Glenn Gould: “A legendary name,” Godin ventures. The late Canadian pianist had extraordinary abilities as well as eccentric disciplines and personal obsessions, one being the work of classical music genius Johann Sebastian Bach. One of the 18th century German maestro’s key disciplines was counterpoint – contrepoint in French; namely, the relationship between interdependent harmonies that remain independent in rhythm and contour.
Godin: “A musician friend had told me about the two documentaries Bruno Monsaingeon had made about Gould, Hereafter and The Alchemist. I watched Gould, who is one of the greatest musicians of all time, playing the most beautiful music of all time, Bach. I think the extremely personal way that Gould interpreted Bach goes against all the normal rules of performance, which for me created a new art form. I was immediately attracted to this mysterious and inaccessible universe, which I wanted to explore when I got home to Paris.”
The end result is Contrepoint, a dazzling experience that conjoins Godin’s former habitual musical fusions with classical forms, taking the listener on multiple adventurous journeys, often within each song, with counterpoint just one of its many landmarks. It’s remarkably varied in tone and rhythm, splicing genres with a bold, punchy and yet sensual and sweeping feel, with a variety of enticing lyrical narratives, and a starry international cast of guests, such as French vocalist Gordon Tracks, Brazilian singer Marcelo Camelo, Italian author Alessandro Barrico, New Zealand guitarist Connan Mockasin and the choir from Macedonia’s F.A.M.E.’S. Project. But the unifying force of Contrepointis Johann Sebastian Bach.Each album track uses a Bach piece as its source, before jumping off to all manner of new places. Glenn Gould is also in the mix, though more as a spiritual guide than compositional.
Working in tandem with co-songwriter, arranger, keyboardist and Bach specialist Vincent Taurelle at AIR’s Studio de l’Atlas in Paris, Godin ended up with eight stunningly individual pieces, “taking parts of Bach’s scores, then creating new parts,” he recalls. “Sometimes only thirty seconds of Bach’s original music was left behind. But I want people to listen to Contrepoint without noticing that it’s Bach as it’s as much a tribute to all the great composers that have inspired me. Making a record about Bach leads to all composers who have listened to Bach.”
CONTREPOINT will be released 18th September on Because Music. Album artwork, tracklisting and Nicolas Godin photo by Thomas Humery.