Yessonata is the latest album from English keyboardist/ composer Rick Wakeman. It takes in just two tracks for solo paino- the first features musical fragments from his time with the prog-rock band Yes. And the second focuses on musical themes from his 1975 solo album The Myths and Legends of King Arthur and the Knights of the Round Table.

The album comes as either a vinyl release or CD, I’m reviewing the second of these.  The CD comes presented in a glossy four-panel digipak- this features a new fantasy painting from Roger Dean, who of course did the cover artwork for many of the classic Yes albums. The painting features a humanoid figure riding a giant blue lizard, that is crossing a river with a tangled/ twisted tree on its other side.

Both tracks here slide in at just around the twenty-minute mark, and were played on Mr Wakeman's favourite piano, a Steinway Model D Concert Grand. So first up we have the title track- this finds Wakeman weaving together thirty musical fragments from throughout Yes’s career. The composition is wonderful flowing and steeped in grandeur- and as a long-term Yes fan, it’s great to hear these classic melodies in a stripped-back piano setting. Though Wakeman is in his mid-seventies now, he manages to still play with such clarity and depth- switching pace on a dime.  I’ve now played through this track several times, and on each, I’ve picked out new elements/ facets of songs.

Moving onto the second track we have "The King Arthur Piano Suite", which as mentioned in my introduction is based on themes from Wakemans 1975 album. I think I’ve maybe heard the original album a handful of times over the years- so I’m no way as familiar with the melodies/ elements of the track here. But I still enjoyed it, finding the whole thing rather rousing/ at point epic in its unfolding. There are not as many shifts in this track as the first, but that’s fine- as it remains engaging over its twenty-minute run.

I’ll have to admit when I saw this album was coming out I was concerned it was just going to be a rather vapid/ shallow cash-in on Wakeman's legacy with Yes. So I’m happy to report it’s a passionate & beautifully played album, featuring two well-convinced/ composed looks back Mr Wakemans past.