Rapture By Peter Kater

 

Rapture

By

Peter Kater

Written by

Steve Sheppard

 

There are occasions in your life that you look forward to with so much eagerness, that it is very hard to stay in the moment; one of those segments of much loved time is the arrival, or pending arrival of a new Peter Kater CD, and that moment of Rapture has now occurred with the arrival of that very album.

Rapture is the album that the genre of New Age, Piano with instrumentation and Neo Classical has been waiting for decades, and the finest body of work I have heard from the artist thus far in my opinion. The journey starts with a film score standard composition, which of course is the proud title track Rapture, sublime crescendos, a commanding constant piano motif, with a symphonic backdrop; this is without doubt simply the best way to start any album, and a composition that deserves to be on a movie, without doubt.

The flute and slight indigenous theme in this next most charming arrangement is called Valley Of Love. The beauty of this offering is that it is so wonderfully fluent, the symbiotic performances by Richard Hardy on flute, and Christian Teele on percussion, along with Kater’s genius on piano are utterly sublime. I really enjoyed the swinging movement and progression throughout this amazing piece.

The delights of this next track are truly wonderful; Promising, our next offering is akin to pulling back the curtains on a Sunday morning, lying back on the bed, and just being grateful to be seeing the start of a brand new day. The soft and slight Jazz ethic was appreciated here, I can see that this could easily become a fan favourite, and without doubt one of the most chilled compositions from the album, now excuse me while I bathe in its utter beauty yet again.

We now take a tentative step towards the fourth track of the album, this tranquil arrangement is entitled Love You So, it has to be said that this is played with such a level of heartfelt honesty, that the performance, delicate that is it is by Kater on piano, seems to dance with the soft musical light of the symphonic and almost light classical backdrop of the arrangement, music indeed from the heart of the artist, directly to yours.

Stole My Heart reminds me of a moment I had at Atlanta Hartsfield Airport  a few years back, I sat transfixed listening to a pianist create such mellow light jazzy themes, whilst waiting for my plane home, it was almost a shame to leave. Here Kater’s impassioned plea of truth and love falls like soft rain from the heavens upon his oh so beautifully played piano.

We have now reached the half way marker, and as we do so we come across a lively arrangement with a sublime element of suspense built within it, it is entitled Come With Me. This up-tempo performance seems to lead us down a Celtic hillside and into the second half of the album, as once more the presentations of inspiring magnificence by both Hardy (Flute) and Kater are on offer here.

Another one of my personal favourites would be this one Sweet Delight, the ambience created here by Kater was awe-inspiring and breathtakingly beautiful. The performance on piano was akin to a story teller reading a classical novel, Kater’s skill set as a pianist here is something to truly enjoy and utterly appreciate.

Well were deep in the weave, but for those of you still looking at the grey skies above, this song is for you and called Hope Of Spring. The soothing musical narrative will push the day into a cadence so radiant and calming, that you will sigh with pleasure. This is one of the warmest pieces off the album, and one of those that when concluded leaves a smile of potential happiness on your face.

In Your Eyes is a splendid song, a musical interpretation of an expression of love so deep, gaze deep into the soul of your loved one to this quite amazing piece, it will work wonders. The passion with which this track is played is literally off the scale, and one that I also fell totally in love with, a track to end the night with most certainly.

We can once more find ourselves in Rapture with this next offering entitled Take Me With You, a light but sensitive feel can be garnered here, one has to salute also the delicate performance on percussion as well, it added a complete dimension to the piece in question without overpowering it, a beautifully worked and crafted opus indeed.

My goodness, there are so many personal favourites here, and this is another one of them for me, it is also our penultimate track entitled Morning Bliss. This maybe a treacle bathed comment, but I won’t apologise for it, but this is something I feel every daybreak when I turn to see Chrissie next to me, Morning Bliss. This tune is gratitude in music; the serene and tranquil performance is also quite cathartic in its construction, and a wonderful healing reverie can be found here without a shadow of a doubt.

Well amazingly we have come to the end of the album, but Peter Kater does have one final musical gift for us to part ways with, it is called By Your Side. A fine smooth presentation to end with here from the two time Grammy Award Winner, and with an album of such pristine quality, I can see that this release must surely be up for an award next year as well.

Rapture by Peter Kater has to be the best work done thus far by the artist, and easily the best I have heard in the genre of Piano with instrumentation this year. The smooth delicacy of touch, and the added instrumentation; hats off to Richard Hardy, (Soprano Saxophone and Flutes), the breath-taking Jennifer Stucki on Oboe, the fluent mastery of the engine room of the album, with Bass and percussive duties from Bijoux Barbosa, Mark Gorman and of course Christian Teele.

All of the aforementioned artists, appear with the genius that is Peter Kater, to produce what is probably one of the finest all round albums you’re going to hear this year with Rapture, please don’t miss out on getting yourself a copy of this, your ears will love you forever.