Reviewed by Ian Phillips.
Florian Christi, Sony Music 2018.
Florian Christi is an outstanding pianist and composer who grew up in a small town in Bavaria.
He never formally studied composition or the piano, he simply sits down at the instrument and writes music that bubbles to the surface and inspires him.
Music that is full of love, hope, and beautiful melodies.
It’s a form of expression that comes naturally. It’s his great passion and something he has always done.
His story is quite interesting.
Florian was working as a student trainee at Sony Music when one of his colleagues was so impressed by his music that she used some of it for a presentational video and in a playlist.
As a consequence, his music came to the attention of the Classical Department and they immediately offered him a contract and set about recording his debut album.
The music recorded for his debut, Inspiration, is almost identical to one of his first demos recorded at home and consists of solo piano pieces and songs arranged for piano and a string quintet.
This form of music is not my usual fare but I found the album irresistible.
There’s something about the quality of the melodies and presentation that moves and inspires me.
It’s the sort of music I could imagine using in my theatrical productions.
All the tracks are instrumental pieces and mostly they are quite short, many of them being little more than two minutes in length.
I listened to the album late at night and I found the tunes fired my imagination.
They were evocative of imagery.
This is an album that crosses boundaries.
It will appeal to the classical music enthusiasts as well as the more mainstream listener.
