Meditative solo piano recordings?
November 28, 2018 10:29 AM

I've been listening to Emahoy Maryam Guebrou's CDs while I work lately, and am looking for more solo piano recordings in this vein.

She specifically references Beethoven, and I think I hear some nods to Debussy. I'm not concerned with the nominal genre so much as it having a similar feel (which I realize is subjective). Thanks in advance, HiveMind.
posted by ryanshepard to Media & Arts (14 answers total) 21 users marked this as a favorite
Guebrou is sorta sui generis but here are some things you might like:

Duke Ellington's Single Petal of a Rose
David Shire's score for The Conversation
Chilly Gonzales
Here's some Beethoven in that vein(?). And here's some Beethoven, jazzed up by Hiromi.
posted by theodolite at 10:56 AM on November 28, 2018


Not piano, but Alice Coltrane's work has that chromatic, meandering feel.
posted by matildaben at 11:18 AM on November 28, 2018


It's not really similar to Guebrou (which is quite lovely, thanks for sharing her work), but some meditative piano music I've enjoyed are Solo Piano by Philip Glass and the piano works of Erik Satie, particularly the Gymnopédies and Gnossiennes.
posted by matthewfells at 11:22 AM on November 28, 2018


For this kind of thing I really love Christopher O'Riley playing Radiohead. True Love Waits.
posted by Medieval Maven at 11:30 AM on November 28, 2018


Check out Persian pianist Javad Maroufi.
posted by neroli at 11:42 AM on November 28, 2018


My meditative-music-while-working station started from Yann Tiersen, who has a lot of either solo piano or very-minimally-accompanied piano. It's a little sleepier than Guebrou but is close enough to the thing my brain needs that I just added her, so it might go the other way too.
posted by tchemgrrl at 12:05 PM on November 28, 2018


Look into the wonderful Ludovico Einaudi.
posted by I_Love_Bananas at 12:37 PM on November 28, 2018


The Nocturnes of John Field are pretty great, too.
posted by matthewfells at 12:45 PM on November 28, 2018


Seconding Glass's Solo Piano, which is what I came here to recommend!
posted by ferret branca at 1:36 PM on November 28, 2018


OK, we are going a bit further afield, but how about Federico Mompou? His work "Musica Callada/Silent Music" is my favorite - originally I listened to the EMI Hubert Henck recording, but it is not on Spotify, so there I listen to the one by Jenny Lin.
posted by matildaben at 2:22 PM on November 28, 2018


Keith Jarrett, maybe.
posted by zadcat at 4:55 PM on November 28, 2018


Your example reminded me of James Booker. I linked his Minute Waltz because Chopin, but I really love this entire album.
posted by misozaki at 12:11 AM on November 29, 2018


If you've got 5 hours, La Monte Young's entire Well-Tuned Piano is on YouTube. I call it meditative, others may say annoying. YMMV.
posted by SystematicAbuse at 6:46 AM on November 29, 2018


I love Myra Melford’s life carries me this way, which is music inspired by paintings
and
Adam Benjamin’s alphabets & consequences
posted by umbú at 7:05 PM on November 29, 2018


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