Some of you may know that I sell vinyl records for a living. Today, a copy of Wim Mertens' A Man of No Fortune, And With A Name to Come walked in the door along with some Philip Glass and Steve Reich. I first heard this record in 1993, when I was running Art & Trash, the best arthouse video store Toronto's ever seen. Though not expensive, today's copy is only the third I've seen in 30+ years.
In North America, the Belgian composer is probably best known — if he's known at all — as the composer of the score for Peter Greenaway's film The Belly of an Architect, which contains Mertens' most famous piece, Struggle for Pleasure:
My personal favorite Mertens piece is probably Often a Bird:
Here's A Man of No Fortune..., which is just Mertens' piano and countertenor voice:
As I listened to it today for the first time in many years, I recalled that I'd sometimes put the CD on repeat, played very softly, to calm my dog, Fletcher, who suffered from separation anxiety — he once almost ate his way through my wooden front door. The music worked quite well.
If it agrees with you, you may like Hania Raini's output.
