Pianist Kristaps Vanadziņš releases album “Piano is my Temple! Vol. 2”

Latvian pianist and composer Kristaps Vanadziņš has released a new solo piano album, “Piano is my Temple! Vol. 2”. It is the second record in an album cycle whose first part came out this spring. The launch concert is planned for Saturday, 10 October, at Latvian Radio's Studio 1, where a spatial, quadraphonic sound experience is being created for the evening.

Recording and concept

Vanadziņš recorded the cycle in the historic Riga Reformed Church studio, formerly the “Melodija” sound recording studio. He describes the new record as the second half of a musical diptych in which the piano becomes a space for reflection, memory and silence.

In recent years he has increasingly sought deep silence and honesty in his music. In his words, silence is not the absence of sound but a moment when a person stops filling themselves with themselves and lets something new in. He is less interested in how much can be said than in how much can be heard.

Repertoire

The album combines the artist's original music, echoes of Latvian music and world classics. It includes interpretations of George Gershwin's “The Man I Love”, Antonio Carlos Jobim's “Olha Maria”, “Trakā Līze” by Mārtiņš Brauns and Ojārs Vācietis, and Emīls Dārziņš's “Melancholic Waltz”. Alongside them are Vanadziņš's own compositions and two versions of the Latvian folk song “Tumša nakte” (“Dark Night”).

Some pieces are personal dedications: the arrangement of the “Melancholic Waltz” is dedicated to the pianist's grandmother Gaida Dzidra, and “Answer Me, My Love” to his wife.

Earlier work

Vanadziņš has eight albums in his discography. “The Love Garden Has Overgrown” won the “Zelta mikrofons” (Golden Microphone), Latvia's annual music recording award, while “Latviskā elegance” was included in the British magazine Jazzwise's selection of European jazz.

The reviewer singles out the almost unrecognisable take on “Trakā Līze”, the pianist's skill in his own “Kalipso mātei”, and the playful “Old Testament”, the shortest track at under three minutes. The idea behind the two “Dark Night” versions remained unclear to the reviewer.

According to Vanadziņš, both “Piano is my Temple!” volumes share the idea of the piano as a refuge: music that does not demand haste but invites a pause.