Album Notes

Thomas Cunningham is a contemporary composer pianist broadly within the New Age genre. Thomas rejects strict association with New Age Music as his musical structures are varyingly neoclassical, impressionistic, romantic and, above all, idiocentric. He is self taught and has avoided formal music education feeling that for him, music is a personal and unique art. "I gravitate to the more experiencial rather than expressive aspects of music. I strive through composition to feel and perceive subtleties of the deep and varied human experience I have either not felt before or fully grasped. When expressed properly these creations have a life of their own - they are revelation."

Here are a few reviewer's comments regarding his first release The Exiled Heart, Spirit Rain Music in 1998: "Billed as "intimate stories and poems in the language of the piano," this CD lives up to its calling in a pleasantly fulfilling surprise from a debut artist....This is New Age piano technique as it should be." NAPRA ReView Sept/Oct 1999 Vol. 10, No. 5 "impressive and fresh", "As the album plays out the songs flow and his enjoyment becomes yours." , and "The listener can tell that this is music, as they say, from the heart. The music seems to come first, nothing else". Tim Powell, producer and host, Currents, KUHF 88.7 FM, Houston, TX, May 1998.

Thomas Cunningham's recent release The Story Garden, Spirit Rain Music 12/2006 has had the following reviewer comments, among others: "Cunningham has impressive playing chops that express his stories well. Quite a bit of the music sounds somewhat improvised, making the “stories” fresh and new." "..a fascinating musical journey." "Recommended for those who enjoy solo piano with some complexity, not just simple "pretty," melodies..." Solo Piano Publications, March 29, 2007 Reviewer: Kathy Parsons