Fire

Description

In the space of a couple of years, Stephen Grew has recorded three absolutely sparkling solo piano releases for Discus Music. All three are spontaneous improvisations arising from years of practice and refinement. Grew is a massively undervalued artist - follow the story he tells across this release and its two predecessors and I'm sure you'll agree.

Stephen Grew writes: "Recorded in the Great Hall, Lancaster University, on the 22nd November 2024. This music was recorded on a Steinway D and what a magical instrument it is!

I've had the pleasure and privilege of recording on this piano a few times before, and done numerous recordings on other grand pianos at Lancaster university music department, thanks to composer and then lecturer Antti Saario.

So early in 2024 I contacted Lancaster Arts at the University and fixed a recording date for this solo album. The hall has an interesting interior, as does the Jack Hylton Room (named after the bandleader); the latter used to be the music department's recording studio. Both of these music spaces were built in the 1960s; the spaces have a curious blend of airiness mixed with a detached quality to their feel. This quality of interior spurred me to inject other, let's say less detached characteristics into these spontaneous compositions.

Steinway Ds have a very special sound and quality of action, the treble end of the piano; glassy, with bell-like voices, the bass end possesses a deep rich tone as dark and mysterious as the depth of the sea, and the midrange sings with a kind of frenzied lyrical quality, a phenomenal sound! What I discovered between the two outer registers of the piano was a mysterious area full of staccato playfulness and legato lyricism, coupled with my own brand of atonality that repeats itself in shorter durations, these are some of the broader sonic qualities to this music."

Stephen Grew: piano