Stanton Lanier

Scripture inspired piano to refresh your spirit

The Outlaw Ocean Suite

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I hope you enjoy the promotional video clip below featuring An Unseen World. This is one of my orchestral compositions for The Outlaw Ocean Music Project with award-winning New York Times journalist, and best-selling author Ian Urbina.

The Outlaw Ocean Suite EP has eight tracks (four with journalism audio and music, and four music only). This new release is streaming everywhere including Spotify, Apple Music, Amazon Music, and Pandora. Here is some of the story behind the music…

When God stirred my heart to begin composing instrumental music twenty-one years ago, I wanted to be surrendered, and to listen. This meant moving forward by faith, obeying His voice, asking Him for inspiration, and trusting Him with the results. 

Johann Sebastian Bach is my favorite composer. I played a lot of his timeless pieces (composed three hundred years ago) during my twelve years of piano lessons, and high school recitals. Bach’s quote about music may be my favorite too. He said, “All music should be unto the glory of God and the refreshment of the soul.” I didn’t know what the future held, but I began to see that writing instrumental music would be an adventure.

In February 2020 Ian Urbina emailed me to introduce himself and share he was a big fan of my music. He also invited me to be part of a project he had been working on. Ian’s invitation was for me to compose some pieces for The Outlaw Ocean Music Project, which combines music and journalism. This was very exciting for me, and I was inspired and challenged to use my learning from the Berklee School of Music film scoring program to write orchestral pieces for the project.

Composing what became The Outlaw Ocean Suite EP in August-September 2020 was a fantastic musical and spiritual experience for me. Because music is such a universal language, my heart is for listeners to have their own unique encounter with what I create. And hopefully to be inspired in their life. When I write music there is a sense that the melodies are coming down from heaven. Sometimes this happens quickly, and sometimes very slowly. The process is similar each time, but never the same. The only consistent ingredient is the feeling I have when the music is revealed. Here are some thoughts I had as these tracks came together…

An Unseen World. My commitment to Ian and his team was to write three to five pieces. With three completed, I could have stopped, but there was a nudge to attempt a fourth piece. This became An Unseen World, which is an epic theme song for the whole project. It is filled with drama, tension, rhythm, and haunting beauty. The full orchestra contributes to the musical journey, which expresses these attributes of life on earth. When life brings moments of drama, tension, beauty, and rhythm (finding my stride) into my story, God is faithful. He surrounds me with His love as I trust in Him, and helps me receive His gift of peace (Psalm 32:10, John 14:27, NIV).

Beauty Beneath. As I read Ian’s book I realized The Outlaw Ocean captures “an unseen world” most of us are not familiar with. I wanted to contrast the illegal and harmful things happening on the world’s oceans with music about the innocent beauty of all the sea life under the surface. For me the melodies reflect the beauty of God’s creation, and a more intimate beauty He offers through His grace and love toward us (Psalm 8, Romans 8, MSG).

Sailing Too Close to the Wind. This seafaring phrase means being on the verge of doing something illegal or improper. It applies to literally sailing too close to the wind (in its direction), but can also refer to taking an ill advised risk with a life decision. The music expresses adventure on the high seas, and the pursuit of ocean outlaws. I was not aware of all the injustice and illegal activity happening on The Outlaw Ocean every day, including lives being enslaved at sea, ships breaking international fishing laws, and worse. Spiritually this track represents my faith adventure with God, and the risk of trusting Him when something seems impossible (Luke 1:37, Philippians 4:6-9, MSG). As C.S. Lewis wrote in The Chronicles of Narnia, “Aslan is not a tame lion… He isn’t safe, but He is good.”

Lost on the Seven Seas. This piece is a sad and mournful tribute to lives being abused or killed at sea because of the injustices happening on The Outlaw Ocean. Pain and suffering are part of life, sometimes preventable and sometimes out of my control. These are difficult times when they happen to me personally, those I love, or even a stranger, when circumstances pierce my heart and prompt me to pray. I describe my life and music journey as a God-Story because I cannot imagine life without Him. I have seen Him come through for me, and I have experienced His silence when I longed to know His presence. He always lets me know He is there even when it doesn’t feel like it. The sadness of this composition implies God’s care for the brokenhearted. It also symbolizes hearts who are rejecting God consciously or unconsciously, even though He loves them and is reaching out to them (Psalm 34:18, John 3:16, NIV).

Which track is your favorite or speaks the most to you?

Beethoven’s Moonlight Sonata

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My performance of Beethoven’s Moonlight Sonata released worldwide on January 26, 2021. Sample and stream on Spotify above, or any music service including Amazon Music, Apple Music, and Pandora, or listen directly below.

 

I hope you enjoy my thoughts down below as I share a little about the history of this timeless classic, my experience with the music, and how these inspired my version…

This popular Ludwig van Beethoven composition for piano was composed in 1801 in Vienna, Austria. Moonlight Sonata became part of my life at age fourteen. Its full name is Piano Sonata No. 14 in C-Sharp Minor, Op. 27, No. 2 (Sonata Quasi Una Fantasia). When the first movement, Adagio sostenuto, entered my story this classical piece became one of my favorites in high school as I learned and memorized it to play in some recitals and as part of a program to be judged and critiqued. J.S. Bach is my all-time favorite composer, but I also enjoyed playing famous pieces by Beethoven, Chopin, Mozart, and more.

Over the years, every now and then, I would get out my original, classical piano book with tattered pages and play through Moonlight Sonata just for fun. The idea of recording my performance was in the back of my mind for a while, and came to the forefront in the early fall of 2020. In November I was ready to take this project on, and now the world gets to hear the result.

I had forgotten Beethoven composed this in Vienna. My family and I took our first overseas trip together in December 2014. Our favorite movie is The Sound of Music, so we wanted to visit Salzburg and tour several of the filming locations. We landed in Vienna on Christmas Eve, and attended a standing room only Christmas Eve service at St. Stephen’s Cathedral in the heart of the city. Even though the speaking was in German, we could feel the miracle and hope of Christ’s birth in the air. The symphony, choir, and organ music was breathtaking to hear as we soaked in the moment. The favorite photo I captured inside the cathedral became the above artwork for this new single.

At the opening of Moonlight Sonata’s first movement, Beethoven included the following direction in Italian: “Si deve suonare tutto questo pezzo delicatissimamente e senza sordino” (“This whole piece ought to be played with the utmost delicacy and without dampers”). The way this is accomplished (both on today’s pianos and on those of Beethoven’s day) is to depress the sustain pedal throughout the movement, or at least to make use of the pedal throughout, but re-applying it as the harmony changes. The modern piano has a much longer sustain time than the instruments of Beethoven’s time, so that a steady application of the sustain pedal creates a dissonant sound, and can overdo what he intended. Also, later in the 19th century the grand piano sounded even better than in 1801.

My unforgettable Christmas Eve inside St. Stephen’s Cathedral and Beethoven’s directions for the performance of this piece converged into the idea to play and record the piece as though I was all alone at concert grand piano in the center of this historic cathedral (construction began in the 12th century, with towers and spires added over the centuries). In my studio I was able to combine a 1951 Steinway D concert grand piano with gentle hints of an old upright piano to recreate an “older” grand piano sound. I wanted the piece to sound like what Beethoven might have heard as he composed this in 1801 in Vienna (he did not fully lose his hearing until later). He would have frequently seen the cathedral in all its grandeur, and I imagined him playing inside. His directions inspired me to be generous in using the sustain pedal, and to use a cathedral sized reverb, which would further provide and enhance the “blur” effect which he intended for the piece.

Emotionally, the music is very sad, yet it is also hauntingly beautiful at the same time. Beethoven’s genius in creating this fantasy world in the key of C-sharp minor has and never will be duplicated. It is magnificent, and for me symbolizes God’s beauty and hope in my life even when I am sad, or going through a difficult time. I pray you are touched and moved in a meaningful way as you listen to my version of Moonlight Sonata.

Quiet Revelation New Song

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The new song Quiet Revelation releases worldwide Tuesday, July 28, 2020. You can listen below, and stream on all major services including Spotify, Apple Music, Pandora, Amazon Music, etc. Scroll down to see some inspirational thoughts…

This new song Quiet Revelation happened within a few days in late June 2020, and was completed much faster than usual. The idea I wanted to express was very clear in my mind, but how would the music take shape? I personally need to invest time regularly to slow down, quiet my mind, be still, and listen. When I compose music there is a sense of the melodies coming down from heaven. It feels like God already knows the tune, and He reveals it to me through quiet revelation. The song name and theme invite you to listen for some kind of quiet revelation you may need in your life and faith right now.

A chamber string orchestra plays beautiful chords and swells as the harmony foundation. The piano carries the melody, and is gradually joined by cello and later French horn as the chorus builds and repeats. A gentle choir and more symphony strings join the chamber orchestra to enrich the harmonies underneath, as verse and chorus melodies build emotionally. All of these musical textures symbolize the wonder and diversity of words God wants to say to us, and songs He wants to sing over us.

Relax, close your eyes, and invite your heart, soul, and mind to be blessed with Quiet Revelation. “I love your clear-cut revelation. You’re my place of quiet retreat; I wait for your Word to renew me.” (Psalm 119:113-114, MSG)

How does “Quiet Revelation” speak to you?