On Modes

For his third solo album for Alpha, the versatile keyboardist Anthony Romaniuk returns to the piano and explores the seven modes: derived from the major scale, the basis of ancient Greek music but now most present in folk music, jazz and beyond, each mode contains a world of character and mood. With John Adams' "Phrygian Gates" as a starting point, Romaniuk has compiled a programme with music by Pärt, Ligeti, Radiohead and Björk, but also his own compositions, arrangements of traditional Catalan and Anglo-Scottish music and improvisations. In his search for a personal and original sound, Romaniuk uses two pianos, including a Klavins grand piano (from the collection of Nils Frahm), which overwhelms the listener thanks to its massive soundboard and 4-meter-long bass strings. The addition of various analogue and digital sound effects in combination with innovative recording techniques takes the listener into a unique soundscape that comes close to a sound installation.