chasm

The new album by Japanese pianist Maiko Mori with modern etudes for piano combines elements from classical, jazz, rock and techno. Mori's album is a study in diversity, whereby the foundations of traditional classical music are preserved while musical elements from different backgrounds, styles and regions are integrated. The new album contains music by four prominent contemporary composers with crossover elements: The "Eight Concert Etudes" by Nikolai Kapustin merges the classical piano tradition with jazz idiom; one of the few classical works by the renowned Japanese video game composer Masashi Hamauzu (known for his work on "Final Fantasy X"), Etudes Op. 4, combines impressionistic ideas with rhythmic and sometimes melancholic musical elements from computer games; Melanie Spanswick's etude "Chasm", which was written in 2019 for Maiko Mori, contrasts minimalist influences with a variety of fragments from different musical languages. Finally, the "Techno Etudes" by the renowned Japanese composer Karen Tanaka take us into a dizzying, addictive world of techno, speed and rhythm.