Nils Frahm, born in 1982, had an early introduction to music. During his childhood he was taught to play piano by Nahum Brodski – a student of the last scholar of Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky. It was through this that Nils began to immerse himself in the styles of the classical pianists before him as well as contemporary composers. Today Nils Frahm works as a composer and producer in Berlin. In early 2008 he founded Durton Studio, where he has worked with likeminded musicians.
The three instrumentals, which make up his debut release ‘Wintermusik’ are piano led pieces, coloured with occasional celeste and reed organ parts. The record’s equal measures of sorrowful refrains and uplifting passages, combined with a real intimacy that makes for an album you’ll want to return to again and again. The songs were originally intended as a Christmas present for friends and family and first released on sonic pieces, hence its winter release via London-based cinematic music label Erased Tapes.
As the curator of the Swedish boutique label Kning Disk’s Piano Series, Peter Broderick invited Nils to record a new album of piano improvisations – the result is ‘The Bells’, which will now also be released on Erased Tapes in the UK, Ireland and North America. The record includes pieces of improvised piano music, which were recorded in the wonderful Grunewald church in Berlin.
