Nils Frahm: “Graz” LP

Nils Frahm drops his surprise album “Graz” for Piano Day 2021.

German pianist and composer Nils Frahm celebrates Piano Day today (29th March) by dropping a surprise album titled “Graz”, which is in fact the first studio album he recorded for Erased Tapes back in 2009, that somehow remained a secret…until now.

The nine-track album was recorded at Mumuth, the University of Music and Performing Arts in Graz, Austria back in 2009 as part of the thesis Conversations for Piano and Room produced by Thomas Geiger. Whilst at the time it was decided to keep the grand piano recordings from the Graz sessions locked away and instead focus on his close mic’ed, dampened piano explorations which would become his acclaimed studio album “Felt” in 2011. Two of the pieces — most notably “Hammers” — lived on as part of his live set, and were expanded on and re-recorded as part of his breakthrough 2013 record “Spaces”.

In his own words: “A grand piano is a particular kind of beast to play, which will only sound refined and beautiful if you command a strong control over the keyboard. Each slight change in touch results in a different timbre, which will be rewarded when used wisely and will be your trapdoor when you fail to hold the horses. I remember how I had to squeeze the music out of the grand piano in the Graz sessions, and while I enjoy listening to it now, I kept these recordings secret for a good while – they sound like a much younger version of myself to me, and a lot of the musical expressions from that time would be impossible for me to replicate today. Close friends whom I had shared the record with reminded me of it once in a while, and some of the pieces got released in other versions on the album Spaces in the meantime. But somehow, any piece of music you create wants to get out there in order to find you, which is why I’m glad to share this beast with you and do hope you enjoy listening to it too!”

Stream the whole thing below.

The album “Graz” is out now via Erased Tapes.

Get it here.