Jan Beran

In Śānti, Jan Beran unites meditative-expressive means of articulation with avant-garde techniques, and Western attitudes with those of the Far East. This multicultural approach is founded not least on Beran's extraordinary personal and musical background and development, which took the mathematician and composer from his native town Prague to Switzerland, the USA, and as far as India. This explains, among other things, his efforts to reconcile the time patterns of Indian music with Western serialism. In his second piano concerto Śānti, like in his earlier collection Cirri, Beran achieves a perfect amalgamation of classical form and meditative stance. In the light of his spirituality and this special romantic, meditative attitude, some similarity with Arvo Pärt's works cannot wholly be denied. Unquestionably a remarkable composition, generated solely be electronic means in the recording on this CD.