5 Star review from Aachener Zeitung for THE TRANSCENDENTALIST

German newspaper Aachener Zeitung has given THE TRANSCENDENTALIST by Ivan Ilić a 5 Star review.

It translates as:

“You won’t need to warn the neighbors when you’re listening to this CD. For what the pianist Ivan Ilić conjures out of his grand piano on this truly special album remains mainly within the piano – to the point that even the substance may remain inaudible. “The Transcendentalist” is the attempt of the American, who was born in Belgrade 35 years ago and now lives in Paris, to compile music which could relate to the (very eccentric) ideas of Transcendentalism from the middle of the 19th century.

Ilić finds this music with Scriabin, whose preludes, reveries and garlands have a dimension which leads to different spheres. The same is true of John Cage and Morton Feldman, two American musical revolutionaries of the post-war era whose musical works weren’t just crazily experimental, but also meditative. Cage’s “Dream” or his “In a Landscape”, both from 1948, are such minimalistic sound journeys that, by circling within themselves, they transport the soul into distant realms.

The repetitive “Music without Metaphor” by the young American Scott Wollschleger is at the middle of the album, and at the end there is Feldman’s 22-Minute “Palais de Mari”. It’s fascinating, sensual, unpretentious music with an immediate connection to the hereafter. Ilić presents himself as your close confidant and the beauty of his sound is a phenomenon. For your neighbor to get something out of it too, you’ll have to invite him over.”

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