Sufjan Stevens has spent the past two decades making everything from heart-wrenching folk ballads (Seven Swans), conceptual electronica (Enjoy Your Rabbit) and baroque pop (Illinois) to orchestral art-rock (The Age of Adz), countless Christmas songs and R&B jams (“TOOGOODTOBETRUE,” with Gallant and Rebecca Sugar). In case that decidedly inexhaustive list didn’t already make it clear that the man can make magic out of literally any genre, he’s set to release a classical album on Oct. 18: the solo piano score he penned for the 2017 ballet The Decalogue, by Justin Peck, the New York City Ballet’s resident choreographer.
The collection of études is performed by Timo Andres, a Nonesuch Records artist and celebrated concert pianist who has shared the stage with Gabriel Kahane, Phllip Glass, the Kronos Quartet and others. Andres also worked with Stevens and Peck on their most recent collaboration, 2019’s Principia. Alongside Principia, The Decalogue is one of five such Peck/Stevens collaborations, following 2012’s Year of the Rabbit, 2014’s Everywhere We Go, and 2016’s The Countenance of Kings. With its Oct. 18 release, The Decalogue will be the first to become available as a standalone recording. Stevens’s last release was May’s tender, Pride-themed Love Yourself EP.
Listen to a brief preview of The Decalogue below. All that’s left is your rap debut, Sufjan. We’re waiting.