Winterfelt Lullabies By James Michael Stevens

 

Winterfelt Lullabies

By

James Michael Stevens

Written by

Steve Sheppard

 

There are many aspects of felt piano; and its characteristics sometimes create an enigma for listeners, a lack of consistency of tone and performance production perhaps, but if you had one pianist to go to for an enactment and an implantation of perfection in the field of felt piano, then I could point to non-other than the remarkable James Michael Stevens, and specifically his brand new album entitled Winterfelt Lullabies.

The opening pieces off this 10 track album is entitled Winterfelt Lullaby No. 1 (Felt Piano), and is in my view one of the most mournful and emotive pieces from the release, in a composition that delivers the tonal energies of this season to an absolute perfection.

We then follow that with the charming Winterfelt Lullaby No. 2 (Snow Angels), this melody has a childlike presence, and one could almost see the excited little one playing snow angels in the whiteness of the landscape with their arms. This is a clever composition by Stevens, offering us a simplistic vibration, but holding a little mystery back as well.

Winterfelt Lullaby No. 3 (Pristine Prelude) is up next, this joyous piece raises the rhythms of the album with its higher style and generally more major key presentations. One can also feel the pristine nature of the track, and the imagination flows to a winter conclusion that is indeed palpable.

The following musical narrative is an interesting one and called Winterfelt Lullaby No. 4 (Phrygian Winter). I thought this name seemed familiar and I was to be proved right, as Phrygians live now in what is called Turkey, the winters there can be cold, but a plethora of storms is usually the recipe, some of which drift our way just south of them here in Cyprus, here Stevens builds the mood rather well, and creates a scenic sound that is indeed redolent of the subject matter and of the empty cold streets of this winter location.

Seems strange writing a winter review sitting here in a sun kissed location, but a short journey behind me into the mountains I would no doubt see the essence of this next track in abundance, and it is called Winterfelt Lullaby No. 5 (Flurries). The artist is such a perfect painter of tone and timbre, and the performance style here is so very evocative of windswept snowy landscapes and lanes from my suggested location.

There is always time for a dance and in this case it’s time for Winterfelt Lullaby No. 6 (Talia's Waltz). A smiling happy energy can be found here and a beautifully fluent presentation to boot as well, whilst on the following musical voyage of plenty entitled Winterfelt Lullaby No. 7 (A Peaceful Snow), we have a vista that is delightfully comforting and heart felt, as the pianist builds a track on a panorama of peaceful intentions and snowy footfalls.

In the deeper snow drifts of the album we will come across a piece called Winterfelt Lullaby No. 8 (Sweet December) and how timely as it is currently the 12^th of that month as I write. The gentle style flows from Stevens’s piano like graceful snowflakes dancing from the grey clouds above, in an almost romantic created winter arrangement.

So we have arrived at the penultimate offering from the album and it is entitled Winterfelt Lullaby No. 9 (Elegance), there is something quite anthem like about this offering that makes it so charming, the tempo is utterly delicious and deeply confident and articulate in its structure, and this also happens to be one of my personal favourites from the release.

Winterfelt Lullaby No. 10 (Snow in the Pines) concludes our journey through this season of festivities and gratitude. Once more James creates the warmest piece of all as his last offering, and leaves the listener in a place of total calm and serenity whilst doing so on the perfect ending arrangement.

Winterfelt Lullabies by James Michael Stevens is a new release that should make its way into the hearts and minds of solo piano fans across the globe, for those fans who also like a mellower and softer touch with regard to felt piano facets, then this is the album for you, it is played with eloquence from a performer who has honed his presentations over many years, and it shows in all its glory here on this wonderful seasonal album entitled Winterfelt Lullabies.