On modes (LP)

Description

For his third solo album on Alpha, keyboard “polyglot” Anthony Romaniuk returns to the piano to explore the seven modes: derived from the major scale, the basis of ancient Greek music but now present in folk, jazz and beyond, they express subtle shades of character and feeling… Starting from John Adams’s Phrygian Gates, Romaniuk has devised a program including music by Pärt, Ligeti, Radiohead and Bjork, as well as his own original compositions, arrangements of traditional Catalan and English/Scottish music, and improvisations. Continuing his quest for a personal and original sound, Romaniuk uses two pianos, including a David Klavins vertical grand piano (from Nils Frahm’s collection) which, with its massive soundboard and 4-metre-long bass strings, overwhelms the listener. The addition of various analogue and digital audio effects, combined with innovative recording techniques, plunges us into a unique soundscape, akin to a sound installation.