The nocturne from the Funeral March of Chopin's 2nd Sonata.
It is the only real point of calm I believe there to be in the entire sonata. In amongst all of the struggle and flight of the outer movements, this is a moment where in spite of everything an imperfect inner peace is found, lost, and found again. And of all the places, if you listen carefully, you can hear church bells chiming in the distance.
Thank you to everyone who could be there for the Love and Loss recital last week, it was a meaningful experience to me to have so many people from across my life in such a beautiful space and I hope to have done you justice.
Thank you also to all the people at St Ann's Church who were so kind and accommodating whilst putting this together.
Decided to re-record some of my old "Prints" compositions as apparently the only recordings I have of them sound like they were recorded in a tin can.
It was so much fun to come back to these and recall what about the art inspired me to compose them in the first place.
Not as much fun transcribing them though lol write your ideas down kids 🙄
Future ones to come too :)
1. Gauguin - Prés de la Mer
Great washes of colour, mounting waves, natural freedom
2. Cassat - Enfants sur la Plage
The innocent melodrama of a child's imagination
3. Garstin - Rain it Raineth
Mashup of Rain it Raineth from Twelth Night and Debussy Passepieds + inner counter melody
4. Gris - Man in a Café
Fragmented and uneven (reminds me of Money Bags from Spyro 🤷🏽♂️?)
5. Taito - Carp Leaping out the Pool
Music for the summoning of a terrible river god carp overlord
6. Steinlen - Tournée du Chat Noir de Rodolphe Salis
Parisian nostalgia, moody villain-ass cat bouncer staring you down at the door to the cabaret
7. Degas - L'Etoile
A graceful ballerina watched by a haunting figure
8. Gris - Houses in Paris
Amelie cycling through Paris meets Philip Glass
9. Yunny Que - The Moon and a Horse
Meditative, drab, eerie, otherworldly, comforting, quietly emotional,
Myself, Mollie and Rob will be performing our "World Gone Mad" programme at St Ann's Church Tuesday 3rd Feb
We'll be performing piano trios by Babadjanian, Westlake, Suk and Shostakovich
Link in Bio would love to see you there 🙂↕️
Thanks so much to everyone who donated to my @transpridewalthamstow fundraiser for @lgbtiqoutside !
As promised here are some mini pieces based on your submissions:
1. Mi principe y yo delusionally riding together into the sunset en nuestro caballito de madera (my prince and I riding into the sunset on our little wooden horse - Bizet with a quote from Paquita Salas 🇪🇸)
2. Something inspired by the spirit of a small, over enthusiastic spaniel pls ☺️ (picture a very jolly spaniel on the hunt for some poor unassuming pheasant on a Yorkshire evening getting very tangled up and muddy in the process - there's even some birdsong 🐦)
3. Ethereal-trad-wife-bliss-core (add your Nara Smith x Ariel voice-over as you please)
4. Old ladies learning to play the piano (getting in some quality practise and an eye test before it's time for a gin✨️)
5. Diet Pepsi in the style of Liszt xx (well sure I tried 🤢 - only for you M)
6. Being 77th in the queue on the phone to the doctors ! (Obnoxiously uplifting hold music with chord changes that go hard for no reason)
7. Love and friendship by Emily Brontë: the remix (A Nina Simone-esque remix of an A-level music classic 100 likes and I drop the full single 🔥)
A snippet from our rehearsal of Schoenberg's Vier Lieder Op.2 which we performed this weekend as part of our song recital at the Hay Music Festival
Really enjoyed exploring songs by Schoenberg, Saariaho, Weil and others with @alysiahanshaw 💫
A pleasure as always 🫶🏽
