Robin Meloy Goldsby - Home and Away (2017)

"Graceful music by a pianist with an exquisite touch. Beautiful, just beautiful." Marian McPartland, NPR Piano Jazz

Robin Meloy Goldsby's elegant album of acoustic solo piano music, Home and Away, takes the listener on a tour of the places Goldsby has called "home."

"As an American musician living in Europe, I think a lot about the concept of home," says Goldsby. "My personal voyage has guided me so far away from where I started. What makes me feel at home? Maybe it's love or understanding. Or maybe it's simply knowing that someone is listening to my musical story."

Robin is a Steinway Artist. She touches base with home whenever she plays the piano. Beautifully recorded and mastered by Reinhard Kobialka of Topaz Audio Studios in Cologne on a 1967 Steinway B (prepared by Steinway technician Hans Giese)—Goldsby's music speaks volumes without words. Home and Away—a collection of nine original compositions, three classical variations, and two covers— follows Goldsby from Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania ("The Village," "Allegheny") to Nantucket Island ("Peaceful Harbor," "Somewhere") to New York City ("Hudson," "Round and Round," "Gravity," "Crossings") to Cologne, Germany, where she currently lives ("Rhine," "Home and Away," "Cathedral").

Goldsby's "Canon in D" from her popular 2007 recording, Songs from the Castle continues to speak to her loyal followers. "The piece strikes a familiar chord for so many of my listeners," Goldsby says. "Over the past few years I've worked on the 'Canon in D: Variation No. 2' while performing at the Excelsior Hotel Ernst in Cologne. The piece reminds me of home— it has the touches of familiarity and warmth we crave when we're feeling fragile."

Goldsby arranged the Satie "Gymnopedie No. 1" variation just when both of her grown up children were leaving home. "To me, this piece connects to the sadness of an empty room," says Goldsby, "It's about holding on and letting go all at once."

"Serenade: Variation on a Theme by Schubert," crosses back and forth from minor to major motifs. "The music reminds me of the sentiments faced by so many of my traveling friends," says Goldsby. "We love our new homes; we miss the old. We feel at home everywhere, and nowhere at all."

Goldsby's music—transparent, effortless, and occasionally spellbinding—lures her listeners to a place that's safe and warm. "I try to offer a little bit of quiet in a noisy world," she says. "A little bit of home."

Tracklist:
01. Canon in D (Variation No. 2 on a Theme by Pachelbel)
02. The Village
03. Round and Round
04. Peaceful Harbor
05. Allegheny
06. Hudson
07. Rhine
08. Gravity
09. Home and Away
10. Crossings
11. Somewhere
12. Serenade (Variation on a Theme by Schubert)
13. Cathedral
14. Gymnopédie, No. 1 (Variation on a Theme by Satie)