After critically-acclaimed ECM recordings with the Maciej Obara Quartet (Unloved, Three Crowns), Polish pianist Dominik Wania delivers a solo album recorded in November 2019 in Lugano. Wania’s sensitivity to touch, tone and texture is informed by his classical background. But he also has the in-the-moment instincts of a great improviser, acutely focused on the unfolding details of the music in the responsive interior of the Auditorio Stelio Molo studio. The balancing of influences from both disciplines makes Dominik Wania one of the most distinctive players of his generation. Lonely Shadows is a testimony to his creative originality, as well as a significant addition to ECM’s celebrated line of solo piano recordings. Produced by Manfred Eicher.
One of the great beauties of this album is hearing every note resonate, you hold your breath to hang on to the last fragments of sound, they hang in the air. There is a glittery surface to the music much like Maurice Ravel’s works, and like those, there is depth where emotions are explored. […] Wania has created a timeless artwork of luminous beauty that will outlive the current calamity and many to come. This is an album of the heart that simultaneously pays attention to all the technicalities of touch, nuance and delicacy that we can depend upon from a classically trained pianist whilst displaying the nimble improvisation of the finest jazz pianists.
Mary James, London Jazz News