Hermetism

Composed during the darkest days of the pandemic, this beautiful album reunites Dutch composer Joep Beving with his cherished Schimmel upright piano and offers up beauty and peace in a destabilized world. Hermetism is inspired by ancient philosophical ideas of nature and the universe. No track rises far above a whisper, yet they are all compelling in their expressive power. Beving journeys through an array of influences, from the timelessness of Bach (“Accent Grave,” “Last Dance”) and Eastern modal inflection (“Dervish”) to the haunting simplicity of 19th-century French composer Erik Satie (“Le fee verte”). In the childlike, Chopin-inspired waltz “Paris s’enflamme,” Beving pays a heartfelt tribute to the French capital, while the final track, “Roses,” takes the role of a calming, hypnotic postlude.