© 2004 MdeC Editions - 12 tracks DDD Enregistrement numérique / Digital Recording “Blenner was vaguely well known 20 years ago as one of many European keyboard artists associated with the Sky Music label in Germany, a company who Iifted one, maybe two fingers (not much more) to promote its material properly overseas. Well from the looks of things he never went away, having added numerous recordings to his discography throughout the 80‘s and 90‘s. Nowadays he mostly uses samplers to create a lush symphonic music of grandiloquent beauty. Piano (sampled) and acoustic guitar, along with orchestra percussion, round out the sound spectrum here, on 12 mid-length tracks that span a moody breadth of emotions, all of which hark back to the late Romantic era symphonies and tone poems of classical masters such as Strauss, Berlioz, Mahler, etc. Blenner‘s compositions approach a Vangelislike demeanor in how they effortlessly scale the heights of mountains and descend the caverns and valleys of musical expression. But where Vangelis delves into darker territory with oblique idiosyncrasies, the Frenchmans gesture stays close to the surface, reluctant to abandon the simplicity of a well-defined prominent melodic shape to carry his message. He handles the technology well enough to create the effect of an orchestra. Close the eyes, relax, and it is easy to imagine “Miroir de Soi” as a very exciting soundtrack work to a fantasy movie. In that respect the CD is a rousing success, and I give it a