Turkish pianist Ayşe Deniz Gökçin is giving Nirvana’s grunge music of the early 1990s an interesting classical twist. Her latest album, the Nirvana Project, has been in the classical music top 10 in the UK and is receiving positive reviews.
Her variations on tracks from the Nevermind album have caused some to compare the style to Chopin’s Nocturnes. The Nirvana Project also aims to tell the story of the last five years of Kurt Cobain’s life through a stage performance combining dance and music.
She collaborates on the album with Bulgarian DJ Ivan Shopov. Shopov has a long career in electronic music and creates a variety of beats to accompany the piano melodies, and provide the tempo for the stage performance.
Gökçin studied in New York and London, and is now based in the UK. She already made a name for herself with interpretations of other well-known bands like Pink Floyd and Michael Jackson. In 2013, she posted an entire concert on her Youtube channel of Pink Floyd hits recorded in Bulgaria. She released a full length album later that year.
Nirvana Project is available via iTunes.
What do you think, do you agree with the Chopin comparison?