Cyrille Verdeaux - Piano For The Third Ear

French composer Cyrille Verdeaux has been a guest on many albums throughout his career and he composed the Clearlight Infinite Symphony (see review). The title Piano For The Third Ear is as it suggests, just a solo piano going through many moods and changes, and it is very soothing in places. In certain ways, it takes me back to the seventies when Emerson, Lake & Palmer released Works Volume 1 when that very double album gave each member a side each, before all three were together on side four. It was side one which featured Keith Emerson with a piano, and made me realise what a fine sound a piano makes, and not just a ugly old brown thing which was good for a laugh when I was a lot younger at my gran's home.

On to the album, well as before it is just a piano, and fourteen tracks make a total time of just over sixty four minutes. There is one live track called Raga, but for a nice feeling, track seven Tolouse Lautrec's Lament stands out in my mind. Nympheas was inspired by the painter Monet, and is another good moving piece, and on certain other tracks there is a addition of sound affects such as a ocean sound.

This is a nice listen all round, and Cyrille plays very well indeed, and shows how versatile the piano is. For further information, check out the link below.

Danny Mayo

Clearlight Music

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