PIANO NOVEL

The French pianist Novel is a composer of atmospheres. His music takes its inspiration from nature and owes as much to classical music as it does to contemporary pop culture. Novel imagines his music as the soundtrack to a film or animated movie, where each note of the piano delicately unravels the story to be told. Novel grew up on the French island of La Réunion, in an environment characterized by its lush, dense vegetation. The pianist pays tribute to this nature in his music, infused with a certain poetry. He began learning piano at the age of 11. The instrument shaped his sensibilities and led him to pursue an education in the musical and visual arts. In 2015, Novel released his first album La Clairière. This first disc, with its elegant and minimalistic arrangements, was a succession of ritornelli, played exclusively on the piano. A deliberate paring down that was perfectly suited to the moving and imaginative melodies of this first opus, through which the pianist firmly established his musical identity. The first album was followed by a series of other projects: the signing with Amsterdam music label Massive Talent, and the release of his first EP Songe in 2016, with the classical music label 1631 Recordings (Sweden). In 2017, Novel participated in the Piano Cloud Series – Volume 3, with Decca Records and 1631 Recordings. This album brought together a new generation of young neo-classical pianists (Nils Frahms, Joep Beving, Peter Broderick, etc.). Novel released his album Fendre l’écorce in December 2017: a project featuring 14 musical tales that are both disturbing and soothing. Read more on Last.fm. User-contributed text is available under the Creative Commons By-SA License; additional terms may apply.