Far from being a simple rereading of Keith Emerson's work, pianist Thierry Eliez's 'Emerson Enigma' offers us the keys to the enigmatic, lush, avant-garde, and singular work of Keith Emerson, who imposed English progressive music to the rest of the world.

Founder of the group Emerson Lake & Palmer, the pianist and composer Keith Emerson was the frst to integrate concert piano pieces, to tamper with the sounds of the Hammond organ and give it a provocative colour. His daring innovations seduced young people throughout the world, selling more than forty- nine million albums!

It is this enigma that Thierry Eliez comes to explore with his project 'Emerson Enigma'. Thierry Eliez recounts and sublimates Emerson's work by fusing several pieces from different Emerson Lake & Palmer and The Nice albums. Following the principle of association dear to Emerson, he freely elaborates combinations of suites from original pieces, classical works, and improvisations. From Knife Edge, Tarkus, The Endless Enigma to Pictures Of An Exhibition, we feast on Janacek's Sinfonietta, and further on Bach's Suite Francaise in D Minor, performed in a trio with Guillaume Latil on cello and Vladimir Percevic on viola or on fragments of Mussorgsky's work intermingling with ELP's works: "You just have to fnd out an exciting point of connection to bring coherence to the whole."

After forty years of improvised and deliberate eclectic explorations, Thierry Eliez has once again shattered the boundaries with his new album 'Emerson Enigma'. He imagines a particularly demanding acoustic instrumentation and writes the arrangements. Instead of electronic sounds Thierry Eliez imposes the powerful and generous sound of the Fazioli Grand Piano behind which his absolute and stunning mastery urges the Manticore Quartet to mix jazz improvisations and chamber music in a breathtaking interplay. Guillaume Latil on cello, Johan Renard and Khoa Nam Nguyen on violins, and Vladimir Percevic on viola.