Mirrored

Vanessa Wagner’s Mirrored unfolds like a tender love letter to ambient music, delivered with heart-melting care and a rare depth of compassion. The French pianist invites the listener to stop doing and turn towards being, a radical proposition that demands letting go of distraction and embracing deep listening. Her entrancing programme of contemporary works connects with the ancient roots of Western musical minimalism, seemingly nourished by shamanic mantras, sacred incantations and timeless folk songs. “Minimalist music is often described as simple, even simplistic,” Wagner tells Apple Music. “It’s true that it often contains few notes, at least fewer than in the great Romantic or virtuoso compositions I used to play. On the other hand, I’ve discovered an immense field of expression in minimalist pieces, in the way of shaping the sound, of making harmonies resonate, of playing with the silences and suspensions. I am fascinated by the way music lives in this invisible space between each note. The notions of invisibility, reflection, blurred reality, melancholy and reverie are truly present in this repertoire. I also believe that this is why it resonates so strongly with listeners—it is a music of light and shadow.” Mirrored was made to be heard without interruption, opening with a transcription of “The Poet Acts” by Philip Glass, originally from his soundtrack to The Hours, and ending in the stillness of Sylvain Chauveau’s “Mineral”. In between are pieces by Moondog—big beasts of the minimalist jungle—the maverick chansonnier, poet, and composer Léo Ferré and the Debussy-inspired Ryuichi Sakamoto. There’s room, too, for works by Nico Muhly, Melaine Dalibert and rising-star French composer Camille Pépin, whose “Number 1” is among the album’s standout tracks. “This very luminous, lyrical piece will be a beautiful discovery for many,” says Wagner of Pépin’s composition. “It also symbolises the extremely tenuous frontier between the categories we give to musical genres. And ‘Opus X’, a little UFO by Léo Ferré, is a sublime rarity.”