Piano, Unfolding is the second solo piano album by Norwegian, Oslo-based pianist and composer Kjetil André Mulelid, known as the leader of his own trio, as a member of the Wako and Beiggja quartets, and a close collaborator of vocalist Siril Malmedal Hauge. Mulelid’s debut solo piano album was simply titled Piano (Rune Grammofon, 2021, the label’s only solo piano release).

Piano, Unfolding was recorded over two days at the beautiful Kabuso Art Centre in Øystese, near the Hardangerfjord, in July 2025. The album was recorded by Mulelid Trio’s drummer and sound engineer, who is also Mulelid’s close creative partner, Andreas Skår Winther, in an exceptional acoustic space and on one of Norway’s finest grand pianos. The recording is of remarkable clarity and intimacy, placing the listener right beside Mulelid at the instrument rather than at a distance in a concert hall.

The album features eleven pieces composed by Mulelid, all highlighting Mulelid’s nuanced, deeply melodic and harmonic sensibilities, and often lyrical language, as well as his gift of telling eventful, colourful stories. The new pieces visit cinematic images («How the West Was Won»), turbulent, dramatic moods («Solskinnet»), and touching, poetic reflections («You Know, I Know» and «The Poem»), and close the album by exploring the inside of the piano with the haunting «Glittertind».

Mulelid is a romantic who is well-versed in the solo piano legacy within classical music and jazz, but has already developed his distinct, mature, elegant, and thoughtful voice. His solo piano playing distills his art in the most exposed, honest, and vulnerable, yet expansive manner. Piano, Unfolding offers a most beautiful listening experience, as close as possible to Mulelid the pianist, composer, and his remarkably recorded grand piano.

Eyal Hareuveni

Kjetil Mulelid (piano)