“Chopin at Midnight” is a reimagining of some of my favorite Chopin pieces for solo piano. I’ve wanted to do a solo piano / classical project for years, and Signum’s Steve Long embraced my vision. While Chopin mostly wrote for small, live performances in the salons of Paris, I’ve wondered for some time what his compositions would sound like if he were alive today in the age of streaming? What lengths would they be; which motifs would he choose to repeat; which tempi and miking techniques would he use? I’ve approached these arrangements with those parameters in mind, while still embracing the idea that Chopin is fundamentally more harmonically complex than most Neo-classical music. I wanted to squeeze out melodic and secondary phrases and allow the listener to enjoy them in perhaps a way that one couldn’t in a typical, full-paced interpretation. I’ve found there’s an entirely different world of colors, textures, and moments when we’re allowed to linger a bit longer on the pieces — unhurriedly. The one original piece, “Dorothy’s Theme”, was largely improvised in the studio as we were wrapping up the recording session. It’s a tribute to my grandmother who was in hospice at the time or recording.