Hania Rani: Non-Fiction Review – An engaging and enjoyable nonfiction by the Polish composer | classical music

IIn the crowded post-minimalist world, Hania Rani has managed to carve out a respectable niche. The Polish pianist and composer’s wide-ranging, yet accessible works often defy genres, appealing to classical, jazz and electronic music lovers alike. This concert consisted of two 40-minute premieres and fell firmly into the classical category, but the lively audience was much younger than those of Brahms and Beethoven. It was elegantly performed by the Manchester collective, and it sounded just like it was happening.

The first half is occupied by Shining, a piece designed for the kind of 12-piece band favored by Steve Reich and Philip Glass. It is based on a short story by John Fosse. A stream of consciousness tale of a man lost in the woods at night. It opened with sinister tones on clarinet, bassoon and horn, their ornamentations shifting and weaving. A cloud of smoke and half-lit players conjured images of a ghost story told around a campfire in the middle of the night.

Later, kinetic rhythms began, as the machines poked their heads above the water to immerse them back in the water. At some point, the bows bounced off the strings like branches tapping against a windowpane. As with the best minimalist music, Shining draws you in, heightening your senses with every rhythmic or harmonic shift.

Nonfiction, the Piano Concerto, which Ranni composed over five years, was inspired by the sketchbooks of Josima Feldshuh, a young pianist forced into the Warsaw ghetto in 1940. The music—often ethereal, sometimes somber and including random passages—conveys human resilience in the face of oppression. In her eloquent program note, the composer speaks of its contemporary resonances.

On paper, it’s as absorbing to work as Shining. The soloist – Rani herself – played an upright and grand piano, all the while facing a multi-coloured 47-piece orchestra including mournful soprano saxophone, busy harp, bass flutes, alto, celesta and electronic band. At their haunting best, their off-kilter harmonies framed sepia-tinted shots emerging from the distorted mists of time. But in practice, balance problems spoiled any sense of the concerto, and the grandiose orchestration was drowned out by the piano. A shame, because otherwise this beautiful music had a lot to say.