I feel very thankful and fortunate to have had a truly amazing summer in 2014.  I visited no fewer than seven counties between July and August.  I witnessed so many amazing things in Romania, Russia, Finland, Sweden, Estonia, Denmark, and Iceland. I spent quality time, working, playing, and planning for the future with close friends and colleagues. I met and befriended many new and truly wonderful people whom I now consider close friends.

I was asked many times both by friends and family in the US, as well as the local people in the various cities I was in, what I thought about all the various political instability in the world today.  The questions invariably centered around something to the effect of "Aren't you worried/concerned/afraid to be traveling at the moment?"

My standard answer, which I became quite practiced in reciting, was:  I think that if some alien species which did not speak any human language came to Earth and visited New York, Washington DC, Bucharest, Moscow, St. Petersburg, Helsinki, Stockholm, Tallinn, Copenhagen, and Reykjavik it would have a very hard time telling us all apart.  Despite our small cultural differences, people everywhere generally want the same things.  We all look quite similar when we smile and laugh as well as when we cry.

It is said,  everybody loves something, is afraid of something, has lost something, and is looking to find something.  Which will you focus on?  Will you give love unconditionally, or will you help create fear in effort to mask your own?  Will you help yourself and others get lost, or will you try your best to find something of true value and meaning?  Will you focus on artificial divisions and all the reasons why you think you can not do something, or will you open the borders of your heart to new experiences and opportunities for growth? The choice is yours.  It is all of ours.



A deep and humble thanks to everyone in Romania, Russia, Finland, Sweden, Estonia, Denmark, and Iceland for sharing part of your lives and wonderful culture with me.  The memories will last a lifetime and have already become a formative experience to my creative process.  Thank you!

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"Autumn Rains" is the second installment in a trio of neoclassical solo piano albums composed, performed, and produced by Andrew Souter. These projects have been two decades in the making and represent a return to traditional music composition, engaging song-writing, and the pure passion of emotional story-telling. This trio represents Andrew's most personal and intimate music. It is quite literally a love project. We hope it may help you on your journey, as it has us...

"Autumn Rains" is music inspired by the spirit of Agape. It is an album dedicated to the concept of spiritual love and universal compassion clothed in the metaphor of transcendental natural beauty. It is an album that simultaneously expresses deep love for both the creator as well as the creation. It is said God gave us music so that we could pray without words. It could be added that nature was provided as an example of exactly how to do this effectively. In this spirit, Autumn Rains is a prayer of gratitude for the opportunity to learn from the natural beauty of this world, and an expression of a sense of respect for the inescapable universal equality that nature imposes. It humbly attempts to capture deep feelings of awe, granduer, idealism, and a belief in the innate goodness of the world even when we all face exceptionally hard lessons.


Andrew Souter -- Without Borders

I create things.  Musical things...  Technological things...

Production of my third solo piano album to complete the trilogy is underway now! Stay tuned...

If you enjoy the music please support via Apple Music, Spotify, or other streaming/download service. My music is also available directly from my company web-store in uncompressed WAV format as well if you prefer:

http://www.designersound.com/

My other job is co-founder and primary algorithm designer of 2CAudio.  We make some pretty cool stuff for the pro audio software community including some of the best reverbs on the planet, which you are hearing in all of my personal work here too of course.

http://www.2caudio.com
http://galbanum.com/about/people/

Thanks for all of your kind words and support!

pianoimprovictor@gmail.com
Victor Birkan resides in Beer Sheva, Israel. In his youth, he obtained a classical musical education in St. Peterburg, Russia. Even then, he showed an interest in piano improvisation, although his teachers did not encourage it too much. Then came a long break… Victor tried different professions – biologist, computer IT. His passion for music did not interrupted, but he only started playing regularly again around 2016, and in 2018 began posting his compositions.
After receiving positive feedbacks on social media, he focused on improvised music. He is deeply convinced that improvisation is not a privilege of jazz, it is the classical piano that finds its way to people's hearts. Victor Birkan never prepares for his recordings. Sitting down at the piano, he has no idea where to start, what will be in the middle and how he will finish. The melody will come from somewhere... He seeks to capture pure emotion and splash it onto the keyboard. Practically does not use computer effects. His listeners often write about the "magic", bewitching influence of his compositions.
Over the past year, Victor’s composition, “Between Night and Day”, has been nominated for Best Solo Piano Single by the ONE WORLD MUSIC RADIO, and some interesting compositions have been created in collaboration with Yellow Roze Records label. Victor is constantly striving to expand his audience.