QuietMelodies is now open!

As many of you might already know, the new portal is finally open!!!!!  I am so sorry that it has taken so long to happen, but I do hope you find it worth the wait.  Some of the new features you will be able to enjoy are being able to message any member & being able to post your own favorites.  There will also be a forum added so that requests and such can be made there.  Eventually hope to in essence mirror this blog there and of course have new content available.  The new music available should be substantially more than here as there will be multiple people posting =-).  Please stop by and join your NEW home for QuietMusic – www.quietmelodies.com!

Suzanne Ciani – Turning

Suzanne Ciani – Turning
MP3 @ 192 Kbps | 47:28 min | 1999 | 71.4 MB | 10% Recovery Record

Suzanne Ciani is one of the classiest new age performers of this — or any other — era. Turning is her 11th album and her first to include vocals. The title track has romantic lyrics written by Ciani and performed by Chyi Yu. It is the opening track and it is a grabber. That is a good start and Ciani builds on it strongly. Her classical training and her spiritual sensitivity ooze from every chord and every note on this CD. The gentle melodies are elegant and regal, the atmospheres are soft and warm, and the soundscape is lazy and seductive. And the nicest feature of this CD is Ciani herself. Her smiling countenance on the front of the disc is the first clue. In the liner notes she gives up the mystery: “I make these records firstly for myself…(and) to communicate with whomever will listen…(Turning) was a joy for me to make…for me and for you.” Any work created with that 12-step philosophy is a guaranteed winner. This is an essential new age classic. It will appeal to fans of Lisa Lynne, Nancy Rumbel, Constance Demby, and Dean Evenson.

Suzanne Ciani – The Very Best of Suzanne Ciani (Special Asian Edition)

Suzanne Ciani – The Very Best of Suzanne Ciani (Special Asian Edition)
MP3 @ 320 Kbps | 1:00:03 min | 2007 | 150 MB | 10% Recovery Record

Ultimate collection of Suzanne Ciani.. Special Asian edition contains a previously unreleased track. Her music, reknowned for its romantic, healing, and aesthetic qualities.

Suzanne Ciani – The Velocity of Love

Suzanne Ciani – The Velocity of Love
MP3 @ 192 Kbps | 36:46 min | 1984 | 55.8 MB | 10% Recovery Record

Suzanne Ciani’s landmark 1984 release Velocity of Love established the noted electronic composer in the U.S. and became one of instrumental/new age radio’s early success stories. Together with Vangelis, who contributed keyboards to “Lay Down Beside Me,” “Malibuzios,” and “History of My Heart,” Ciani created a formless, diaphanous record that nevertheless seemed guided by real emotion. There were the subtle pop melodies that flitted about beneath the synthesized surface, certainly. But it was difficult not to hear the album’s influential title track and miss the wave of wistful sadness that curled around its brittle melody. It was a deceptively simple piano line that suggested the theme music of some unknown 1970s character drama, the kind where autumn leaves constantly blow through open curtains for effect. At the same time, the song’s pulsating bank of synthesizers united its classic qualities with the futuristic tendencies and two-dimensional rayon sheen of the 1980s. While some of its later compositions were a bit overwrought, teetering under the weight of their own keyboard wizardry, Velocity of Love is still essential for any fan of Ciani or the formative days of contemporary instrumental music.

Suzanne Ciani – The Private Music Of Suzanne Ciani

Suzanne Ciani – The Private Music Of Suzanne Ciani
MP3 @ 320 Kbps | 1:01:56 min | 1992 | 155 MB | 10% Recovery Record

Here’s an interesting collection of her best songs during her years with the Private Music recording label. There were two new songs that were added to this album: Go Gently and Sailing to Byzantium.

Suzanne Ciani – Silver Ship

Suzanne Ciani – Silver Ship
MP3 @ 320 Kbps | 37:40 min | 2005 | 93.4 MB | 10% Recovery Record

Silver Ship is Suzanne Ciani’s first album of all-new material since 1999’s Turning LP. And like that album, it’s a tasteful, often joyful blend of acoustic and electronic instruments, buoyed throughout by Ciani’s innate melodic sense. The composer and keyboardist also works with some familiar collaborators, including flutist Matt Eakle, Paul McCandless on reeds, cellist Joe Hébert, guitarist Teja Bell, and bassist Michael Manring. As her earliest releases prove, it’s always been Ciani’s intention to craft durable songs. That approach elevates her work above the homogeneity that permeates the contemporary instrumental and new age genres at their lowest ebb, and it’s no different with Silver Ship. “Sargasso Sea” is a duet between Ciani’s piano and the sad-eyed and graceful cello of Hébert, while “Eclipse” perfectly balances solitary contemplation with waves of surging emotion. Not surprisingly, “Open Seas” incorporates some artificially generated ocean swells beneath Eakle’s airy flute leads, while opener “For Lise” features one of Ciani’s classic melodies — plaintive, powerfully hopeful, and softly whispered all at once. Silver Ship also takes a few detours, adding percussion and prominent solos from Bell and Eakle for the East African-flavored “Wine Dark Sea” and nodding into a slight new age-jazz cross for “Capri.” Also, like Turning, the title track again features vocals. “Silver Ship” is a heartfelt lullaby emboldened by an interestingly vintage-sounding synthesizer tone. Ciani’s been at the top of her craft since Velocity of Love in 1984. The crystalline Silver Ship floats there, too.

Suzanne Ciani – Seven Waves

Suzanne Ciani – Seven Waves
MP3 @ 192 Kbps | 42:55 min | 1982 | 61.7 MB | 10% Recovery Record

Seven Waves is Suzanne Ciani’s first album. She started recording it in 1979, finished it in 1981, and released it in Japan in 1982. The first U.S. release was in 1984. She re-released it in 1995 on Seventh Wave, her own label, named for this CD. She recorded this music on vintage electronic equipment, most of which no longer exists. This set is a conglomeration of Ciani’s electronic wizardry, her new age sensitivity, and her innate romanticism. The atmospheres and soundscapes are dense and gentle. Her melodies hover above and within the soundscapes. This is classic e-music and essential listening for all fans of electronic new age music. It evokes responses similar to those evoked by Kitaro, Constance Demby, Nik Tyndall, and Lisa Lynne.

Suzanne Ciani – Pure Romance

Suzanne Ciani – Pure Romance
MP3 @ 320 Kbps | 58:23 min | 2003 | 121 MB | 10% Recovery Record

“A great collection for when you need to sink into yourself and block out anything that hinders endorphins.”

This is a special collection of Ciani’s most romantic music and is her 14th release. Five-time Grammy nominee, composer/pianist Suzanne Ciani is the quintessential romantic and here she takes you to an inner world of beauty, peace and passion that both transports and heals.

Suzanne Ciani – Pianissimo III

Suzanne Ciani – Pianissimo III
MP3 @ 192 Kbps | 1:00:53 min | 2001 | 91.6 MB | 10% Recovery Record

Suzanne Ciani made her career in the world of electronic music, but likes to return to the acoustic keyboard now and again. This is the third installment of the pianist/composer’s solo recordings. This is soft music meant to relax and uplift the listener. Featured here are not only new pieces, but also past earlier compositions reworked with new arrangements.

Suzanne Ciani – Pianissimo II

Suzanne Ciani – Pianissimo II
MP3 @ 192 Kbps | 56:15 min | 1996 | 81.3 MB | 10% Recovery Record

Ciani’s ninth studio recording, like its 1990 prequel Pianissimo, strips bare her classically-inspired pieces for solo piano form. Recorded on a one-of-a-kind Yamaha CFIIIS, a nine-foot, hand-built concert grand, Pianissimo II features piano versions of some of Ciani’s most popular songs, including “The Velocity of Love,” “Hotel Luna” and “Terra Mesa.” Three new songs, including “Princess” and “Longing,” accompany the re-worked older material.

Suzanne Ciani – Pianissimo

Suzanne Ciani – Pianissimo
MP3 @ 192 Kbps | 52:03 min | 1990 | 77.5 MB | 10% Recovery Record

After 20 years of perfecting her abilities with electronic music, Ciani turned back to the acoustic piano for this live recording of material largely taken from Neverland and its excellent followup, History of My Heart. Demonstrates that Ciani is not dependent on electricity to produce vital music.

Suzanne Ciani – Neverland

Suzanne Ciani – Neverland
MP3 @ 192 Kbps | 44:18 min | 1988 | 66.8 MB | 10% Recovery Record

Ciani is a master at constructing complex compositions using electronic keyboard instruments that nevertheless retain the ability to speak to listeners emotionally. On her most accomplished work, Ciani explores a broad musical range, from majestic landscapes to humorous percussive patterns, always retaining a strong sense of melody and overall structure.

Suzanne Ciani – Meditations for Dreams, Relaxation & Sleep

Suzanne Ciani – Meditations for Dreams, Relaxation & Sleep
MP3 @ 320 Kbps | 1:05:27 min | 2002 | 164 MB | 10% Recovery Record

Suzanne Ciani (piano, synthesizer); Diane Sorel (vocals); Teja Bell (guitar); Jeremy Cohen (violin); Doug Harmon, Joseph Hebert, Matt Crooker (cello); Matt Eakle, Peter Gordon (flute); Paul McCandless (oboe, alto saxophone, … Full DescriptionEnglish horn); Rob Zantay (lyricon); Vangelis (synthesizer); Michael Manring, John Peters (fretless bass); Kalani (percussion); Chris Ianuzzi (voyetra); The Young Russia Orchestra.

Suzanne Ciani – Live!

Suzanne Ciani – Live!
MP3 @ 192 Kbps | 1:14:23 min | 1997 | 114 MB | 10% Recovery Record

Live! is Suzanne Ciani’a first live album, recorded March 14 and 15, 1997, at San Francisco’s Herbst Theater. You’ll hear plenty of inspiration and movement in Ciani’s pieces, but, unlike the athletic music of John Tesh, you won’t break out in a sweat. “Neverland” begins the album with the snap of a sail filling with wind and surfing on a broad reach. “Eagle” soars higher, with strong melodic lines from violinist Jeremy Cohen and Paul McCandless. Smoother cruising — and a more extended vision — is offered on “Sailing to Byzantium,” while “Butterflies” offers lighter, but more acrobatic, themes. The album offers plenty of places to dream: “Drifting,” the sweet “Go Gently” (a tribute to Ciani’s father), “Stream,” the magical “Inverness” with its breezes, “Time Stops,” and “Anthem.” The pace is quickened with inventive rhythmic pieces such as “Samukee,” where several of the ensemble help out on percussion; the jaunty melody is carried by McCandless’ sassy piccolo sax and Eakle’s flute and penny whistle. Ciani’s synthesizer carries the plunky rhythm on “Mosaic”; she is then joined by Kalani on bongos, Teja Bell on electric sitar, Paul McCandless on bass clarinet, and Michael Manning on bass. The sonic textures and exotic interplay are invigorating. The highlight for the audience must have been Ciani’s standard, “The Velocity of Love”; this breathtaking new arrangement, showcasing Ciani’s solo piano, is like swimming in a lagoon in paradise. Ciani dedicates this album to “making dreams come true.” Put that to music and you have this album.

Suzanne Ciani – Hotel Luna

Suzanne Ciani – Hotel Luna
MP3 @ 320 Kbps | 37:27 min | 1991 | 93.2 MB | 10% Recovery Record

Following on the fluttering heels of Velocity of Love, Suzanne Ciani is joined by violinist Steve Kindler, percussionist Kurt Wortman, flautist Peter Gordon, and guitarist John Wheelock for Hotel Luna. The additional musicians flesh out Ciani’s rich palette of synthesizers and piano, so that tracks like “Maremosso,” with its lush, worldly feel, rings even truer with the addition of flute and violin solos. The sounds of a storm wash predictably through “Rain,” but its pattering keyboards are nevertheless well done. It’s more textured genius from Ciani, a progressive electronic music pioneer who seems to understand intrinsically where technology ends and the human heart takes over. With this knowledge, she can imbue “Love Song” with appropriate amounts of grace, but juxtapose it with “Simple Song,” where jaunty synth flourishes set up a big, brassy (synthetic) fanfare that’s irresistible over the track’s percolating electronic groove. Later, Ciani’s pop sensibilities come to fore with the gorgeous, sweeping melody of “L’Azzuro,” which is as romantic an instrumental as any song with words would be. Kindler’s violin weaves into Gordon’s flute, and both musicians follow the lead of Ciani’s breathy synth washes. It’s some of Ciani’s most accomplished work yet, building brilliantly on its central themes of romance and remembrance.

Suzanne Ciani – History Of My Heart

Suzanne Ciani – History Of My Heart
MP3 @ 192 Kbps | 49:03 min | 1989 | 73.7 MB | 10% Recovery Record

With History of My Heart, electronic music/new age pioneer Suzanne Ciani seems to be talking through her bank of keyboards and synths, instead of letting the technology interpret her thoughts. The album’s title is played out over 11 tracks tracing the contours of Ciani’s romantic peaks and valleys. “Anthem” is just that, a major chord triumph of tinkling keys and slowly building strings. The vintage synth “robotic sigh” of the song’s bridge reminds listeners that Ciani is creating her music entirely on electronic equipment. The tentative melody of “Italian Movie” could suggest a drive through the Tuscan countryside with its plucked nylon-guitar effect, while “Inverness” is a conventional new age mood piece, complete with breathy, ethnic flute and fluttering synth and piano. That said, its understated quality is charming in a genre that too often becomes heavy-handed when it’s only trying to be light and airy.

Suzanne Ciani – Dream Suite

Suzanne Ciani – Dream Suite
MP3 @ 192 Kbps | 41:46 min | 1994 | 62.9 MB | 10% Recovery Record

With Dream Suite, Suzanne Ciani decided to return to her acoustic roots. Abandoning synthesizers and enlisting the 70-piece Young Russia Orchestra, Ciani creates a lush, grandiose fusion of classical and new age musical ideas. It’s as realized as anything she has ever written, and suggests she would be as comfortable with sweeping film scores as she is with electronic music.