Prosper

This excellent Belgian pianist recorded solo several times for this label, this particular collection focusing on fairly abbreviated pieces. The longest performances, a pair of them, are in the eight minute range. Other pieces are only one, two or three minutes long, their musical content as focused and evocative as the multi-lingual titles, one of which manages to mention both free music and breakfast. Even in the short form, Fred Van Hove piles on the ideas. The back cover photograph of the artist wiping his brow could also be a picture of a listener who has experienced the flow of these nine performances, the sonic ingredients as rich as a bottle of dark Belgian beer.