The ECM New Series debut of Evgueni Galperine is one of the most strikingly original and evocative albums of the year. A composer of Russian and Ukrainian heritage, living in Paris since 1990, Galperine is working with sound, texture and dynamics in new and powerfully expressive ways.  As he explains, the sound world of Theory of Becoming represents an “augmented reality of acoustic instruments, created from recordings made with real and virtual instruments. The numerous transformations the instruments undergo allow me to capture their acoustic nature while also adding techniques and colours impossible to produce in reality…” Galperine’s compositions address wide ranging subjects: from the resilience of hope in the face of destruction to meditations on the journey of the soul, as well as travels through space and through the magical forests of Max Ernst’s paintings. Theory of Becoming was recorded and mixed 2020-21 in Paris, at Studio EPG and Studios de la Seine. Produced by Manfred Eicher.

Russian/Ukrainian composer Evgueni Galperine pulls his artistic sources from a few different areas – the advanced harmonics of Shostakovich, the dramatic tension of Tchaikovsky, the lush minimalism of Arvo Pärt – and molds it into his own distinctive point of musical view. But the Paris-based musician doesn’t do this from the conductor’s stand. Instead he uses samplers and electronics to manipulate the sounds of acoustic instruments […] the mysterious ‘Don’t Tell’ incorporates vocal samples. ‘Oumuamua, Space Wanderings’ uses more recognizable keyboard and electronic sounds, but still sounds otherworldly, like a classical suite from the other side of the galaxy. The straightforward ‘La lettre d’un disparu,’ meanwhile, goes straight for the emotional jugular. […] ‘Theory of Becoming’ heralds the widescreen arrival of a composer of significance.
Michael Toland, Big Takeover