about 10 years old.
