Artist description ------------------------------------------------------------------- Christmas Dreams--Piano Improvisations by Brent Hugh ------------------------------------------------------------------- Not for the faint of heart or those who just want to hear old familiar melodies played over and over, maybe with a few drums and guitars thrown into make them sound "modern", Christmas Dreams is the "thinking person's Christmas album". It is created for those who wish to discover the real feeling of Christmas that has inspired so much music, yet which so often leads that music to be presented in a commercialized, pablumized, and repetitious way that destroys its true spirit. These improvisations use sophisticated harmonic, melodic, and contrapuntal techniques to "deconstruct" the mood, structure, and musical content of the traditional tunes on which they are based. Strikingly beautiful and grippingly meaningful moments abound, but the listener must be willing to go all the way with the artist, finding the heart of the musical meaning of these works--a musical meaning that you will never discover while being subjected to yet another thoughtless version of a Christmas "favorite", blared at you with fullest commercial intent from the PA system of your local shopping mall.

Music Style Solo piano

Musical Influences Traditional Christmas music, Classical music, Jazz, New Age; composers as diverse as Beethoven, Chopin, Claude Debussy, Philip Glass, Thelonius Monk, John Cage, and Charles Ives.

Similar Artists Solo piano improvisations on popular Christmas music. Similar artists: Nobody is really similar, but closest would be George Winston, David Nevue

Artist History Brent Hugh, pianist and composer, has been performing and touring since 1983, playing classical repertoire, his owncompositions, and occasionally improvisations.

Group Members Just Brent Hugh . . .

Instruments piano

Albums Christmas Dreams, Fantastic Rhapsodies, Brent Hugh In Recital, Brent Hugh Live In Kansas City, The Isle of Joy, Favorite Hymn Fantasies

Press Reviews Tim Cummings, Sheridan (Wyoming) Press; Richard Greene, Kansas City infoZine; Terri Baumgardner, Kansas City Star; and others.

Location Raytown, MO - USA

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