Vassilis Tsabropoulos - The Promise

Expressive music conveying the magic of sparse textures and subtle harmonic progessions: the sixth ECM album by Vassilis Tsabropoulos offers 11 piano miniatures, most of them originals, with the opening theme The Other as a recurring though constantly varied leitmotiv.

While the pianist's first solo album 'Akrosais' (Hypnotic and mysterious, shimmering like ancient mosaics - The Independent) was inspired by ancient Byzantine Greek music, the new material evokes similar atmospheres out of the compositional imagination. Although 90% of the music is written, it maintains the dreamy elasticity of improvised ballads. Tsabropoulos: For me, it's a principle of life that less is more: Simplicity is the most difficult thing to achieve. Both as performer and as a listener I'm trying to find beauty inside the things, in details and nuances and in parts which are not so obvious. The listener is thus asked to take his time with the music, to concentrate and reflect and to discover his own path - therein lies the promise of this record.

Personnel: Vassilis Tsabropoulos (piano)