SAMSARA OCEAN

Anton Batagov - composer, pianist, sound engineer. Iconic figure in the world of new classical music.

The Artist's note

I recorded this album in August 2022.

I have never mixed music written by me and classical music in one album before. Now I decided to do so. In one way or another, I've always been both a "performer" and a "composer". My “interpretations” of the classics have always sounded, shall we say, weird (compared to how it is “supposed” to be played), and my own stuff has always had echoes of my performing experience.

But now every sound has to make its way through the impossibility of speaking the language of music and speaking at all. Everything that seemed important and meaningful became meaningless. And it's impossible to continue making art as if “everything is normal”.

The itinerary of the album includes some of the famous classical pieces and some of my own compositions. It goes through my entire life – from the time when my mother put me on her lap facing the keyboard, placed my hands on top of hers and played these Bach's Preludes for me (that's how I "got into music") – to the present moment. From Music for December (1993) to Chaconne in A minor (2021). From Schubert's F minor Moment Musical to my solo piano transcription of Tchaikovsky's very last song (Alone Again, As Before).

This album's eleven tracks are like scattered pages discarded on the shore of Samsara ocean and fallen into someone's hands. An attempt to understand the connection between them, how and why it all happened, and what will happen now. If anyone survives on this planet at all, I am not sure that there will be a desire and an opportunity to listen to music. But just in case, let this album exist.

 

About the artist

Composer and pianist Anton Batagov is one of the most influential and iconic figures in the world of new classics. His discography includes almost 60 albums. He plays on the world's most prestigious stages. His compositions have been performed and recorded by outstanding classical and rock musicians and orchestras. The philosophy of Batagov's projects eliminates any boundaries between "performance" and "composition" by viewing all existing musical practices—from ancient rituals to rock and pop culture and advanced computer technologies—as inseparable elements of his own practice.

Anton Batagov is one of the closest collaborators of Philip Glass, one of the key performers of his music. He has been touring internationally with Glass for almost a decade. His Glass albums – The complete Etudes, Prophecies (Batagov's piano arrangements of scenes from Einstein on the Beach and Koyaanisqatsi), music from The Hours and Distant figure (a composition written by Philip Glass for and premiered by Anton Batagov) – have received critical recognition, thousands of sales and millions of streams.

As a composer, Batagov has his own unique voice. The post-minimalist language of his compositions is rooted in the harmonic and rhythmic patterns of Russian church bells mixed with the spirit of Buddhist philosophy, the dynamic pulse of early Soviet avant-garde, and the unfading energy of progressive rock. Batagov is an author of several movie soundtracks and original music for numerous television channels.

From 1997 to 2009, Batagov stopped his concert activity to focus on recording and composition.

Since 2009 he has been performing a series of unique solo piano programs. His repertoire includes contemporary classics and great composers of the past. Along with the music of John Cage, Morton Feldman, Philip Glass and Michael Nyman, Batagov performs Bach, Pachelbel, early English music, Mozart, Schubert, Debussy, and many others composers, as well as his own numerous piano compositions.

Mr. Batagov has performed at The Grand Hall of Moscow Conservatory and The Grand Hall of St.Petersburg Philharmonie, Moscow International House of Music and Zaryadye Hall, Walt Disney Hall (Los Angeles) and Brooklyn Academy of Music (New York), Jordan Hall (Boston) and Bing Concert Hall (Palo Alto, CA), Elbphilharmonie (Hamburg), The Berliner Philharmonie and Philharmonie de Paris, Musiikkitalo (Helsinki) and Reduta Hall (Bratislava), Teatro Regio (Parma, Italy) and Palau de la Musica Catalana (Barcelona, Spain), and many other venues.

Prelude in C minor, BWV 999 [Bach, between 1717 and 1723]

Rock-n-rOlga [Batagov, 2021]

Moment Musical in F minor, op.94 No. 3 / D 780 [Schubert, 1823]

Breathing In Breathing Out: E minor [Batagov, 2005, 2022 revision]

Prelude in C minor, BWV 847 [Bach, 1722]

Chaconne in A Minor [Batagov, 2021]

Alone Again, As Before [Tchaikovsky, 1893 / Batagov, 2022]

Samsara Ocean [Batagov, 2006, rev.2022]

Prelude in B minor, op. 32 No. 10 [Rachmaninoff, 1910]

Music for December [solo piano version] [Batagov, 1993 / 2022]

Prelude in C major, BWV 846 [Bach, 1722]

Next date:

• Date Monday, 09/December/2024 19:30
• Venue Dock 11 - Eden
• Address Breite Straße 43, 13187 Berlin-Pankow