Ozymandias is the pseudonym chosen by the pianist and composer Christophe Terrettaz. After several years to study the traditional piano, he starts to compose seriously in December 1994. His inspiration emerges on "Isolement", his first album. The members of the German label Weisser Herbst notice it and produce this opus in 1996.
The critics quickly compare him with Erik Satie, Michael Nyman or Harold Budd and the public is intrigued by his music which seems to come from another time. For his second album "Ahara", released in 1998, the Swiss composer signs with the Londoners of World Serpent. On this cult label he joined groups such as Coil, Current 93 or Antony and the Johnsons among other... Mark Ellis of Elijah´s Mantle (another World Serpent's group) contacts him for collaboration at this period. They realize together "The Soul OF Romanticism" in 1999. This spoken-words album based on poems of Shelley, Byron, Keats, Wordsworth and Coleridge exposes the romanticism through the voice of Ellis Mark and the music of Ozymandias.
The following year, Christophe Terrettaz signs " Karnak " a whole of new compositions inspired by the Egyptian site of same name. It is in this album that the Japanese director Ryuichi Hiroki chooses the musical theme for his movie "Vibrator". This film wins many awards through out the world in 2003 whose one in the Tokyo film festival. In September 2001, just before the bankruptcy of the label World Serpent, Ozymandias releases his fifth album "Layla". For this opus, he takes ones inspiration from the independent cinema, in particular in films such as "Un soir après la guerre" of Rithy Panh, "Okaeri" of Makoto Shinozaki and "Buffalo 66" of Vincent Gallo.
Three years later Ozymandias signs his darkest album «Les doutes éternels». Keeping at the head the pictures of Edward Curtis Sheriff, he proposes a reflexion on the human condition and the genocides.  
2007 is as for it the year of "Absolute". This whole of eleven titles, mastered by Jacek Tuschewski and Simon Bowley (duet working notably with Lisa Gerrard), was made up over one two years period. This seventh album of Ozymandias underlines the exceptional elements and people that the composer admires. "Absolute" answers to some exent with "Les doutes éternels". It shows the positive face of humanity, without which the life would not have any interest.

File Under: Neo-Classic

TRACKLISTING:
01. Absolute
02. L'automne oriental
03. Marina
04. La solitude du génie
05. Les larmes de Miho
06. Le fruit défendu
07. Le sentier du plaisir
08. Les démons de l'actrice
09. La force du martyr
10. La malédiction du poète
11. Carl Bechstein