Three new stars on the sky of piano music
When feeling meets craft
Written by Jennifer Balthasar
English translation by Jennifer Balthasar
As the summer triangle soon bids farewell to the nocturnal starry sky, three new stars begin to shine elsewhere, namely in the firmament of the contemporary piano scene. You should remember the names of the following three artists: Rachel LaFond from New Zealand, Daniela Mastrandrea from Italy and Chris Snelling from England.
For all three pianists it’s their second solo release featuring original compositions, and all three of them have noticeably evolved compared to their debut. Their recordings aren’t only equally recommended, they are also the best releases in this field for quite a while. We take the opportunity and have a closer look at the composers’ music, working out their characteristic style with which they give similar feelings a distinctive energy.
Captivating Ocean of Colors
When Rachel LaFond decided to become a professional pianist, she didn’t yet know that her real talent was composing. Initially heading for a career as a concert pianist, the daughter of a US-American piano teacher studied in Vienna and Seattle and worked as a teacher herself for many years. Then she met the man who later became her husband. He inspired her to write her first original piece “Loving in the Rain”. Together the couple traveled around the world for a year before settling in New Zealand, their home of choice. The impressions of this journey to herself became LaFond’s inspirational source for her debut album “Wandering Soul”.
Her second album “Encounters of the Beautiful Kind” is dedicated to her new home and the experiences associated with her new beginning: being curious about living there, leaving close friends behind, settling into a foreign environment and being amazed at oases of untouched nature on an unknown continent. The result is an album full of energy and motivation, which has been awarded a Silver Medal for Best Album by Global Music Awards even before release.
With her first piece LaFond instantly captivates her listeners. “Luminous” tells of New Zealand’s glowing underwater world. While scuba diving on a rather dull day, the artist suddenly found herself floating in a sea of stars. In iridescent colors she paints this magical feeling of elation in front of the listener’s inner eye.
Watch the video here:
The majority of the eleven tracks on her album are shaped by a grand enjoyment of life. Sometimes it’s simply unbridled joy (“Unrestrained Joy”, “Shout to the Sun”), sometimes it’s a sensual declaration of love to the new piano, since LaFond hadn’t owned one for two years (“Your Beauty Calls Me”). Thinking of friends and family she left behind, of missed common life events such as the birth of a child, melancholy blends with happy memories and the anticipation of a reunion as she plays (“Heart Full of Memories”, “Love’s Labor’s Never Lost”, “Don’t Cry, Calvin”). But the confidence and optimism to cope with challenges ahead always prevail (“You Will Conquer This Shadow”, “The Questions Your Heart Asks”, “A Knight’s Journey”).
LaFond has the rare gift of making her music sound lighthearted and profound at the same time. Her compositions are dynamic, flowing, inspiring and simply rousing. It seems natural that any feeling she describes must sound and feel exactly like this. Your thoughts start digressing, immersing themselves in a full bath of positive energy, before flying freely and easily to new shores of inspiration.
And yet another feature of her music: Beside the obvious feelings that determine the rhythm of each piece, a second rhythm resonates in the background, not only decisively shaping LaFond’s style, but also provoking the strong flow of energy. It’s the rhythm of breath her music follows, the rhythm of life. As if by themselves, the sensitive but powerful sounds intertwine, energized by the fully resonant low tones, to continue their journey with ease, momentum and freshness. The compositions’ breathing is unmistakable. It only takes a few seconds of listening to any track and you will sense instinctively: This is the signature of Rachel LaFond.
Rachel LaFond: Encounters of the Beautiful Kind, Rachel LaFond, June 1st, 2018.
Virtuoso Mirror of Soul
Composing is what Daniela Mastrandrea always wanted to do. This feeling, when a melody arises in the head, makes its way into the fingers and finally onto the paper, is for her something indescribably beautiful and meaningful. Already at the age of nine she wrote her first piece after just two years of piano lessons. This was followed by studies at the Music Academy in Monopoli and various classical composer awards. Inspired by life, emotions, pictures and places, and motivated by the feedback from her audience, the artist not only composes and arranges for piano, but also for ensembles and orchestras.
Last year Mastrandrea took first place in a cross-genre web talent contest, securing her the recording contract for the current album. To her own surprise she achieved more video views with her classical-modern instrumental compositions than her fellow musicians from the much more popular fields of electropop and rap. The joy about winning the prize and other deep feelings that accompanied her in this period of life became Mastrandrea’s inspiration for the present album “Lo specchio” (The Mirror).
We all feel the need to mirror ourselves, finding part of it in others, says the artist about the title track of her album, which is her opener at the same time. And as a mirror can only reflect what it is faced with, we ourselves are both starting point and destination of our search. “Lo specchio” is catchy, open, cheerful and an ear worm in the best possible sense. The piece mirrors its musical theme in different variations and conveys a comforting feeling of coming home, or rather, of arriving at oneself.
Watch the video here:
Whether the style of a piece is more modern or classical, whether it’s an original composition or the adaptation of a pop song: Mastrandrea masters all these modes and manages to combine them in a well-wrought concept on the recording. The 17 tracks reveal the simplicity and plainness of the solo piano as well as its sonic completeness, giving an empathetic insight into light and shadow of the human soul.
“Dentro me” (Inside Me) is surely the prime example of Mastrandrea’s ability to retrieve and transform hidden emotions. Opening the door to one’s own psyche, the profound piece makes desire and also discomfort flare up, before dissolving them into a pervasive feeling of happiness. Those who aren’t afraid of sadness, but are willing to endure, says the artist, those people can draw much light from the darkness. In “A testa bassa” (With One’s Head Bowed) follows the realization that a defeat needn’t imply humiliation, but can rather make you stronger. Anxiety and dismay give way to a relaxed serenity. Tears of grief become tears of relief.
Mastrandrea’s musical language is just as clear and elegant as it is passionate and intense. With great dexterity and precision she unfolds her themes, giving them some surprising twists that circumvent our anticipations, deftly leading us in a different direction. Despite the seriousness of the subject matter, her music’s energy is gently sliding, motivating and recreating. One feels like dancing to this music, letting oneself fall and being carried by the skillfully set impulses of an artist, who already is a master today.
Daniela Mastrandrea: Lo specchio, Believe digital, May 18th, 2018.
Bittersweet Symphony
Already the first contact with a piano in childhood triggered Chris Snelling’s great fascination with the instrument, with its sound as well as its anatomy. His passion was so great that he built his own piano from cardboard boxes and improvised the sound with his voice, while playing the keys. When he finally got his first real instrument Snelling largely taught himself how to play and to compose.
Some listeners may know the artist through his expressive interpretations of popular piano ballads, first of all Ludovico Einaudi’s compositions. Equally impressive are Snelling’s original pieces. When he isn’t writing music for theater or screen, he lets himself be guided by his intuition, following inspirations from everyday life and his dreams or improvising completely freely. On his album “Piano Stories” the composer tells a separate little story with each piece. Taken together they create the mosaic of a very personal musical journey, focusing on the essentials in life, while opening the horizon to the variety of feelings that can be associated with the pieces’ titles.
“Autumn Dance” captures the bittersweet late-summer feeling when you still feel the warm sun on your skin, while you can already smell the approaching autumn. Brightly coloured leaves, swirling in the wind, delight us with their colour variations. And yet they can only briefly lighten the mood, given the upcoming dark days.
Watch the video here:
The spectrum of the album ranges from compositions with hit potential such as “Echoes of You” and “Colours” to small, delicate, almost fragile pieces that gradually develop into a bastion of calm. “A Safe Place”, for instance, tells of a distraught friend looking for comfort at Snelling’s. His home became the fellow’s safe place, a quiet sanctuary. Similarly sensitive, but more dynamic is “Puzzle”, a piece with a simple, flowing structure that resembles a heartfelt embrace. Just like puzzle pieces, the different sections compliment each other, as they bring together what belongs together.
“Piano Stories” is a contemplative, reflective and somewhat dreamy album, which unfolds a pleasantly balancing effect. You can lean on an imaginary shoulder, while listening to the understanding musical tales, provided with a touch of mysticism. Beside the ten self- composed pieces Snelling also presents his touching interpretation of “To Zanarkand (Final Fantasy X)”, which fits in very well with this program. Regarding its harmoniously narrative energy and emotional depth, the piece might as well be one of the composer’s originals.
Snelling has a keen sense for inner emotions evoked by external moods and for the many small nuances that give rise to unique moments. If you were longing for a special day to be translated into music with all its facets, allowing others to experience the related feelings, you would ask him to do so.
Chris Snelling: Piano Stories, Classical Acoustica, June 3rd, 2018.
Original German text:
https://www.unser-luebeck.de/magazin/musik/cd-reviews/6539-drei-neue-sterne-am- klavierhimmel-wenn-gefuehl-auf-koennen-trifft