1. Chorale for Caravaggio
2. Prelude to Passion
3. Passion
4. Loch Lomond
5. Prelude to Spheres
6. Spheres
7. Aria (for ciné film)
8. Fantasia
9. Prelude to Life out of Balance
10. Life out of Balance
Casa de César Manrique
11. Manrique 1 - Upstairs
12. Manrique 2 - Downstairs
13. Manrique 3 - The Garden
14. Winter Trees
15. Spiritual
16. Cathedral by Night
17. Ascension
18. Orecchio di Dionisio
19. Lyudmila
Euan Stevenson - Piano
When I heard a track from this CD played on the BBC's
Jazz Line-Up programme, I was interested enough to ask Euan
Stevenson for a review copy. As the album was played on Jazz Line-Up,
it must be jazz - right? Not necessarily.
Things used to be so simple: we knew what jazz was.
It usually had a distinctive, regular (but often syncopated) rhythm
and involved improvisation. Nowadays, "jazz" seems to be
a label for anything that doesn't fit into any other comfortable category.
It can be a mixture of influences from world musics and even (as in
this CD) approach so closely to "classical" music that it
is virtually indistinguishable from that genre.
Scottish-born pianist Euan Stevenson studied classical
piano before he took up jazz, as well as composing large-scale works
for various ensembles. He has worked with such jazzmen as Jim Mullen,
Colin Steele and Tom Gordon, as well as playing in a bebop sextet
and indulging in free improvisation. He also leads a trio which recently
played Oscar Peterson arrangements on Radio Scotland in a tribute
to the late-lamented piano master.
All of this might prepare you for this solo piano album
to be an eclectic mix of styles, but it is closer to classical music
than jazz. Hardly any of the tracks have the compulsive rhythm which
is common in jazz. Instead, the atmosphere partly resembles Keith
Jarrett's solo piano recitals although the "classical" element
seems paramount.
Euan's sleeve-note says that he intended the album
to consist of abstract pieces which could be edited together to create
abstract compositions. Instead he found that the music turned out
to be less fragmented than he had expected, although "perhaps
more reflective of my interests in the traditions of Western classical
music than jazz or free improvisation". The result was "spontaneous
compositions for solo piano". So the feel of the music is like
Keith Jarrett's solo piano recitals without the jazzier elements that
they sometimes embraced.
For example, the opening Chorale for Caravaggio
might have been written by Ravel, Debussy or even Satie, and this
is true of many tracks. The three items called Preludes are brief
prefaces to longer pieces, so that Prelude to Passion is a
pensive prologue to Passion, a more puckish piece which has
a slight oriental atmosphere. This is followed surprisingly by Loch
Lomond, which is more accessible because it is a tune that we
all know. The unusual chording gives it a jazz tinge but there is
no jazzy rhythm. The result might have come from the pen of Percy
Grainger, saucily refashioning a familiar melody.
Yet this is untypical of most tracks, which wander
wherever the performer wishes. Euan's desire for abstraction conflicts
with the programmatic titles he gives to some pieces. For instance,
Cathedral by Night "attempts to capture the awe-inspiring
beauty of Seville Cathedral illuminated at night". And, unless
you read the sleeve-notes, you would be unlikely to guess that Lyudmila
is "a tender lullaby for a beautiful (but tragic) Ukrainian
Cabin stewardess".
Spheres certainly has some of the playfulness
of Thelonious Sphere Monk, and Spiritual has slight hints of
gospel music. Spiritual is the track that attracted me to Euan
Stevenson's playing when I heard it on the radio, and it is beautifully
lyrical, although you wouldn't immediately think of classifying it
as "jazz". The style is nearest to the impressionist works
of such composers as Debussy. However, this is not music to categorise
but simply to enjoy. And that's what I'm doing right now. Enjoyment
is heightened by the remarkably clear and resonant sound that the
recording obtains from the piano.
Tony Augarde
CD Reviews
Euan
Stevenson ESCD 1
