Solo

Tania Giannouli

Tania’s fifth album for Rattle is a beautifully conceived set of expressive piano improvisations, twenty-four concentrated, deeply personal works full of vulnerability and searching honesty. Solo is an artistically fearless, profoundly musical album, a work that highlights Tania’s exceptional talents as an accomplished, highly intuitive pianist.

"Playing solo is, for me, the most liberating thing ever. Being alone with the instrument gives me an incredible sense of freedom. And yet, there is nothing more demanding than a solo recital. Alone on a stage, one is compelled to be truthful, not to hold back or fake anything, and to allow oneself to be vulnerable. In doing so, if one is honest, one finds strength. SOLO is a very personal journey; a story narrated without filters, one I hope listeners will recognise, relate to, and appreciate with their head and their heart". — Tania Giannouli, April 2023

Produced by Tania Giannouli
Recorded and mixed by Giorgos Kariotis
Mastered by Steve Garden
Cover image by Savvas Lazaridis
Design by UnkleFranc
Printing by Studio Q

"With her fifth album for the Rattle label, Tania Giannouli presents a set of deeply personal piano improvisations rich in vulnerability and searching honesty." — LEIF WIGH Jazz Orkesterjournalen

“If you don't know Tania Giannouli, you better get to hear her. Full, rich, sumptuous piano sounds, carefully recorded melodies, meditations, improvisations, and vibrations, all passionately sung on the piano. A magnificent set.” — FRANCESCO MARTINELLI, jazz historian

Read all the reviews for Tania Giannouli’s “Solo” HERE

Released: 08 June 2023
Catalogue: RAT-D139

A renowned pianist, composer, improviser and bandleader, Tania Giannouli’s genre-defying music is lyrical, eclectic, and intoxicating. Classically trained and inspired by many traditions and influences, her work spans a range of styles that reflect an aspiration for borderless global unity.

Since her first Rattle release with FOREST STORIES (2012), a set of impressively concentrated duets with Portuguese wind player Paulo Chagas, Tania has gone from strength to strength. She worked with a larger ensemble of musicians on TRANSCENDENCE (2015), an album that received unanimous critical acclaim and was cited as one of the most important Greek albums of the decade. REWA (2018), a set of improvised duets with taonga pūoro exponent Rob Thorne, was a critical sensation, garnering more enthusiastic reviews than any album in the Rattle catalogue. Her last album, IN FADING LIGHT (2020), featuring an unusual trio combination of oud (Kyriakos Tapakis) and trumpet (Andreas Polyzogopoulos), is another high point, a deft amalgam of classical, jazz and world music influences that is regarded by many critics and commentators as one of the best jazz releases of 2020.

“It's fascinating how quickly Tania Giannouli has developed as a musician and composer and how unique her sound is as a solo performer. Her tones and melodies are stories, but she always leaves room for listeners to find their own narratives and emotions. When music invites the listener to be directly part of it, that’s when it becomes universal.

It's as if something hovers over Tania’s music, like a spirit guiding her sovereignly into the future. Her melodies sound as if from an enchanted forest, yet tinged with powerful hints of pain that penetrate to the deepest point of sensations, memories, and perpetually alternating emotional patterns. The beauty of her music reveals its price, which is located in overwhelming honesty and artistic empathy. Her music unlocks so many impressions that it can take one by surprise. For me, it epitomises the magic of great art.”

— Volker Doberstein (writer and music journalist, Germany)