Whim Trees Cover

Trees

New album on Parma Recordings - April 7th 2023

Whim Ensemble

Ofer Pelz prepared piano
Preston Beebe percussion
Stéphane Diamantakiou double bass

Release Date: April 7, 2023
Catalog #: RR8089
Format: Digital

In this project, we explore musically the ideas developed by the Dutch painter Piet Mondrian in his abstractions of trees. Our motivation is to translate his creative process into music. Piet Mondrian developed a method of visually distilling the essence of naturally harmonious forms by recursively painting the same tree while reducing its visual components with each repetition. In doing so, he was able to uncover the essence within the intricate structure of a tree. As with Mondrian’s tree abstractions, we aim to extract some elements from a musical gesture and uncover the underlying structure. 

Throughout the creative process, we learned a lot about trees themselves and were inspired by their behavior, growth, varieties, habitats, and so forth. This led us to explore metaphorical concepts surrounding these subjects to create our musical works. At times we used a series of graphic scores generated from tree photographs as gestural inspiration and structural form.

The launch concert will be at La Sala Rossa in Montreal on April 10, 2023 with co-production of Innovation en Concert.
Visit Innovation en concert website for info and tickets

Whim trees-collage

Whim Ensemble – Trees

Ofer Pelz – prepared piano | Preston Beebe – percussion | Stéphane Diamantakiou – double bass

  1. Radicle
  2. Cambium
  3. Xylem
  4. Meristem
  5. Catalpa (percussion solo)
  6. Gryllus
  7. Mycorrhizal Networks 
  8. Fitzroya (double bass solo) 
  9. Hevea
  10. Inga (piano solo) 
  11. Pinene






Recorded October 25-27, 2021 at Les Studios Opus, L’Assomption in Quebec, Canada
Engineer Sylvaine Arnaud
Recording Assistant Steeve St-Pierre
Mixing Preston Beebe

Mastering Melanie Montgomery

Cover Art Preston Beebe

Executive Producer Bob Lord

A&R Director Brandon MacNeil
A&R Chris Robinson

VP of Production Jan Košulič
Audio Director Lucas Paquette

VP, Design & Marketing Brett Picknell
Art Director Ryan Harrison
Design Edward A. Fleming
Publicity Patrick Niland