MAESTRO: Yanni

Yanni, a Greek contemporary musician whom composes and performs his works in piano, keyboard and synthesizer, notable for his style of blending various instruments together and create a masterpiece.

It was sometime ago I got to really know this guy Yanni. One of his song hits me hard and from that onwards I've become a follower of his music.

Yanni, as seen in "Yanni Live! The Concert Event".

His style differs from any other composers you normally sees. He's a genius in mixing different instruments together, and the end result is superb! He's working together with some of the best instrumentalist around the world, namely Pedro Eustache, the master of woodwind instruments, Karen Briggs, the violist in red etc. Both of them are exceptional in contributing to Yanni's success.

My favourite of all is "Nightingale", an oriental flavour piece Yanni composed inspired by the bird nightingale while he's in Italy. Gotta love Pedro Eustache playing the chinese flute 笛子, he really brings the spirit out of the flute! And not to mention the great string chambers which make this piece a big success. East Asians would definitely love this piece!

Yanni - Nightingale

"The Storm' is the newest instrumental piece Yanni composed for his 2005 tour. It is a composition based on Vivaldi's Four Season "Summer".It's a fast-paced piece, nicely mixed with some instruments that you dont usually see playing together on the stage. Credits to both violinist too, Samvel Yervinyan & Sayaka Katsuki!

Yanni - The Storm

"Playtime" is a composition Yanni actually composed more than a decade ago. He brought up this song again changes it's elements, turning it into a modern and lively piece. Again, Pedro Eustache plays his role in the saxophone, the core instrument in this piece. I like the mid part where the keyboard player Ming Freeman plays, and yea the finale was perfectly combining violin and saxophone together!

Yanni - Playtime

Some people may prefer Yanni's more quiet & slow pieces. Well for me, I particularly love this piece, "Enchantment". Yanni plays the piano, accompanied by occasion violin, and slowly the piece brought into life as the piece proceeds further.... You do the judgement yourself!  ;)

Yanni - Enchantment

Also another piece I'd like to mention, is the song "Felitsa" Yanni wrote as a tribute for his mother. The piece is named after his mother, Felitsa. It's very unfortunate that his mother passed away sometime ago. Glad that Yanni managed to create this wonderful piece for her. It's a composition with a strong emotion in it, I can felt the music as if he's describing his mother in the song. The song is played softly, and yet you could feel the determination and effort Yanni "injected" into the song.

Yanni - Felitsa

There's still a lot more Yanni masterpieces but I dont think I should put more vids in here. I guess post the video links are better though.  :)

The following titles are some other pieces from Yanni which I like:

• Tribute
• Waltz in 7/8
• Whispers In The Dark

Yanni is currently working with his new album, a totally different approach as now he's inviting vocals into his compositions. You can read more about it here, Yanni Voices Part I & Part II. Heh, I cant wait to get his new album when it's out!   :D

Next on MAESTRO series, Joe Hisaishi!