In this piece I’ve crossed a line: you’re no longer hearing sounds that are possible on an acoustic piano. It starts off sounding normal enough, but a couple of minutes in you’ll notice something interesting.
Brahms. Very serious. Or … ?
Here are three calm, reflective pieces (with some turbulence under the surface, because life is never perfect).
Tchaikovsky’s Lullaby and the art of piano transcription.
I first discovered this piece late last century, when soprano Natalia Bezrodnova invited me to accompany a recital of Russian songs. A decade later, I was delighted to find out that Rachmaninoff had transcribed it for piano solo. Rachmaninoff’s most famous transcriptions are the ones of Bach and Kreisler’s violin pieces, and of course The Flight of the Bumblebee, but I’m surprised that this one isn’t played more often.
Surprise concert 7th October
Flinders University are having live concerts again! I’ve just been asked at very short notice to join the party. If you’re in the neighbourhood, book your ticket now, and come and listen to some piano music. If you’re far away, watch the live stream instead, or catch up later on Flinders’s YouTube channel. (Edited 30th September: sorry, they are unable to record this one. I’ll post a YouTube version later in the year.)
Andulko Variations by John Polglase
Over the years, I’ve been privileged to play a number of piano works by John Polglase. This year it’s a shame I can’t do the premiere performance in a live concert. But the silver lining is that instead it’s going out online to an international audience.
John has a style all of his own, and I struggle to describe it in words. So I’ll let the music speak for itself (-: But I will say a few words about how I prepared this performance.
Continue reading “Andulko Variations by John Polglase”Haydn variations and virtual pianos
Haydn variations and virtual pianos
Today I published my first 100% digital recording.
By “100% digital”, I mean that no acoustic pianos were harmed in the making of this recording (*). All the sounds are computer-generated. This is both exciting and a little bit scary for me.
Continue reading “Haydn variations and virtual pianos”This is not a blog
No, I’m not going to come here every day and tell you what I had for breakfast and how cute my pets are (*). But I thought it’s time for this web site to have a new look. Don’t worry, if you’re filled with nostalgia for twentieth century web design, I’ve kept the old site online.
Most importantly, the chocolate cake recipe is still there for you. And my paper on orchestral reductions for piano accompanists is still getting a few hits per year. I’ve moved the programmable software metronome to Github.
The mp3s on this site mostly ended up on Chinese ringtone sites, as did the ones on Pianosociety (sorry, there’s no way to link directly to a list of my stuff there). I don’t know how many humans actually heard them. So now I’m putting recordings on my YouTube channel instead. Later, I might have a bit to say about how those recordings and animations were created.
Do please click the “comment” button and say hi. The more people add comments, the more likely I am to update this site every year.
(*) I don’t have any pets. I do eat breakfast every day, but it’s usually not that exciting.