In Your Head: New Music for Piano Four Hands | Dana Muller, Gary Steigerwalt | Iris by Daniel Asia

Donald Wheelock composer
Lewis Spratlan composer
John LaMontaine composer
Daniel Asia composer
Matthew St. Laurent composer
David Sanford composer

Dana Muller piano
Gary Steigerwalt piano

“. . . this is like a feast with avocado toast, fusion cuisine and an interesting array of spices. . . .  A marvelous display of contemporary classical piano by a slew of serious award winning cats, this will open your ears to the future in fine form. Killer stuff.”

—- Chris Spector, Midwest Record

“Overall, Muller and Steigerwalt have been beyond fortunate to have such a great wealth of new works that help further enhance the piano four-hand repertoire. . . .  The variety within these different explorations of this genre make this an important release of contemporary music.”

—- Cinemusical

Acclaimed piano four-hand duo Dana Muller and Gary Steigerwalt come together once more for IN YOUR HEAD, a collection featuring the work of six composers that highlights both fresh compositional talents and earlier successful works. Each piece demonstrates the unique synergy between the two performers. With twice the hands, twice the talent, and twice the interpretation, the piano is pushed to dynamic and sonoric extremes.

Compositions on IN YOUR HEAD span over five decades, but each is brought to new life by the skilled hands of Muller and Steigerwalt. The duo, who have performed extensively across the Western Hemisphere, found inspiration for this compilation in the success of Lewis Spratlan’s Dreamworlds, a piece which they had commissioned in 2015. Using the piano as a canvas, the two paint a psychological landscape exploring the mind within different people, scenarios, and even locations. Sometimes dissonant and flustered, as in Mind Games II. Panic, and other times eerie as in The Silent Hearth which captures the memories echoing like firing synapses inside a dilapidated concert hall, each piece resonates with the complexity of mental activity.

Throughout IN YOUR HEAD, Steigerwalt and Muller compel listeners to zero in on the thoughts of the panicked soul, the trapped bureaucrat, the obsessed dictator, and the mind control of the lucid dreamer. As you follow along, perhaps you’ll ask yourself – whose psyche most resonates with me?