Ed Martin's Ravello Records debut, Journeys, consists of highly original piano compositions that invite the listener on a voyage through mysterious realms where the limits of the sensual and the intuitive dissolve. Each piece is rendered by pianist Jeri-Mae G. Astolfi, who performs the album with great clarity, structural insight and precision, never losing touch with the primal, emotional appeal of the compositions...

If you're a collector of modern classical piano music, touching on the avant-garde, then there's plenty for you to discover on Ed Martin's Journeys. Personally, this was nothing more than a curiosity to be visited once and not revisited. I like my classical music to lift my soul... Touch my heart... Anything other than make me constantly wonder what I'm listening to and why.

The 15 pieces (1 hr, 04 min, 48 sec) are pretty much interchangable. I couldn't tell where one collection of pieces ended and another one began. To me, they all merged into one blurry mess. As hard as I tried, I couldn't identify with any of the pieces here. That's not to say that Jeri-Mae G. Astolfi doesn't do a spectacular job of bringing this album to life. It's just that the source material wasn't overly interesting.

5

Darren Rea