The Digital 4-Track EP is the First Installment of The Richter Project, a Unique Collaboration Between Classical & Techno Artists
On Friday 6th January 2023, Dublin-based Heresy Records (www.heresyrecords.com) will release The Richter Scale Premixes, a 4-track digital recording by Berlin-based techno producer/musician Khan of Finland, German composer, Boris Bergmann and Chinese pianist, Ji Liu.
The Richter Scale Premixes is the first of three releases from The Richter Project. The Richter Project is centred on the upcoming recording of Boris Bergmann’s, The Richter Scale, an hour long contemporary classical piano composition performed by Steinway Artist, Ji Liu. The Richter Scale is a virtuosic piece comprised of 11 movements and performed by Ji Liu on the Steinway Spirio/r, the world’s most advanced player piano. The Richter Scale features several movements composed for four hands. These movements are performed and programmed (on the Spirio) by Ji who plays with - and against himself - in a stunning colloquy between man and machine.
The Richter Scale is a programmatic composition that engages with the theme of subterranean seismic eruption as a broader reflection of cultural, political, social, medical, and emotional states of trauma, upheaval, and resolution. The Richter Scale will be released by Heresy Records on 3rd February 2023.
The Richter Scale Premixes (4 track EP) and The Richter Scale Remixes (4 track EP – To be Released by Heresy Records in April 2023) are collaborations between Composer, Boris Bergmann, Pianist, Ji Liu and Techno Musician/Producer, Khan of Finland. The Premixes are techno electronic reorchestrations of movements from Bergmann’s piano composition, The Richter Scale.
During the pandemic lockdown it was not possible to record The Richter Scale in a studio nor on the Spirio/r player piano. Therefore Khan, Boris and Ji worked together remotely to create the Premixes. Ji recorded some of the two-handed movements - and the four-handed movements – from The Richter Scale in his home in London and sent them to Khan who created remixes of these movements. Since these “remixes” were created prior to the official recording of The Richter Scale (which is the source material), they were titled Premixes – in other words – they are remixes that were created before the tracks they were remixed from were officially recorded.
While retaining the elemental essence of the piano composition, The Richter Scale, the Premixes add an entirely new sonic dimension to the original piano movements fusing them elements of elegiac ambience, plangent and driving percussion and a plethora of other electronic sounds, moods and emotions.
The team for Heresy Records’ release of The Richter Scale Premixes EP is comprised of highly respected artists in their field, including, Producer Khan of Finland (http://www.khanoffinland.com), Composer Boris Bergmann, (boris-bergmann.eu/en/home), Pianist Ji Liu (https://jiliu-ml.org/) and Executive Producer Eric Fraad.
The Richter Scale Premixes – Track Listing
1. Richter the Poet (Khan of Finland Remix)
2. Seismograph (Khan of Finland, Aftershock Mix)
3. How to Dance Out an Earthquake (Khan of Finland, Aftershock Mix)
4. To the Beloved Ones (Khan of Finland Remix)