Aki Rissanen - Amorandom: distinctly Finnish with a unique flourish

For a pianist, it takes a certain amount of courage – or hubris – to make a trio album. The piano trio is ground that has been trodden by some of the greatest musicians of the last century, and it’s hard not to end up sounding like one, or more, of them.

The music on Finnish pianist Aki Rissanen’s first trio outing was originally written as a film soundtrack, and that perhaps explains why it has ended up sounding more original than many more ambitious trio projects.

Sure, there are echoes of masters such as Jarrett and Stenson, and maybe traces of modern trios such as the Necks or fellow Finns Trio Töykeät, but Rissanen's austere harmony, his folky melodies, the intensity of the trio's interactions, added to the lingering sense of narrative, give Amorandom its own unique atmosphere.

[ editionrecords.com ]