Csaba Vedres was the pianist in After Crying, but left after "Fold es eg" in 1994 to form Townscream. After they disbanded, he has issued five solo albums, and this CD is a collection of recordings from these albums plus some new material.
There is a lot of piano music here, and style-wise it has a close relationship to the music of After Crying, but without the rest of the band, the result is necessarily different. The three first tracks are from the album "Tales, Letters", and they are for solo piano, delicate, virtuous in a kind of cross between romantic and impressionist, but also clearly bearing signs of the performer having a leg firmly panted in contemporary music.
Six tracks are from "The Break Of Dawn" (2000). Here, Vedres adds vocal, flute and trumpet to his piano. It is simpler, more melancholic, but also a lot more beautiful music. Associations to Crimson’s "Moonchild" appear. Vedres here uses broader and more basic major and minor chords, and his vocals fit perfectly in all its relatively unsophisticated naivity.
After this part, two tracks off the album "Dance Of Spirit", where Vedres leaves the piano in favour of the church organ and violin. There is an inevitable sacred mood to these recordings, and the typical Eastern European flavour shows more clearly. The following track is the previously unissued piano piece "List Of Free Ideas", where he in almost 14 minutes introduces and develops 10 small ideas – from jazz through rock (not unlike some of Keith Emerson’s piano work) to contemporary music.
The next collection of music is from "Ephata 1" (2001) where he utilizes synth, piano, violin and vocals, and these tracks consequently sound the closest to progressive rock, even if the lack of a rhythm section assures that it is not too much rock. Dramatic, and again melancholic compositions which will please anyone into After Crying.
The last album to offer music for this collection is called "Music For Piano", and here Vedres demonstrate what a virtuous pianist he is the the intersection between classical and rock music.
In the booklet you can read that Csaba Vedres is considered to be among the 20-25 best pianists in contemporary rock. Bullshit! I challenge you to find a single pianist who is better! A beautiful album, but perhaps not for those who prefer the rock side of progressive.

Sven Eriksen