A Beautiful Collection of New Age Piano

[thedaybeforetomorrow]

As a fellow pianist, I'd like to share with you some big news in modern piano music today.  For the first time a free-to-stream collection of Neoclassical, or New Age, piano has been created and put into the hands of over 120 million iOS users (iPhone/iPad/iPod Touch).  This will help to bring modern classical music to a whole new generation of people and promote piano music in general.  I encourage all of you to check it out and share it with your friends and family.  I can't emphasize enough how important it is to reach the upcoming generation in a familiar form otherwise piano music will slowly begin to not make it into their homes.  A generality I know, but I think that you could agree that the music scene today vs. piano music's peak is quite different.

The New Age Piano iOS application is a collection of relaxing and inspiring New Age Piano melodies.  It was released this weekend and is available for anyone to enjoy FREE on your iPhone, iPad, or iPod Touch.

Download the app here: https://itunes.apple.com/us/app/newagepiano/id396356131?mt=8

The app features music, news, photos, videos, and much more from 12 of today’s greatest New Age Pianists including:

Brian Turner, Carlos Tabora, Chad Lawson, Doug Hammer, Gary Farr, James Cahall, Jason Farnham, Ken Elkinson, Louis Landon, Mark Pinkus, Peter Kater, and Richard P. John. 

With the app, users can stay connected with all the latest updates and listen to over 30 New Age Piano tracks from these talented artists on an iOS device.

Screenshots can be found at:
https://www.anywhereartist.com/aa/NewAgePiano.com.html.

[mistermoe]

I have listened to the beginning of some of those pieces by 6 of the "composers" you've mentionned.
Instead of repeating myself i will quote myself:

uninspired, unimaginative cliche pop on basic harmonies found in every other piece of that genre

all those pieces sound almost the same although they are written by 6 (!) different persons. i wouldn't call that a quality.

I would really like to know where you see ANY ressemblance to piano music written by classical composers (beethoven, chopin, liszt, prokofiev, rachmaninov...just to name the obvious ones) as you called it "modern classical music" yourself.

i would have loved to know you find "real" classical music on that many iThings but this doesn't impress me, sorry.

lately i realized that, as soon as you have 2 or more violins in any piece of music, it's called classical.

[thedaybeforetomorrow]

I have listened to the beginning of some of those pieces by 6 of the "composers" you've mentionned.
Instead of repeating myself i will quote myself:

all those pieces sound almost the same although they are written by 6 (!) different persons. i wouldn't call that a quality.

I would really like to know where you see ANY ressemblance to piano music written by classical composers (beethoven, chopin, liszt, prokofiev, rachmaninov...just to name the obvious ones) as you called it "modern classical music" yourself.

i would have loved to know you find "real" classical music on that many iThings but this doesn't impress me, sorry.

lately i realized that, as soon as you have 2 or more violins in any piece of music, it's called classical.

I read your previous comment on Jim Brickman as well and I think that you are being quite critical of a valuable portion of piano music without truly digging in.

In fact, New Age Piano has many similarities to romantic and baroque classical artists including Chopin (especially his Preludes/Nocturnes) and Debussy.  Most, if not all, of these composers are classically trained and their music has grown from their experience with Liszt, Rachmaninov, etc.  

Is it the same style as true "classical" music?  No.  Is it a modern twist with Jazz and Pop influence?  Absolutely.  This genre has a very strong appeal to people wishing to have music to relax to and can fit in to most any event.  It is more easily taken in and understood by the modern generation than conventional classical music and has a place in music today.  In fact, if you truly spent time listening to the tracks on this compilation, you would see the great variety while they created cohesive imagery that makes it complete.

Not every musician strives to play at one of the world's great concert halls in a tuxedo.  There are many more relaxed forms of piano music and this is one of them.

Please do not simply brush away a beautiful style of piano because it isn't strictly classical.  Listen for the nuances, accidentals, variations, etc.

Another note, of all the artists you mentioned, the only reason why their music is so different from one another is because they are from different times and places when the world was not connected so closely.  In Bach's time, much of the musicians sounded very similar and the popular classical artists we know well today are only popular because of their connection to royalty and family status.  There are MANY very good classical artists from the past that did not get the respect they deserve.  If fact, artists of their time that DID break away from the standard norm, were often shunned and not accepted.

New Age Piano is completely about inspiration and imagination.  Artists take the beautiful views and events in nature and put them to music.  The sound of a stream, the movement of the cloud in the sky, all painted for the listener in the songs they create.  They help take people away from the mundane and stressful states of life.

Please take a closer listen.