Bleep

This year, March 29th was marked in the calendar as Piano Day 2021, and German musician and composer Nils Frahm would drop an album on the very same day. Ever the rascal of modern classical music, Frahm recorded Graz for Erased Tapes back in 2009 and kept it under his hat for over a decade. Remarkably, for an artist who has opened the door for electronic instrumentation within his field, the album shares a spirit with his 2020 release Empty — coincidentally released on Piano Day 2020 — in its strikingly powerful minimalism.

What’s more, Graz shows Frahm spinning out ideas in their relative infancy. The fluttering drama of ‘O I End’ and the intoxicating breathing space between notes on ‘Crossings’ are young Nils’ way of iterating the musical fascinations that would fill his work with wonderment throughout his career. Labelmate and fellow sonic explorer Peter Broderick helps in making the shorter cut ‘Hammers’ a frenetic scramble of forms, but Graz still maintains an untouchably intimate atmosphere.

For the most part, here is Nils, a piano and an unknown animating force that sets him apart as one of the 21st century’s most singular composers.