#4477, International Piano Day
In 2015, the German keyboardist and composer Nils Frahm founded International Piano Day. The day is observed on the 88th of the year (there are 88 keys on a conventional piano) and today, March 29, 2021, is Piano Day. Celebrate with an hour of perhaps unconventional music for piano - some with processing, some for re-tuned piano - from Nils Frahm, Polish composer Hania Rani, New York pianist Jason Moran, Swiss pianist Nik Bärtsch, German duo Grandbrothers, and Iranian-American sax player Hafez Modirzadeh.
Listen to the music by Iranian-American sax player, composer, and professor Hafez Modirzadeh who draws on both jazz and Persian classical music in his work, which led him to retune a piano to create the sounds of the Persian scales. Listen to three of the four pianists who performed the work on Modirzadeh’s record, Facets - Tyshawn Sorey, Kris Davis, and Craig Taborn - using this uniquely-tempered scale.
There’s music featuring upright piano and built on a piano loop from the Polish composer, pianist, and vocalist Hania Rani, recorded live in Warsaw and which premiered as a live video set on March 28, 2021. Then, hear solo piano music with a processing device that can extend tones or give them reflected qualities by New York pianist and MacArthur Fellow Jason Moran. Then, listen to music from Berlin-based composer Nils Frahm, from a record released just for Piano Day 2021, his Graz sessions from 2009. Plus, music by Icelandic composer Olafur Arnalds for solo piano with delay effect.
Also, listen to the latest solo piano music that may reflect the study of martial arts from Swiss pianist and composer Nik Bärtsch, off his 2021 record, Entendre, which plays with space and stillness within the templates of pieces previously interpreted with Bärtsch’s bands Ronin and Mobile. And more. - Caryn Havlik
Program #4477, International Piano Day (First Aired 3/29/2021
ARTIST: Nils Frahm
WORK: Went Missing [1:00]
RECORDING: Spaces
SOURCE: Erased Tapes Records
INFO: nilsfrahm.bandcamp.com
ARTIST: Nils Frahm
WORK: O I End [4:50]
RECORDING: Graz
SOURCE: Erased Tapes Records
INFO: nilsfrahm.bandcamp.com/album/graz
ARTIST: Hania Rani
WORK: Hawaii Oslo [5:45]
RECORDING: Live from Studio S2
SOURCE/INFO: https://haniarani.bandcamp.com/album/live-from-studio-s2
ARTIST: Ólafur Arnalds
WORK: Study for Generative Piano [3:14]
RECORDING: PianoDay 2016
SOURCE/INFO: soundcloud.com
ARTIST: Jason Moran
WORK: Only the Shadow Knows (Honey) [4:57]
RECORDING: The Sound Will Tell You
SOURCE/INFO: jasonmoran.bandcamp.com
ARTIST: Nik Bärtsch
WORK: Modul 58-12 [8:57]
RECORDING: Entendre
SOURCE: ECM Records
INFO: ecmrecords.com
ARTIST: Grandbrothers
WORK: From a Distance [5:57]
RECORDING: Open
SOURCE: City Slang
INFO: grandbrothers.bandcamp.com
ARTIST: Craig Taborn
WORK: Hafez Modirzadeh: Facet Taborn [2:13]
RECORDING: Hafez Modirzadeh - Facets
SOURCE: Pi Recordings
INFO: hafezmodirzadeh.bandcamp.com
ARTIST: Tyshawn Sorey
WORK: Hafez Modirzadeh: Facet Sorey [5:12]
RECORDING: Hafez Modirzadeh - Facets
SOURCE: Pi Recordings
INFO: hafezmodirzadeh.bandcamp.com
ARTIST: Kris Davis
WORK: Hafez Modirzadeh: Facet 32 Black Pearl [1:44]
RECORDING: Hafez Modirzadeh - Facets
SOURCE: Pi Recordings
INFO: hafezmodirzadeh.bandcamp.com
ARTIST: Omar Sosa
WORK: Sunrise [2:02]
RECORDING: Calma
SOURCE: Otá Records OTA 1022
INFO: omarsosa.com
