Hammer Doug. Celtique (Solo Piano Songbook)

Doug Hammer, 2018. — 72 p.Celtique tells the story of a fisherman: a day in his life from daybreak to twilight. It also tells the story of his whole life. All of the songs have double meanings, like Through the Mist and Journey Home. The album begins and ends the same way, like an unbroken, sacred circle.Doug Hammer’s Celtique, is the companion sheet music book to his 2018 album by the same name. Fourteen of the fifteen pieces from the album are included (“Crumbling Wall” was omitted for a variety of reasons). The scores are beautifully-spaced, and the layout is roomy and very easy to read. Several of the pieces have very specific pedaling, which is clearly marked and easy to follow. There are a few reaches of more than an octave, but only a few, and those chords can be shortened or rolled if you can’t reach them. Some of the rhythms are fairly complex, but counting them out will not be difficult.Peek through the fog, smell the sea, hear the distant waves and discover the ancient landscape that holds so many stories that can never be told…