Fantasy & Reveries is Brad Mehldau’s recording of his solo compositions Fantasy for Piano and Fourteen Reveries. Originally commissioned by Jeremy Denk, Fantasy for Piano was written in the same period as Mehldau’s Three Pieces after Bach. Fourteen Reveries, similarly to the composer’s Suite: April 2020, comprises a collection of shorter pieces.
“Fantasy for Piano... shares similar obsessions with Three Pieces After Bach: long, extended pedal-points, sharp juxtapositions between triadic consonance and extreme dissonance, and a freely subdivided 7/4 meter,” Mehldau says in his liner note. “It is written very densely, and the challenge is often to convey the melodic storyline within a very thick texture.
“In Fourteen Reveries, I’ve eschewed larger-scale development, opting for brevity. Each piece is more like a distillation of emotion,” he continues. “As the ‘reverie’ description suggests, the music might accompany those moments during waking hours, when we withdraw from our exterior environment. Reverie can be welcome, perhaps as a diversion from the banality of one’s surroundings. At other times, it is an involuntary flight into melancholy. In all cases, it is an interior experience, exclusive to our own consciousness, independent from others. The music accordingly expresses solitude – at turns enraptured, placid, nervous, lonely or ecstatic.”
Brad Mehldau’s Nonesuch debut was the 2004 solo disc Live in Tokyo. His subsequent 22 releases on the label include six records with his trio as well as collaborative and solo albums. His most recent release was Ride into the Sun – a songbook record of music by the late singer, songwriter, and guitarist Elliott Smith – in August 2025.
Other recent recordings for the label include After Bach II and Après Fauré (2024), which both feature compositions by their namesake composers as well as music Mehldau wrote that was inspired by them; a solo album Mehldau recorded during COVID-19 lockdown, Suite: April 2020; Jacob’s Ladder (