By Junko Horiuchi
     Francesco Tristano Schlime believes piano recitals are an open art form that needs to be reinvented.
     The Luxembourg-born pianist is currently waiting to see how his new set of crossover, techno-classical tunes will be greeted by audiences in Japan -- a country that has helped to inspire his artistic passion.
     ''I found the Japanese audience very responsive and enthusiastic about discovering music and discovering new artists,'' Schlime said in a recent interview during a promotional trip for a one-week Japan tour next February, recalling his last visit to the country in 2001.
     While describing his month-long stay in Japan as a beautiful trip, Schlime spoke about the connections between the country and his artistic background.
     An avid lover of Japanese cuisine and films by the likes of Akira Kurosawa, Yasujiro Ozu and Takeshi Kitano, Schlime wrote a memoir on Japanese movie director Nagisa Oshima while attending the Julliard School in 1998-2003.
     ''I always had some sort of passion for Japanese things or artifacts,'' he said. ''It dates back to New York, when I had many Japanese friends and the Japanese society had a good exhibition of films and I got in touch with the culture.''
     Born in 1981, Schlime grew up listening to Vivaldi and Wagner as well as sitarist Ravi Shankar and British progressive rock band Pink Floyd in a home where the music never stopped and his curiosity and appetite for musical creativity grew with time.
     After giving his first concert at age 13 and holding the first performance of his compositions two years later, Schlime made his debut in the United States alongside Mikhail Pletnev and the Russian National Orchestra in 2000 and won first prize at the Orleans International Piano Competition dedicated to 20th century classical music in 2004.
     A series of recordings followed, including the ''Goldberg Variations'' and a complete cycle of Bach's keyboard concertos, Luciano Berio's complete piano works and Girolamo Frescobaldi's ''12 toccatas'' from the first book.
     Turning to his techno side project, Schlime has played with Detroit-based techno producer Carl Craig and his Innerzone Orchestra and released his first non-classical disc, ''Not for Piano,'' which includes piano versions of Jeff Mill's ''The Bells'' and Derrick May's ''Strings of Life.''
     At a recent concert, Schlime surprised the audience by playing baroque, techno, contemporary and improvised pieces in a complete sequence, just like a DJ morphing one piece into another.
     But for Schlime, it is all part of musical creation, whether acoustic or electronic.
     ''For me it's no different, whatever music is, whether electronic or acoustic, it's all part of the same experience...music. Music...is an old phenomenon, goes back before we invented the notes, before we invented the instruments, but it's all part of the same ongoing continuum. So for me, it's natural,'' he said.
     But even more than that, Schlime describes music as an absolute necessity.
     ''It saved my life because I would be very unhappy if I only do one (genre). The fact that I want to do both and continue doing both is my savior in a way,'' he said.
     Although he has a varied classical repertoire, he has a special attachment to Bach because of his influence on electronic music.
     He said, ''Bach's music works very well with contemporary music if it's electronic or techno or whatever you want to call it because there is something so naked about it.
     ''For me Bach is a minimalistic composer...and techno is very minimal. They have something in common for sure. Like the pulse thing where once it starts, it goes, it's going, until it finishes and it's done.
     ''With techno, it's starting but it's not really starting...I feel like it has already been there and when you stop the electronic beat it's only fading out. It's still continuing. I like to feel that with Bach's music.''
     So it will be no surprise if audiences at Schlime's forthcoming concerts see a computer, a DJ set and a synthesizer next to a Yamaha.
     ''I like the cross-fading of atmospheres in different places. For me, to see a piano in a night club is great,'' he said.
     Schlime is looking forward to performing in front of Japanese audiences, whether they are Bach lovers or techno fans, young or old.
     He said, ''One concert is like a story. I tell a story with my ingredients. And my ingredients are different ingredients. Typical piano recital ingredients but there will be a little bit for each taste.
     ''If you like baroque music, there would be Bach, but if you like piano music, there would be Petrushka, which is very virtuoso and if you like coloristic and impressionistic pieces, then there is Debussy.
     ''I would like to give a varied, not uniform, impression that music can go many different ways but it's all part of the same.''
==Kyodo