[TR24][OF] Nils Frahm - Old Friends New Friends - 2021 (neoclassical, contemporary classical, piano, ambient)

#777Нильс Фрам (родился 20 сентября 1982 г., Гамбург, Германия) — немецкий музыкант, композитор и продюсер из Берлина. Известен комбинированием классической и электронной музыки и необычным подходом к клавишным, в котором смешивает рояль, пианино, Roland Juno-60, Rhodes piano, драм-машины и Moog Taurus.
В дополнение к своей сольной работе Фрам отметился сотрудничеством с такими известными исполнителями как Anne Müller, Ólafur Arnalds, F. S. Blumm и Woodkid. С Фредериком Гмайнером и Себастьяном Сингвальдом он записывается и выступает как Nonkeen.
С музыкой Фрам познакомился в довольно раннем возрасте. Его отец, Клаус Фрам, был фотографом и помимо прочего создавал обложки для ECM Records. Нильс Фрам вырос под Гамбургом, где изучал как классических, так и современных композиторов. В школе работал с микшерными пультами и был очень заинтересован качеством записываемого звука. В течение восьми лет изучал классическое фортепиано под началом Наума Бродского, который был протеже жившего в соседней деревне протеже Чайковского. В 2006 году, вместо того, чтобы начать окрестровую карьеру, Фрам переехал в Берлин и стал работать техником.
Ранние сольные работы Фрама «Wintermusik» (2009) и «The Bells» (2009) привлекли к нему внимание, но только после релиза 2011 года «Felt», высоко оцененного музыкальной критикой, пришла настоящая популярность. Это был его первый полноформатный студийный альбом, выпущенный на лейбле Erased Tapes, который с тех пор выпускает его музыку. Следом последовали сольный синтезаторный альбом «Juno» и «Screws» (2012), записанный во время восстановления Фрама от травмы большого пальца, и который был предложен поклонникам для публичной загрузки в день его рождения. Следующая после «Juno» работа, названная «Juno Reworked» (2013), представляла собой переработку, выполненную Люком Эбботом и Крисом Кларком.
Альбом Фрама «Spaces» (2013) был собран из концертных записей за предыдущие два года.
В декабре 2013 года Фрам выпускает свой первый сборник нот, «Sheets Eins» (Ноты один), опубликованный издательством Manners McDade. В 2016 году выпущен сборник «Sheets Zwei» (Ноты два).
В 2014 году Фрам анонсирует новое пианино «Una Corda», специально спроектированное и сделанное для него David Klavins. Оно весит меньше 100 кг и имеет одну струну на клавишу (у обычных пианино на клавишу приходится от одной до трех струн).
Его альбом «Solo» (2015), импровизация с одной попытки без наложений, был записан на «Modell 370», на пианино высотой 370 см, также сделанного фирмой David Klavins. Это была одна из 19 записей, номинированных на награду «IMPALA Album of the Year Award».
Сжатая версия сингла «More» была представлена в трейлере видеоигры Assassin's Creed Unity.
В 2015 году Фрам впервые написал музыку к фильму, для немецкого фильма «Виктория», 140 минутной ленты, снятой одним дублем режиссером Себастьяном Шиппером. Также сотрудничал с Woodkid в работе над короткометражным фильмом «ELLIS», который был встречен критически. В том же году Фрам устроил «День фортепиано», празднуя 88-й день года (в стандартном фортепиано 88 клавиш). Первым проектом было создание в партнерстве с David Klavins фортепиано Modell 450, преемника Modell 370.
В феврале 2016 года Фрам выпустил работу «The Gamble», за которой в августе того же года последовала запись «Oddments of the Gamble». Сайт Pitchfork охарактеризовал этот альбом как «обаятельно склеенный и неряшливый, при этом быстрый и динамичный». Материал записывался в течение восьми лет, обложку альбома сделал отец Нильса.
Фрам сказал: "Я интересуюсь тем, как люди реагируют в определенных ситуациях и как музыка влияет на их эмоции. Как мы мы можем изменить отношение людей к звукам. После того, как я хорошо отыграю концерт, люди покидают зал счастливыми. Это то, что мы можем вернуть миру. Когда люди чувствуют себя паршиво и кажется, что все катится к черту, по крайней мере мы можем дать им музыку и изменить их отношение, и они перестают думать, что всё так уж плохо... Вот такая моя вера."
Дискография
Сольные альбомы

Streichelfisch (2005, AtelierMusik)
Electric Piano (2008, AtelierMusik)
My First EP (2008, AtelierMusik)
The Bells (2009, Kning Disk, Erased Tapes)
Felt (2011, Erased Tapes)
Screws (2012, Erased Tapes)
Spaces (2013, Erased Tapes)
Solo (2015, Erased Tapes)
All Melody (2018, Erased Tapes)
All Encores (2019, Erased Tapes)
Tripping with Nils Frahm (2020, Erased Tapes)
Студийные записи

Wintermusik (2009, AtelierMusik)
Unter/Über (2010, Erased Tapes)
Juno (2011, Erased Tapes)
Encores 1 (2018, Erased Tapes)
Encores 2 (2019, Erased Tapes)[18]
Encores 3 (2019, Erased Tapes)
Graz (2021, Erased Tapes)
Сборники
Screws Reworked (2015, Erased Tapes)
Late Night Tales: Nils Frahm (2015, Late Night Tales)
Саундтреки
Music for the Motion Picture Victoria (2015, Erased Tapes)
ELLIS (2016, Erased Tape, with Woodkid)
https://ru.wikipedia.org/wiki/Фрам,_Нильс

#777Nils Frahm (born 20 September 1982) is a German musician, composer, and record producer based in Berlin. He is known for combining classical and electronic music and for an unconventional approach to the piano in which he mixes a grand piano, upright piano, Roland Juno-60, Rhodes piano, drum machines, and Moog Taurus.
In addition to his solo work, Frahm has released collaborations with such notable performers as Ólafur Arnalds, F. S. Blumm, Anne Müller and Woodkid. With Frederic Gmeiner and Sebastian Singwald he records and performs as Nonkeen.
Frahm had an early introduction to music. His father, Klaus Frahm, was a photographer who also designed covers for ECM Records. He grew up near Hamburg, where he learned the styles of the classical pianists as well as contemporary composers. At school he used mixing boards and was very interested in the quality of recorded sound. He studied classical piano for 8 years under Nahum Brodsky, the protégé of the protégé of Tchaikovsky, who lived in a neighbouring village. In 2006, rather than pursue an orchestra career, Frahm moved to Berlin as a jobbing technician.
Frahm's earlier solo piano works Wintermusik (2009) and The Bells (2009) gained him attention, but it was his 2011 release Felt that was met with critical acclaim. It was his first studio album on Erased Tapes, which has released his music since. It was followed by the solo synthesizer EP Juno; and by Screws (2012), recorded while Frahm was recovering from a thumb injury, and which was offered as a free download to fans on his birthday. His follow-up to Juno, titled Juno Reworked (2013), featured guest reworks by Luke Abbott and Chris Clark.
Frahm's album Spaces (2013) was made of live recordings from various venues spanning two years.
In December 2013, Frahm released his first music book, Sheets Eins (Sheets One), published by Manners McDade. In 2016 the follow-up Sheets Zwei was released.
In 2014, Frahm announced his new piano "Una Corda", specially designed and made for him by David Klavins. It weighs under 100 kg and has one string per key. (Standard pianos have from one to three strings per key.)
His album Solo (2015), an improvised single take with no overdubs, was later recorded on the "Modell 370", a 370 cm high vertical piano also made by David Klavins. It was one of 19 records nominated for the IMPALA Album of the Year Award.
A condensed version of Frahm's single "More" was featured in the trailer for the video game Assassin's Creed Unity gamescom.
In 2015, Frahm composed his first original film score, for the German film Victoria, a 140-minute continuous take directed by Sebastian Schipper. He also collaborated with Woodkid on the critically acclaimed short film ELLIS directed by JR which was released in October 2015.
In the same year, Frahm created "Piano Day", celebrated on the 88th day of the year (due to the standard piano's 88 keys). The event's first project was the construction, with David Klavins, of the Modell 450 piano, the successor to the Modell 370.
In February 2016, Frahm released The Gamble, followed by its companion release Oddments of the Gamble in August 2016. Pitchfork described the album as "charmingly patched together and messy as it is well-paced and dynamic". The material was recorded over eight years while the artwork was produced by Frahm's father.
In 2016 Frahm curated Possibly Colliding at the Barbican Centre in London, featuring a weekend of music, art and films.
Frahm has said "I’m interested in how human beings react in certain situations, and what music does to people’s emotions. How we can change people’s attitudes with tones. After I’ve played a good concert, people leave the room happy. This is something we can give back to the world. When people feel down and like it’s all going to shit, at least we can give them some music and change their attitude so people don’t think it’s all shit... That’s my religion."
Discography
Solo albums

Streichelfisch (2005, AtelierMusik)
Electric Piano (2008, AtelierMusik)
The Bells (2009, Kning Disk, Erased Tapes)
Felt (2011, Erased Tapes)
Screws (2012, Erased Tapes)
Spaces (2013, Erased Tapes)
Solo (2015, Erased Tapes)
All Melody (2018, Erased Tapes)
All Encores (2019, Erased Tapes)
Empty (2020, Erased Tapes)
Tripping with Nils Frahm (2020, Erased Tapes)
Graz (2021, Erased Tapes)
EPs
My First EP (2008, AtelierMusik)
Wintermusik (2009, AtelierMusik)
Unter/Über (2010, Erased Tapes)
Juno (2011, Erased Tapes)
Encores 1 (2018, Erased Tapes)
Encores 2 (2019, Erased Tapes)[20]
Encores 3 (2019, Erased Tapes)
Compilation albums

Screws Reworked (2015, Erased Tapes)
Late Night Tales: Nils Frahm (2015, Late Night Tales)
Soundtrack albums

Music for the Motion Picture Victoria (2015, Erased Tapes)
ELLIS (2016, Erased Tape, with Woodkid)
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nils_Frahm

In parallel to the release of a single for Erased Tapes, Then Patterns, Nils Frahm is already thinking about his legacy with this Old Friends New Friends, a compilation of 23 unreleased tracks recorded between 2009, the time of his first albums Wintermusik and Bells, and 2021. The German pianist took advantage of recent lockdowns to sort out his archives and avoid a messy album made up of studio scraps being released after his death. “The nature of the mind—and a hard drive—is that you forget a lot of stuff, and I hate the idea that somebody might browse through my things trying to find something I’d forgotten.” So he decided to make the selection himself: “I’ll probably burn everything before I go, but these are pieces I wanted to put out.”
There's nothing dissonant in this "anatomy of all my ways of thinking musically and playing”, which starts with a tribute (lasting only 3 minutes 49) to John Cage's 4:33. But there are gems to be discovered, such as the very cinematic Berduxa, or All Numbers End, which is always on the verge of depression, the ritornello In the Making, or the otherworldly melody The Idea Machine, which is an exploration of what makes the pianist tick. The retrospective darkens towards the end, with that intimidating levitation on The Chords Broken Down while the Old Friends finale takes a more polarising turn. 80 minutes later, Nils Frahm's legacy is assured.
© Smaël Bouaici/Qobuz
***
Nils Frahm’s double album ‘Old Friends New Friends’ gathers together 23 solo piano tracks recorded between 2009 and 2021, almost all hitherto unreleased but, for one reason or another, omitted from previous projects. The album offers “an anatomy of all my ways of thinking musically and playing,” Frahm says, adding with a smile, “Maybe I could say it’s an album I worked on for twelve years, and finally I have enough material?”
‘Old Friends New Friends’ was pieced together during the pandemic as Frahm used the time to arrange his archives, conscious of the sheer number of recordings he’d accumulated. Having selected his favourites, he realised how, when he listened to them together, they offered “a different spectrum of freedom for me. I forgot that some tracks are ten years old, some two, and they’re all played on different pianos. Instead I remembered how, as a fan, I love albums like this. With a lot of my records there’s a point where you feel, ‘This is the centrepiece,’ but here I wasn’t really worrying about that. It still feels like my universe, though, and I’m proud that all these things which I never found a way to unite before now work together. It’s like I tossed flowers indiscriminately into a vase and then realised it looked exactly right.”
One can only guess how difficult it may initially have been to narrow down candidates for public consumption from the wealth of choices, because even selecting highlights from ‘Old Friends New Friends’ is a challenge. Nonetheless, among its almost 80 minutes of music are the fluid ‘Rain Take’, in which his instrument’s glistening ripples are married with the distant sound of a deluge outside; ‘Wedding Walzer’, a Satie-esque piece so intimate Frahm’s pedal-work threatens to overshadow its delicate melody; the unexpectedly touching ‘Then Patterns’, the exquisitely graceful ‘Acting’, and the redemptive, radiant ‘The Chords Broken Down’. Clearly, these are much more than outtakes, something Frahm has no trouble explaining. “Often tracks that don’t make it onto an album are the ones with the most boldness and bravery.”
Frahm has other reasons to release this record, too, among them a craving to protect his legacy in an era where ‘bonus material’ is in constant demand. “The nature of the mind – and a hard drive – is that you forget a lot of stuff,” he says, “and I hate the idea that somebody might browse through my things trying to find something I’d forgotten. I’ll probably burn everything before I go, but these are pieces I wanted to put out. So this is an original ‘Nils Frahm’, so to speak, not somebody curating a leftover meal.” Furthermore, Frahm felt an urge to clean the slate before making his next move. “My intuition,” he says, “is that it’s easier for me to start over if the body of work from the last ten years or so is organised enough that I never need worry about it again. It’s time to forget about the past, but in order to never think about it again I have to address it first.”
As for how he feels letting the music loose into the world, Frahm simply chuckles. “It’s like if your kids finally move out when they’re 23, and you realise, ‘Shit, this could have happened years ago!’”
"A 23 track double album, the compositional sense at show on ‘Old Friends, New Friends’ is worthy of Satie or Sakamoto; opener ‘4:33 (a tribute to john cage)’ blushes with intimacy, while ‘Late’ and ‘Berduxa’ are blessed with a twilight pensiveness." (Clash Music)
"Old Friends New Friends sees the artist settle his legacy thus far and clear the way before he gets stuck into another project." (musicOMH.com)
https://www.highresaudio.com/en/album/view/dprs46/nils-frahm-old-friends-new-friends

Nils Frahm - piano, electronics