Piano Portraits - Rick Wakeman

[Ruby]

Grumpy old Rick has just released a new album of purely piano music.

It's a mixture of classical and contemporary pieces/standards which has made history in that it's the first solo piano album ever to enter the UK Top 10 Album Chart.

He's playing these pieces on an instrument he loves, and hey, he's Rick Wakeman - hardly gonna make a mess of it is he? I have yet to listen to it all, but those tracks I have heard sound great. Nothing to write home about, but pleasant enough, and at least he knows how to 'colour' his work. The man's a wiz.

A link to more info ... http://www.rwcc.com/notice_pianoportraits.asp

[video=youtube;VebVIXSQFC0]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VebVIXSQFC0[/video]

[Snowman999]

I love "Journey to the Center of the Earth".

[bob_32_116]

I listened to "Morning Has Broken" and thought "Hmm, sounds exactly the same as the Cat Stevens treatment". It was not until afterwards that I learned he was actually the player on The Cat's recording. :biggrin:

He takes a few liberties with "Claire de Lune", a piece with which I am intimately familiar. Still, that's OK - it still sounds good and I suspect Debussy would have approved.

[Ruby]

Yes … Cat Stevens had heard him playing something for The Six Wives of Henry VIII in a booth in the studio where they were both recording and asked him to extend MHB because the basic hymn lasted all of 45 seconds, or something like that. Anyway, Wakeman arranged and played it and then didn’t receive credit on the album, an oversight that was later redressed by Yusuf Islam mile:.

Incidentally, Piano Portraits is his 100[SUP]th[/SUP] solo recording!!

[JeromeD]

Have quite a few of Rick's albums - favourites are 'Journey to the Centre of the Earth' & 'White Rock'.