Nocturnal

The supportive environment that Brendon Heinst and Maya Fridman offer TRPTK artists is evidenced by the successful recording of Nocturnal live in the studio. The piano sound is well-balanced with generous room ambience, and the music is presented without editing or superfluous enhancement.

The music that Bart Koop shares on this recording, like that of the musicians who inspire him, can be appreciated as a vehicle for quieting the external distractions of the world and the internal obstacles of the mind, and though the performances are rooted in basic harmony, the flow of musical events, like the unfolding of life, is never that simple.

Even though Bart Koop wanted to play the keyboard, he started to learn classical piano at the age of seven, convinced by his musician parents. Only later, the Dutchman started going on little excursions with synths and the electric piano in bands.

Now with 34 years, this solo piano debut emerged: a live-performance, improvised opus with eight works, stirring all senses. Elegiac gliding, like a soundtrack to the images of Caspar David Friedrich, minimalist like a Baroque Pachelbel. Or finely strummed like the Breton Didier Squiban, and as lively as George Winston on the label Windham Hill. Or flowing like Keith Jarrett's "Köln Concert".

It's a great thing that Koop recorded Nocturnal at the audiophile label TRPTK: founder and audio engineer Brendon Heinst captured the touches of the piano with high transparency, magnificently balanced technique, and a great sense of space.

QOPE is kind of like Nils Frahm meets Bugge Wesseltoft. It's very atmospheric. More and more, I personally like this minimalist abstract music which builds. It's the kind of music I can just sink into.