Forest

Typical G. Winston. Great background music for reading and relaxing. Though, I like Autumn and Spring better.

Forest, by brilliant solo pianist George Winston, is another sold entry in a brilliant musical catalogue. Though I intially found the first song rather off-putting, this CD has become more and more enjoyable with subsequent listenings. Taken as a whole, the CD is a solid 4 star experience.

I have all of George Winston's solo albums (right up to the recent Montana disc) and of them all, this is probably my favorite, with "Linus and Lucy" the other candidate. The pieces are beautiful and haunting--especially the suite of pieces from the animated short "The Snowman." This disc is worth the price for those few tracks alone. Sometims I just put on "Walking in the Air" and set the CD player to repeat the track three or four times in a row. I don't consider myself a "new-age" music fan; a lot of it just sounds too corny to me--as if it's trying to be more profound than it is. Somehow, George Winston manages to escape the new-age clichés; his style has more than a hint of jazz (surely the result of his Fats Waller and stride influences) and I get something out of his performances that I don't with most other Windham Hill or Narada artists. When I bought this CD nearly ten years ago, I played it frequently for many months. Long after most other discs go to my shelf, in all likelihood never to be heard again, I still pull "Forest" out several times a year--on a snowy night with a mug of hot chocolate, a cool afernoon while studying, or even just doing work around the house. It's a beautiful CD, and my favorite among George Winston's many fine recordings. Highly recommended!

I am very suprised at some of the criticisms here of this CD.....but I can certainly understand that some people somehow just don't "dig" this type of new age piano playing.

In any case, this is absolutely one of Winston's best recordings, with all his classic trademark characteristics such as the wonderfully executed blurred progressions via continuous pedal. The entire CD evokes a strongly reminiscent mood. The first two tracks in particular are certainly the most New Age/minimalist of them all, but they are still wonderfully effective, if not experimental. The three arrangements of music from Howard Blake's "The Snowman" are particularly intimate and effective.

George Winston is one of the most sensitive and feeling pianists in modern piano music, and nowhere is it more evident than in Forest. I have had this CD since its original release in 1994, and 10 years later I still listen to it probably once every 2-3 weeks. His interperetations and his originals transcend any words. The music is magical, and is very, very relaxing.
In short-BUY THIS CD!!!