For those of us who grew up with and loved this music, this unique retelling is essential listening.
Yessonata seems to have emerged somewhat by chance. One of the four sets that Wakeman and his band played at the London Palladium in 2023 consisted of old classics from Rick’s time with Yes. The selection was full of ‘70s staples plus the surprise package of The Meeting (technically, not even a Yes song since it was released under the Anderson Bruford Wakeman Howe banner in 1989). The popularity of the set led to Wakeman playing a piano-only version of Yes music which he performed on his American tour in early 2024, which itself triggered the release of this version recorded on what is apparently Wakeman’s favourite piano, a Steinway Model D Concert Grand.
There are pieces of music that sound perfect while driving along in your car, and there are those that sound perfect late at night with lights dimmed low. Once you’re familiar with Yessonata, the latter night-time option might work well, but for the very first time, the most entertaining way would be to sit in a room with as many Yes fans as you know, each with pen and paper, and ask them to write down in real-time the track title of every segment of Yes music that Rick plays. That might sound easy but (according to the press release) Wakeman plays thirty different musical fragments, and he gets through them in barely twenty minutes. Hence, only Yes fans that paint their bedroom wall the colour of Close To The Edge and have plastic Roger Dean islands that float in their bath are likely to identify anywhere near all thirty!
Beyond recognising the songs, Yessonata will be a delight for Yes fans as Wakeman manipulates the gorgeous sonorities of the Steinway to tease out and vary the best of Yes’ melodies. Awaken is perhaps the most classical piece he has taken excerpts from, with snippets from both Part 1 and 2 included. Some segments were a little more predictable such as the lengthy (well, nearly two-minutes!) Wondrous Stories which was a little too close to the original to excite, but in contrast it was fun to hear the piano playing tunes we are used to hearing on other instruments: the inspired guitar from Awaken Part 1, the bass theme from Heart Of The Sunrise, and the organ from Close To The Edge, are all striking. Wakeman also added some playful elements with Long Distance Runaround and a jazzed-up interpretation of Roundabout.
You can’t accuse Wakeman of including too few snippets of Yes music in Yessonata, even if Yes fans might grumble about absent themes. In this regard, I would suggest the elephant in the room is Relayer, and specifically The Gates Of Delirium since its dramatic main section and the sublime coda, Soon, are perfect material for this sort of piano interpretation. Of course, you can’t blame Wakeman for only playing music from albums he was involved in creating. That would also explains why the Palladium encore of Starship Trooper is missing here. But wouldn’t it have been wonderful to hear Soon on the Steinway?
The second part of the album consists of The King Arthur Piano Suite. A 19th century classical music ‘suite’ would normally consist of a handful of pieces pulled out of a larger work, and that is exactly what Wakeman has done here, selecting four of the seven songs that make up Wakeman’s second solo album, The Myths and Legends of King Arthur and the Knights of the Round Table. The selection makes perfect sense since rockier numbers such as Sir Galahad And The Black Knight would have been difficult to transcribe to just piano.
In contrast to Yessonata, Wakeman gives us full-length piano versions of Arthur and Guinevere, followed by abbreviated versions of The Last Battle and Merlin The Magician. With just the piano, the pieces are shorn of the bombast which slightly plagued the original release, and rather than being a detriment, this instead highlights the rich melodic vein of this music. Arthur is perhaps the track that stands out with one inspired melody following another. Guinevere is a little less memorable, but The Last Battle maintains and maybe exceeds the pathos of the original. At the Palladium concert I mentioned, Wakeman played the entire The Myths and Legends of King Arthur and the Knights of the Round Table in order with the exception of Merlin The Magician which he placed last. He repeats that here, and despite being just piano, it remains as boisterous and mischievous as the original and a fitting way to close the piece.
The thought I was left with, after listening to Yessonata, was how staggeringly creative Wakeman was in that 1971-76 period. For those of us who grew up with and loved this music, this unique retelling is essential listening. And to complete the trip down memory lane, the packaging consists of fabulous newly-commissioned artwork by Roger Dean, which will look particularly impressive in the limited edition vinyl release.
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