Written by Anthony Phillips has just released Gemini – Pieces For Piano, a 2CD set which has something of a back story.
“I didn’t do terribly well with solo LPs compared to my former colleagues in Genesis,” says the group’s original guitarist, who left after 1970’s Trespass. “But later on I discovered library music and had a bit of a golden period. That meant I was eventually able to afford the wonderful Steinway grand I play on this record!”
Post Covid, Phillips “didn’t feel ready to take on another guitar album or full-scale pop songs.” So between October 2022 and October 2025, he made a contemporary classical album comprising 44 original solo works for piano.
“The reason Gemini took three years is that I started getting a lot of problems with my right wrist, so I couldn’t sustain the long hours of practice needed,” he says of the record he considers to be his most accomplished keyboard work since 1999’s Soirée.
“Ice was my best friend, and I tried every kind of painkiller,” he adds. “It was a bit like clawing yourself up a mountain. I was determined to finish the record without using MIDI programming – although there are three tiny MIDI sections in one of the pieces. I defy anyone to spot where, though!”
Recorded at Englewood Studios in Clapham with engineer James Collins, Gemini’s title track was actually written for famed Argentine concert pianist Martha Argerich, who premiered it in Valencia in 2018 as a duet with Phillips’ pianist friend Gabriele Baldocci.
“Martha played it with total control; all the dexterity you’d expect from one of the world’s greatest virtuosos,” Phillips says. “My more humble version is on the album!”
Other tracks include Piece For C.S. and Pablo Farceur – both emotive, deeply personal pieces, dedicated to Phillips’ late friends Colin Sturge and Pablo de la Guerra respectively.
“My piano style is mainly influenced by the French impressionists,” Phillips explains. “Debussy and Ravel – that era of composition. I think we have to accept that music isn’t always in the foreground these days, so this album is aimed at people who really enjoy music as a kind of appendage; something that sets a mood and doesn’t change too much. There are no stormy guitars breaking in here.”
Gemini – Pieces For Piano is on sale now via Cherry Red.
