Track Listing

1. Kadourimdou
2. Welsh Arrow
3. So Long Michael
4. Intuite
5. Bourrée Voltige
6. Jardin d'Adonis
7. Hora Española
8. Alchimiste
9. Agadiramadan
10. En Route from Scarborough
11. Silent Passenger

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #344415 in Music
• Released on: 2001-06-18
• Number of discs: 1
• Format: Import

Amazon.co.uk Review
Ignore the surreal new-age cover painting with Pierre's leafy features peering quizzically from a tree. Intuite is a delightful album. It's also his first entirely unaccompanied and totally acoustic recording in a professional career that began in 1976 with his Près de Paris album. Though he never took formal guitar lessons, Bensusan is among the world's most highly respected fingerstyle guitarists and has been dubbed "the Claude Monet of the guitar". Aside from recordings, he has also produced several instructional books and videos for guitar players. Born in Algeria in 1957, he moved with his family to Paris when he was four. He took his early cues from the folk revival of the 1960s, but the breadth of his influences goes way beyond that, with flavours ranging through jazz, classical and medieval into world and in particular Celtic music. All of these can be heard on Intuite, with perhaps the most striking example being the title track. This is one of seven pieces dedicated to other musicians--in this case Iraqi oud player Munir Bachir. Bensusan skilfully mimics the modality of the Arab lute even though these days he sticks exclusively to the unusual DADGAD guitar tuning. The piece dedicated to British guitarist John Renbourn ("En Route from Scarborough") borrows cleverly from the classic melody "Scarborough Fair" although this and all the other compositions are Bensusan's own. Another highlight is "La Hora Española", which effectively evokes an Iberian ambience without resorting to clichés. Using neither vocals nor other instruments, Intuite constitutes a series of chilled abstract narratives--ideal music for unwinding after a stressful day. --Jon Lusk

Customer Reviews

Unique Style, Astonishing Music.
Try to imagine cramming five hundred years of Celtic, Arabic, Mediaeval, Jazz and Folk music into the fingers of one guitarist and then asking him to record a dozen songs for you.

Ta-Daa! Pierre Bensusan.

It's strange that he remains a largely unknown figure outside the chin-stroking guitarist community because he's been consistently issuing beautifully unique and beguiling records for some thirty years now.

I found myself with this on the personal CD player as I walked home last night and it was difficult not to view everything I saw in a new, more pensive way.

My only reservation in recommending this with five stars is that it doesn't feature Bensusan's voice which is equally enchanting. It's a good place to start, especially if you're having difficulty getting hold of "Pres De Paris" which is still his best work.

Beautiful steel string acoustic guitar.
There aren't many great masters of acoustic guitar around at the moment, but Pierre Bensusan is most definitely included in the short list of acoustic virtuosos still alive. His music is delivered with emotion and love. Although there are no vocals on this album, his thoughts and feelings are clearly audible. Why use words when his guitar can paint a thousand pictures? Buy it. You won't regret it.

the best solo acoustic album i have ever heard
This is steel string acoustic guitar magic at its most potent. Not just technically able, in discussion with my guitar teacher the question he asked was 'Where does it come from?'. It could be France, it could be space or it could be a highly advanced minute Japanese electronic device. I saw Pierre play live. His performance of the title track, intuite, made me realise that i will never be this good but sometimes it's fun to fantasise. So join me in this wet guitar fantasy, I love this man and he'll neve know it.