Piano Solos

Austere yet inviting, Laura Sullivan’s Piano Solos (2003) transcends the New Age category some might place it in. The Northern California-born composer anchors her music in well-sculpted melodies and sparse chording, making the otherworldly intimations in her work all the more vivid. Her classical background informs pieces like the stately “Brave Mournings” and the bittersweet “Lullaby Wind” with a dignity suggestive of the Victorian Era, yet there’s nothing musty about the compositions here. “Calls To Spirit” adds a dash of modern-day dissonance to the proceedings, and a restless ambiance pervades such numbers as “The Voyage Home” and “Hope For The Sun.” The composer’s mystical side gains fullest expression in the graceful “Dreaming Underwater.” Her keyboard technique is restrained, nuanced and deeply-felt, grounding her music in solid craft and infusing it with palpable emotion, creating an album at once bracing, evocative and ultimately moving.