Newsletter, December 2023

By
Suzanne Herman
Written by
Steve Sheppard
 
I have such great memories of several of the tracks from this album, their previous releases as singles gave me a true flavour for the solo piano style of Suzanne Herman, and now my luck is in as I have another 7 more tracks, as before me sits her latest album A Seaside View.
This is a good one for me as I live near a beautiful coast line, so the visuals of Suzanne’s music are easy to imagine. The opener was a big hit for her and entitled The Path of the Sandpiper, this has to be the perfect beginning point, its light airy refrains give us that inevitable pathway of that aforementioned bird, and the melodic structures of the composition are enough to light up anyone’s dull day.
This 10 track release is like opening up a can of bliss, on a late summers day; offerings like Balcony Oasis are a literal vista of oceanic delights, the slow and careful approach here sums up the calmness of the moment in a perfect setting, whilst compositions like Dancing Lights, another single from last year, gives us perhaps an evening view of the bay as the lights of the coastline and boats, twinkle in the azure dusk of a most pleasant night time.
There can be no doubt that Herman is one of the finest descriptive pianists of her day, tracks like The Old Pier will emphasises that, her presentation here bring us a time worn place of great and fond memories, and at I may say, a delightful six minutes plus of artistic grace. Whilst pieces akin to Distant Storms draw the listener in, there is nothing quite so exciting and sometimes exhilarating as a storm, here though Herman postulates the forth coming tempest with such a deep musical narrative, it is literally palpable and mood filled with her passage played.
Early on in this year Suzanne would release Sailing to a Sunset, this is something we have done here in Cyprus, and it is incredibly romantic, this presentation for me is painted with tones and a wondrous timbre of great quality and style, one to bring the listener a moment of natural splendour and happiness, and of course, love.
We conclude our journey of this uplifting solo piano collection with the arrangement Islands Across the Bay, after listening to the whole album I couldn’t have chosen a better track with which to end with myself, its soothing musical posture is simply perfect to leave the listener feeling totally fulfilled and at ease.
A Seaside View by Suzanne Herman is a scrapbook of musical memories lovingly put together by a woman who clearly knows her own environment and adores it; the pianist manifests for us a musical art gallery of sublime solo piano tones, melodies and segments of blissful reveries for us to enjoy, and succeeds with each and every touch of the keys. I have a feeling that A Seaside View by Suzanne Herman is going to not only be a big hit with fans of the solo piano genre, but on the album chart as well.