A Modern Classical Sunday (piano edition) – Stationary Travels

This edition of a Modern Classical Sunday is rooted in the sounds of the piano as we survey a wonderful collection of albums in which poignant melodies, deep introspection, and inviting ambient textures attend every step of our musical journey. Find a quiet space and a pair of headphones and settle in to enjoy these recent releases by Barry Hudson-Taylor, David August, Drexler, and Linus Alberg.

Barry Hudson-Taylor – Flutter

Order: https://modernarecords.bandcamp.com/album/flutter

UK based pianist Barry Hudson-Taylor returns to the Moderna Records imprint with this collection of eight solo piano works rooted in subtlety and quiet reflection. Paying equal attention to ambient textures, use of space, and melodic expression, it is a gentle immersion into inwards looking quietude. To each their own of course, but I found these songs resonated particularly well in the late evening hours after the noise and clamor of the day had finally begun to fade.

Each performance was treated as its own small environment, with a focus on a clear, warm, and full-bodied piano sound. The result is a collection that is as much about tone and atmosphere as it is about melody and structure.

Moderna Records

Flutter was released digitally on March 20, 2026, by Moderna Records. The album was mastered by Zino Mikorey and features artwork by Paula Overbay.

David August – HYMNS

Order: https://davidaugust.bandcamp.com/album/hymns

David August is an Italian-German composer, DJ, label-owner and multi-instrumentalist who started learning the piano at a very early age and began experimenting with electronic sounds as he got older. Following his imaginative multi-disciplinary epic VĪS and the pulsing follow-up WORKOUTS, August here returns to his first instrument for an intimate set of piano improvisations which he took into the studio to recreate with creative techniques such as strategically positioned microphones and objects placed on the strings to add percussive elements or intentionally skew the pitch. This is music to enjoy long after the concert halls and dance floors have long been empty and space for reflection opens up.

It should recall light, not darkness.

David August

HYMNS was on February 27, 2026, on vinyl LP & digital by 99CHANTS. The album was mastered by Kassian Troyer and featured photography by David August and design by Michael Willis.

Drexler – Olympia-5

Order: https://drexler-music.bandcamp.com/album/olympia-5-2

Currently based in Scotland, multi-instrumentalist, composer and producer Drexler (Adrian Leung) began writing the music for Olympia-5 in response to his father’s relapse with lymphoma, which left him in hospital care for over six months in Sydney, Australia. According to Leung, he started to improvise and record piano music with the intention of sending it to his father in the hopes it would add some warmth to an otherwise sterile environment. Naturally, this also became a way for Leung to begin to process his own sense of impending loss. The sixteen track titles each refer to a memory or key reference point from places his family lived, to his father’s workplace, milestones in his illness, or even the ties and cigarettes he enjoyed. So, what we have here is not so much a collection of songs, but a kind of chronicle, memoir, and love letter expressed in a generous outpouring of music that is as poignant as it is gentle and reassuring.

At its core, this album is about care and that quiet, unsettling transition where you begin to look after your parents rather than the other way around. It’s about family, distance, and the guilt that comes with building a life far from home as your parents grow older.

Adrian Leung aka Drexler

Olympia-5 was released digitally on February 5, 2026, by Sonder House. The album was mixed and mastered by Bobby Williams.

Linus Alberg – UON

Order: https://modernarecords.bandcamp.com/album/uon

Three years in the making, UON is a collection of ten songs that German composer & musician Linus Alberg from over 100 takes recorded during a particularly productive creative period. The songs are all rooted in upright piano melodies but as the album unfolds, Alberg introduces other pleasing sonic elements such as harmonium and analogue synthesizers. This gives the album a lovely balance as it gently swings from quiet introspection to warm crescendos that approach cinematic scale. It is a very easy album to settle into and savor over repeat listening.

These pieces were all recorded and produced under changing circumstances, with different setups, spaces and life situations. For me, each one has become a kind of door or time capsule that takes me back to the time, place or moment when it was created. Even though they were produced independently of each other, I like that together they form a new shared story with their own connections.

Linus Alberg

UON was released digitally by Moderna Records on April 24, 2026. The album was mastered by Martyn Heyne and features artwork by Alberg himself.