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Throughout my life, water had acted as a unique source of artistic and spiritual inspiration. This recording is a homage to water, and to incredible composers who were moved by it. For my listeners, it is my aim to project those various emotions inherent in water and represented by the pieces performed on this album.

The progression of pieces included was deliberate and acts as a narrative. Debussy’s beautiful and familiar “Clair de Lune” was chosen as an introductory piece to ease the listener into a peaceful and reflective mood. This is followed by two Barcarolles, the first by Schubert-Liszt and the second by Tchaikovsky. A Barcarolle is a love song on the water, and the passion of those two pieces transitions seamlessly into drama and sensuality of Rimsky-Korsakov’s “Scheherezade”.

The core of the album focuses on the physicality of water. While recording this CD, I spent two hours observing the ocean every morning. Watching the tide come in encouraged me to choose pieces that directly reflect on the color and play of water. Both Liszt’s and Ravel’s Jeux D’eau were inspired by the fountains of Villa d”Este, and portray a more flowing and joyful aspect of water. These pieces are separated by Offenbach”s poignantly sweet Barcarolle.

The concluding pieces of this album transition to a deeper, darker understanding of water. Bloch”s haunting “Poems of the Sea” is one of my favorite ocean-inspired works. It is dramatic and evocative; the power of the ocean”s waves is intensely expressed. With Debussy”s “Sunken Cathedral”, the album comes full circle. The sound of the bells of the cathedral under the sea provides a spiritual sense of finality and completion.

Like waves, I feel that this work, as a whole, is a reflection of life itself with all of its ups and downs.

 

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