Prayer In the Night is an incredible live album by pianist/composer Ralph Zurmühle. The album was actually recorded in 2012, but Ralph was unable to release it until now because some of the pieces appeared on previous albums and his label objected. Ralph didn’t renew his contract with the label, freeing him to release the full album.

In July 2012, Ralph told Dr. Rolf Bäuerle that he wanted to do more concerts in churches and monasteries throughout Europe. A month later, on the night of August 19, 2012, Ralph recorded this album at Paulus Church in Ulm, Germany. A week before the scheduled recording session, Ralph’s father passed away. He considered postponing the session until life settled down again, but then he remembered that his father never gave up when pursuing a goal. Ralph decided to “go for it” - and what an incredible masterpiece he created!

After recording the first ten tracks, everyone involved shared some wine and relaxed. Quoting Ralph:

“I was exhausted. Nevertheless, after a while I went back to the piano, sat down and played around with a motive based on Arabic scale I discovered just a couple of weeks before. It all was improvised, but I had a lead with the motive. This piece is called ‘Improvisation 1’ on the album. Then, I stopped, sat there, quiet, it was midnight, and suddenly I had the feeling or better, the illusion of hearing church bells and I started to play again. Out of nothing, no motive, nada. I just punched a chord, a D minor 9 and then it took off, like in a trance, for 6 minutes. My hands didn’t follow me; I followed them all the way through. After that, silence in the church. Everybody had the feeling that something extraordinary just happened there. I said to Rolf, what a pity that the recording session had been over and Rolf replied that he saw me going back to the piano and in that moment he started the recording again. So, we had a recording of both pieces.”

Prayer In the Night begins with "Our Mother," the title track from Ralph’s 2007 album (included in my “Top 40” for the decade!). Quiet, prayerful and yet so powerful, it’s a gorgeous start. “La Plana” feels both thoughtful and conversational - like sharing deepest thoughts and feelings with a close friend. “Hymn” has been one of my favorites of Ralph’s pieces for a long time and is also from Our Mother. I love Ralph’s arrangement of the traditional song, “Shenandoah” - simple and direct yet deeply heartfelt and expressive. The melody for the title track moves freely around the piano keyboard while the left hand repeats one note. This technique can be monotonous, but in Ralph’s hands, it is hypnotic and emphasizes the beauty of the melody. “Being There” expresses a variety of emotions, flowing seamlessly from one to the next. “A Melody” is elegant and evocative in its brevity.“Ehyeh Asher Ehyeh” (“I Am That I Am”), a sacred Hebrew phrase, is also deeply emotional as well as prayerful. “Farewell” expresses deep sadness and loss. Some of the melody is played in the lower half of the piano keyboard, reminding me of a soulful cello. I love the openness and honesty of this music! “For Michael” was intended to be the last track on the album, but then the improvisations happened as described above, becoming the last two tracks.

Prayer In the Night is truly a musical masterpiece! It is available to stream and download from Amazon and can be streamed on many sites including Spotify and Pandora. I give Prayer In the Night my highest recommendation! Be sure to check out the interview I did with Ralph where we discussed the album at length. Link below.