 La cohérence du programme de ce disque passionnant et magnifiquement interprété par Benjamin Hochman n’apparaît pas immédiatement. Beethoven sert de fil rouge à cet enregistrement où seules deux des trois dernières sonates, figurent ici (exit l’opus 111). Le pianiste comble cette absence frustrante en interprétant des œuvres de compositeurs anciens (Josquin Desprez et Dowland) et modernes avec les "Shadowlines" de George Benjamin. Benjamin Hochman justifie le choix de son programme en démontrant que la musique pour innover s’appuie sur les acquis antérieurs et sert de base aux futures créations. Ainsi Beethoven s’inspirant de ses ainés (ici pour l’exemple de superbes transcriptions au piano de Josquin Desprez et Dowland) pour servir à son tour de base aux musiques nouvelles (ici George Benjamin) afin d’assurer par des bases communes et assimilées l’évolution constante et pérenne de la création musicale par-delà les styles et les langages. Le résultat semble convaincant car si chaque sonate beethovénienne est un monde en soi, Benjamin Hochman met en évidence les racines communes entre Beethoven, l’"Ave-Christe" de Josquin, la "Pavana Lachrymae" de Dowland, puis avec "Shadowlines" (2001) où le cinquième des "Préludes canoniques" de George Benjamin se développe sur une rythmique de Passacaille. (Jean-Noël Regnier) In his late piano sonatas, Beethoven created music of extraordinary originality, simultaneously looking far into the future and far into the past. Pianist Benjamin Hochman pays homage to this Janus-faced aspect with the inclusion of two works from the Renaissance alongside Shadowlines from 2001. As Hochman writes: ‘Beethoven achieves a kind of timelessness, stretching to the limit what music can say. He looks far into the future by striving for ever richer sounds, conceiving powerfully original musical ideas, and building masterful musical structures. He looks far into the past by integrating traditional forms such as variations and fugue, reflecting earlier musical styles, even quoting fleeting musical motives from Bach. But most of all, he transcends any particular era by exploring emotions both primal and sublime.’ The first Renaissance piece is the motet Ave Christe, attributed to Josquin de Prez, the Franco-Flemish composer frequently compared to Beethoven by virtue of his wide-ranging impact. Hochman plays a piano transcription made in 1988 by American composer Charles Wuorinen. Flow, my tears – the lamenting melody that best represents the signature melancholia of the English Renaissance figure John Dowland – originated as a solo lute song and was published under the title Lachrimae in 1596. Its popularity led to a plethora of arrangements around Europe, including the one Hochman has chosen by Dowland’s elder contemporary, William Byrd. The album’s most recently composed music is Shadowlines, a set of six preludes written by Sir George Benjamin. It uses a variety of canonic techniques that unfold subliminally, echoes concealed by echoes. Benjamin follows Beethoven’s cue in repurposing old techniques – including a passacaglia in the longest of the set – as conveyors of new revelations.
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Catalogue 
