Olaf Taranczewski - Polarities (2026) [Hi-Res]

Tracklist

01. Rebirth
02. A Balance in the Unbalance
03. From Gagarin's Point of View
04. Coco (2025 Version)
05. Polarities
06. Sonia
07. Radiance
08. Clarity
09. Night Train to Vienna
10. Odessa

There are albums that are loud, and there are those that alter the very space in which they are heard. Polarities, the new solo work by Berlin-based pianist and producer Olaf Taranczewski, definitively belongs to the latter category. Following the success of his trio albums (When I Was, LOM), Taranczewski returns to his most intimate format: the solo piano. Yet, solo is a highly elastic term in this context.

On Polarities, the piano doesn’t stand isolated in a concert hall. Instead, it forms the musical core of a meticulously constructed electronic architecture. Here, the direct, mechanical warmth of a felt-dampened piano meets the depth of Moog basses, while Fender Rhodes chords shimmer through clouds of delay. It is a sonic world often situated within the neoclassical or ambient genres, somewhere between the intimacy of an Ólafur Arnalds and the cinematic expanse of a Max Richter. However, Olaf Taranczewski brings something unique to the table: his roots in jazz.

His harmonic language betrays the jazz pianist: complex, searching, and refined. Yet, the sound design reveals the modern producer. Piano solo pieces like the decelerated Sonia or the crystalline Clarity reduce themselves musically to the absolute essentials, while tracks like Rebirth, the title track Polarities, or Radiance find their distinct beauty amidst almost dystopian sonic textures and mystical inside-piano grooves.

The title Polarities is programmatic. The album thrives on the tension between acoustic vulnerability and electronic foundation, between improvisation and production. Taranczewski, who single-handedly composed, produced, and mixed the album in his Berlin studio, employs this duality not as a contradiction, but as a dialogue. Polarities is an invitation to reevaluate the silence between the notes. An album that breathes.

The album goes far beyond aesthetic sound; it processes personal and historical resonances. For instance, Odessa was created shortly after the Russian invasion of Ukraine. It is a meditation on a city of his ancestors, a place of longing the musician has never visited and which now seems unreachable—one of the album's most emotional recordings.
With a piano solo version of From Gagarin's Point of View, Taranczewski delivers the album's only cover. It is a deep bow to Esbjörn Svensson, the Swedish artist who revolutionized the piano trio and passed away far too soon. Taranczewski translates the spirit of the Esbjörn Svensson Trio into his own atmospheric language.

A Balance In The Unbalance, produced in collaboration with Tom Förderer, builds a bridge to the past. Originally composed in 2011 for a documentary about fashion designer Miguel Adrover, the track was remastered for this album and impressively proves its timelessness after 14 years.

Olaf Taranczewski is a quiet but significant force in the European music scene. As a professor at the University of Music Trossingen and winner of the German Film Music Award (Dissonance, 2015), he understands music both intellectually and emotionally. His studio serves as both a laboratory and a sanctuary—the birthplace of a blend of neo-classical and cinematic jazz that demands not just to be heard, but to be felt.