Armen Donelian’s stunning new album “Inquiry,” his 13th for Sunnyside, grew out of Donelian’s plan, in 2022, to develop a solo piano demo focusing on his recent compositions and arrangements. It deepened into several years of listening to the tracks, during which time he imagined orchestrating them with other piano tracks, somewhat akin to Bill Evans’s “Conversations with Myself.” The result is a meticulously crafted studio production-- an intimate dialogue with himself (with the help of an expert engineer). On several tracks, such as “Blue in Green” and the album closer “Aqua Reminiscence,” Armen bring other voices (bassist Jay Anderson, drummer Dennis Mackrel, vocalist Dominique Eade, trombonist Ed Neumeister) into the conversation where he felt the arrangements called for them. For Donelian, “Inquiry” is a passionate ode to the expressive power of the piano, “which is at the heart of everything.” He invites the listener “to enter this place of unrelenting musical introspection, to rest, listen, and perhaps  nd a way home.”