Encores 1

Sound DNA

• Classical
• Modern & Contemporary

• sparse
• meditative
• cerebral

About

To create 2018’s <i>All Melody</i>, Nils Frahm winnowed down 60 initial ideas to just 12 finished pieces. <i>Encores 1</i> is the first attempt to salvage bits left on the cutting-room floor. Unlike the album’s complex multitracked arrangements, <i>Encores 1</i>’s five sketch-like pieces emphasize the Berlin pianist’s work at its most searching and spare. “The Dane,” a staple of Frahm’s 2018 tour, echoes album track “My Friend the Forest” as a brisk andante, clear as a mountain stream; even lovelier, “The Roughest Trade,” “Ringing,” and “To Thomas” are imbued with a wintry stillness. Aside from a brief peal of horns at the outset of “Ringing,” it’s all solo piano save “Harmonium in the Well,” a shimmering 12-minute study for reed organ and reverb.

via Apple Music

Tracklist

Credits