Hania Rani — The Polish composer taking her piano around the world
Born 1990 in Gdańsk, Poland, pianist Hania Rani now divides her time between Warsaw and Berlin. Since the release of her debut solo album Esja on Gondwana Records in 2019, she has been touring the world and will be in Australia April-May 2023, before returning to Europe.
Aged seven, Hania Rani’s mother enrolled her in piano lessons and as she became better, and her interest grew, she decided at the age of ten she wanted to become a professional pianist. At 14, while studying at Feliks Nowowiejski Music School in Gdańsk she met cellist Dobrawa Czocher. They formed a trio with a friend, Kornelia Grądzka, and focused on classical music by composers like Debussy and Brahms, until they were invited to arrange new music for a festival dedicated to Polish rock musician Grzegorz Ciechowski.
Taking on the commission as a duo, Hania Rani and Dobrawa Czocher began to work in a more contemporary style. This work became their album Biała Flaga, released in 2015 on the Polish label My Music, and later reissued by the German label Deutsche Grammophon.
Czocher said of their work together, “I simply love Hania’s ideas and the value that she brings to my own musical proposals. She composes much longer than I so her experience inspires me a lot. She is also the kind of person who is not afraid to try out new things and that gives myself courage to be fearless too.”
In April 2019 Hania Rani released Esja, an album of solo piano pieces recorded in her apartment in Warsaw and a friends studio in Reykjavik, Iceland. Rani said of the album:
“The compositions were born out of a fascination with my principal instrument — the piano — which, on the album, takes form of an upright from my flat. In my own subjective way, I try to reinterpret the capabilities of its sound and harmonies, observing the way in which it resonates within a compact room space and translating, into the language of keys and hammers, the melodies I overheard on the road — most significantly, during my travels to Iceland and the Bieszczady Mountains in south-eastern Poland.”
One song left off the album, Warszawa, was featured on the compilation Piano Layers, released by 7K! in August 2019. The song was created in Berlin in 2015 and revisited in Reykjavik, as she explained:
“[In Reykjavik] I expanded it by an additional layer. Together with the sound engineer Bergur Porisson, we entitled the resulting piece Varsja — the Icelandic version of the name Warsaw. The pieces may be treated as separate compositions, but they can also be performed by two instruments simultaneously, forming a new musical entity.”
A book transcribing the album included both Warszawa and Varsja, along with other as-yet unreleased compositions by Rani.
While her debut album received international praise, and many award nods, Rani said she hadn’t planned on releasing it as an album, as she instead wanted to make her name as a composer, having already written for strings, piano, and voice. But her time in Reykjavik gave made her change her mind.
“I would like to be considered first of all as a composer of music — so not being limited to any instrument or voice or whatever. The solo album came when I went to Reykjavik, where I wrote some new songs instantly while in the studio, so they were almost improvised compositions. It was then that I decided to release an unadorned solo piano album — telling a lot about my musical roots, which are definitely in this instrument. But it’s also just a small prelude of all the music that I want to share in the future,” she said.
Of the ten songs included on Esja, one of the standouts is Glass. Although it reminiscent of the work of Philip Glass, with its title alone seemingly nodding towards those roots, Rani’s label claimed it was “named for its fragility, but also for its many colours, like glass caught in the light.” Elsewhere Hanai Rani has noted her Philip Glass influence, but regardless of what its title refers to exactly, the song has become a fan favourite and is currently one of the most streamed songs from Esja, only behind Eden, the album’s opener.
The reception to her debut gave her confidence to go further and express new ideas which were then heard on Home, Hania Rani’s second album, released in 2020. It featured significant growth from her debut as it introduced synthesisers, layering of sounds, samples such as birds singing, and also her voice.
Album opener Leaving introduces the listener to the new sound Rani had been developing, as the song becomes a hypnotic layer of voices asking “are you leaving?” It’s hauntingly beautiful and is only the first song. The album also features Letter to Glass, a short return to the previous albums Glass, created after Rani noticed how much that song was loved by her audiences.
Home also featured Rani joined by other performers, with bassist Ziemowit Klimek and drummer Wojtek Warmijak, from Polish jazz trio Immortal Onion, on select songs. But even with a band, studio layering, and voices, Home is still an album that can feel incredibly intimate. On Buka, the album’s second song, we can hear clicks from Rani’s piano peddles making the listener feel as though they are right next to her. As the song builds though, these clicks become their own instrument as they are looped and layered to create a percussive element.
Of her new songs and collaborators, Rani said, “I try to explore new genres and discover new artists, I don’t want to be stuck in things that I know, I want to learn about things that are still new to me.. I try to keep my eyes and ears wide open.”
The accompanying book for Home included transcriptions of the album songs along with others composed for film and theatre by Rani between her two albums, and some unreleased music too. 2021 saw the release of Music for Film and Theatre, an album featuring recordings from her projects in film and theatre works.
Since releasing her debut, Hania Rani has also found time to compose and collaborate on other projects, including 2018’s Mi album by Tęskno. The album was arranged by Rani and features her on piano, synthesiser, and vocals. It is perhaps the most obscure release from her growing discography, which also includes a remix EP with Portico Quartet released in 2021, and a CD/book project featuring music set to poems by Krystyna Miłobędzka released in 2022.
2021 also saw the release of Inner Symphonies, Rani’s latest album with Dobrawa Czocher. The album was developed during the COVID-19 lockdowns, as Czocher recalled, “The world seemed to be falling apart when we began work on the album, but we had hope for a better future.”
Originating through video calls, the duo were eventually able to meet in person and developed their ideas further, with the album featuring other musicians to add symphonic sounds to Inner Symphonies. The album saw a different approach from Rani’s solo work so far, and served as inspiration for other work.
“I found it extremely interesting to work on processing the cello sound — especially in the Whale’s Song — where I reworked the cello samples in the most crazy possible way, so that it sometimes doesn’t sound anymore like cello, but rather like some brass instruments or a real whale. I am very happy about the final result of the full album — I learnt a lot during the process and it helped me a lot with my other projects, especially for film and theatre,” Rani said.
At the time of writing, Hania Rani is preparing her next solo album. On Giacometti is an album inspired by the Swiss artist Alberto Giacometti and will be released digitally February 17. The album originated as a score for Susanna Fanzun’s upcoming documentary on Giacometti, and is more akin to Rani’s debut as it sees her return her focus to the piano as a solo instrument.
Several of Rani’s live performances are available to watch on YouTube, and have also included new songs, perhaps giving some hint as to what to expect from her in the future. A the three-part tribute to Polish pianist Krzysztof Komeda, titled Komeda, is one highlight that has yet to be receive a studio release.
Though she has released so much music in seemingly no time at all, each performance and each new song or album build further excitement for what may come next, and Hania Rani shows no signs of slowing down.
This article was originally published in The Shadow Knows Issue #4, March 2023. Buy the fanzine here or read more at our website.
