Opus Sakamoto

Originally released in 1998 and hard to get hold of outside of Japan, ‘BTTB’, or ‘Back To The Basics’ is now reissued on 2LP to mark its 20th anniversary. It’s effectively a definitive edition of ‘BTTB’, reshuffled from the original 2LP pressing to also include ‘Energy Flow’ from the BTTB’ maxi-single, (which peaked at No.4 in the Japanese singles charts), as well as the slippery elegance of ‘Reversing’, both on the vinyl album for the first time.

The remastered edition will feature liner notes from famed author Haruki Murakami. For the album’s reissue, Murakami writes: “Personal and intimate music – somebody (an anonymous somebody) sitting alone in front of the school piano early in the morning, weaving a melody, exploring harmonies. Music that gradually fills a space with high ceilings that contains the wafting presence of rain.”

This recording is a road trip through the last 50 years of minimalist and ambient piano music. From the early sound tapestries of minimalists Philip Glass and John Adams, via David Lang and Arvo Pärt who combine repetition with melody and harmonic colours, to the atmospheric and quiet worlds of Ryuichi Sakamoto, Max Richter and Nils Frahm, what captivates the listener on these recordings is a sense of ambience, an evocation of space. Feico Deutekom breathes life and shape into these works, many of which have a delicately melancholy tone. He is able to convey both the rhythmic complexity and the panoramic quality of this music, where silence and the spaces lingering between the notes are often as important as the notes themselves.

French pianist Vanessa Wagner collects solo piano studies of graceful minimalism and rare finesse for new album Mirrored.

In front of the floor-to-ceiling windows of the Pudong Art Museum, Gina Alice, who was just over 27 years old, and her husband played Brahms' Hungarian Dance with their four hands.

Feico Solo is a collection of piano music released on February 9th in Europe and worldwide March 2nd 2018 by Zefir Records. It covers a wide range of contemporary composers from Philip Glass to Nils Frahm and includes both well-known and newer pieces. ​

French pianist Vanessa Wagner collects solo piano studies of graceful minimalism and rare finesse for new album Mirrored.
Quickly following March 2022’s Study of the Invisible album, Vanessa Wagner returns with a new collection of work that paints in many colours. The application of shadow in Mirrored evokes haunting poignancy; the care and delicateness of its negative space leaves room for undulating
melodic motifs to ebb and flow; its bold splashes of luminescence are striking and rich.