OF TWO MINDS: The Music of Frédéric Chopin and Tobin Mueller“In every case, the listener has the sense that Mueller is having his personal conversation as a composer and pianist with these great composers.” - Carla Maria Verdino-Süllwold, Fanfare Magazine"Of Two Minds" is the third album in what Mueller calls"The Masterwork Trilogy", three albums in which he explores the interconnections between musical eras. Using piano masterworks as inspiration, Mueller has taken on the Baroque period ("Flow", 2015), Impressionism ("Impressions of Water & Light", 2014), and now Romanticism, combining them with Jazz, Blues, Tango and modal New Age, sometimes within a single arrangement."Of Two Minds" explores the music of Frédéric Chopin. Through adaptation, variation and original works, Mueller infuses new life into Chopin’s classics, just as Chopin, in turn, inspires Mueller's original jazz."Disc One: Tobin Plays Chopin" consists of reinterpretations of selected Chopin solo piano pieces."Disc Two: Tobin Plays Tobin" presents original works by Tobin Mueller inspired by Chopin's préludes.Chopin’s music represents the purist example of the Romantic movement. He expresses the Hero’s struggle in powerfully intimate terms. With every phrase, Chopin exposes his inner self, the artist emoting on a confidential level, combining ardor, ecstasy, awe and spontaneity... the very definition of Romanticism. If you believe music is “the organization of sound toward beauty,” Chopin is its greatest champion. Mueller extends this beauty with new tonalities, new rhythms, arrangements that are more like adaptations. In Disc 1, Mueller takes on the best known Polonaises, Mazurkas, Études and Nocturnes. In Disc 2, he uses the Preludes to create completely original music, showing how"Two Minds" can conspire and cross-pollinate."Mueller is one of the most creative musical minds out there... I love that he ignores all boundaries for musical genres in this music, juxtaposing modal jazz, blues, Broadway, prog rock, and new age (and others) with classical stylings, giving free reign to his vast experience and training along with an imagination that knows no limitations." - Kathy Parsons, Mainly PianoThere is already something wonderfully modern about Chopin. More than any composer before him, much of his music resembles songs, with melody lines that sing like the human voice. Innovative harmonics, radically new key changes, arrhythmic flourishes, and variations that seem more like improvisations than calculations... all this opened the door to what music would become. It makes this collection of musical re-imaginings all the more compelling. Read what Mueller wrote in his liner notes about his experience working on The Masterworks Trilogy:"As I moved through the Chopin repertoire, I found it affecting me in profoundly different ways than the other music examined in this Trilogy. Bach’s cerebral precision thrust me into each score’s analytics. At the very least, Bach presented puzzles and provocations that challenged me to make sure every note had a reason, that every broken rule could be justified in a computational way."Flow: The Music of J.S. Bach and Tobin Mueller" contains some of my most difficult music. While working on Chopin, however, I found myself walking with a lighter gait. I contemplated love instead of loss, night skies instead of purposeful afternoons, poetic phrasing instead of time signatures. Chopin freed me from the burden of competitive construction."Mueller comments on the differences between Chopin and the Impressionists:"Seduction pervades Chopin's music, but it is different than the sensuality expressed by the Impressionists’ literal immediacy ("Impressions of Water & Light"). Chopin is more formal yet more internal. The watery runs and whole tone harmonics of Debussy and Ravel conjure fabulously idyllic images of Nature, fluid and tactile, as if one is experiencing it at that moment. Chopin seems to express more of a nostalgic meditation, a memory of what Nature and Experience leaves within you. I found myself playing (and arranging) from a place of recollection instead of emersion. The music seems more of a personal reflection, less of an attempt at capturing action or participation."The double-CD package includes extensive notes on Chopin and George Sand, explains what is behind each arrangement and original composition, and, like the two other albums in this Trilogy, contains wonderful artwork. Please consider purchasing the complete package. It will provide hours of enjoyment.Piano works by Tobin Mueller available on CDBaby:The Masterworks Trilogy:"Of Two Minds","Flow","Impressions of Water & Light"Christmas music:"Midwinter Born"Earlier solo piano CDs:"13 Masks","Morning Whispers"Jazz Ensemble recordings by Tobin Mueller and collaborators:"Come In Funky" (with Ron Carter),"Muller's Wheel" (with Woody Mankowski),"Rain Bather" (jazz octet)Progressive Rock:"Audiocracy: Revolution's Son"Progressive Folk/Alternative:"A Bit of Light"The American Songbook:"Hard Place To Find" and"Song of Myself"Search"Tobin Mueller" for more titles available at CDBaby. Check out Tobin Mueller's Official Website for more information.