Benyamin Nuss (1989 - )

[MadvillainQuas]

A pianist hailing from Germany, Benyamin Nuss is a contemporary composer that, whilst holding a significant lack of name-recognition, has been on some of my favourites playlists for a while now. If anyone has heard the WDR recording of 'Bernstein: Piano and Chamber Music', or the SWR recording of some of Kapustin's cello works, then you've heard his 'pianistry' in action (if only that was a word). His more significant connection, however, to the overall music scene, is to that of the Japanese video-game soundtrack scene; he has played at many of Square-Enix's concerts for Final Fantasy music and is a consistent collaborator with Masashi Hamauzu (a personal favourite of mine, as you can see from my avatar). He has also played, and arranged, several pieces of Final Fantasy music for his own albums.

From a classical standpoint, he features a unique harmonic language, hailing from a mix of the Japanese VGM scene and the Jazz scene his father was a part of. His music features very powerful extended chords utilising his unique blend of harmony, and a very wieldy sense of catharsis. I think of him as a much more emotive, and controlled, Kapustin in that sense.

Here are some of my favourites of the works he has composed so far:

Presto For Cello and Piano, Op. 10.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=flUM8NCS1Yg
Mr  Hamauzu: I. Introduction
https://youtu.be/vbXFKFuFmHQ
Letters, Op. 10 - N
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cF2P2ZfZlb4
Letters, Op. 10 - S
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=n-YGxF_SimM
Elegie fur Fukushima
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eE3s2PLFnXQ

(an improvisation from himself, not an opus-listed work)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=V5wa1NtCbE4

I'd definitely love to see him get more listens. I believe that such a unique composer deserves more exposure.