Littii x Vision Marine - The Last Ones

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What happens when music feels like it has no beginning and no end—when it hovers in the air as if time itself has slowed? Chopin’s Nocturne in E-flat major is one of those works. At first, you may hear a single voice: solitary, long-breathed, contemplative. But listen again. Almost immediately a second voice begins to move alongside the first, like two distinct currents in the same river. They weave together—sometimes shadowing each other, sometimes breaking apart—yet always resonating in unity.

This is more than melody. It’s a kind of living conversation: the upper voices entwine like two beings whispering secrets, while the left hand provides not just support but a vast landscape of energy, pulsing with its own hidden lines. The interplay creates coherence, a kind of resonance field where the brain recognizes polyphony and structure, but the heart absorbs longing, tenderness, and release.

Notice how the music swells and subsides like breath. The slow 12/8 rhythm acts almost like a meditation cycle, expanding awareness until you stop counting and simply feel the undulation. Forte dissolves into piano, emotion grows and abates, and you may find yourself carried beyond the notes—into the space between them.

By the time the coda arrives, harmony itself begins to stretch boundaries. Chopin moves from keys that should never touch, yet somehow they glow together—like distant particles suddenly entangled. It is daring, and it leaves behind not closure but suspension, as though the music is still vibrating long after the last sound fades.

Let this nocturne be more than background. Let it tune you. The brain finds pattern, the heart feels truth, and the body remembers what it means to resonate with beauty. In this music, thought and energy align, and the listener becomes part of the duet.

Frédéric Chopin Nocturne in E-flat Major, Op. 55 No. 2

Composer Brian Byrne and six year old Sheba compose a Christmas song together for Christmas Eve for RTÉ Radio 1's children's Arts Programme CAKE. 

Feature Produced by Louise Denvir

Brian Byrne and Sheba - Culture and Arts for Kids

Dublin International Piano Festival's Archie Chen leads a fingertip tour of best practice Chopin

Culture File: Mastering Chopin with Dr Chen

Broadcast on 25th July 2016

Representation of Jews in Irish Literature is an exhibition currently running at the Royal Irish Academy in Dublin. It explores the depiction of Jewish people in Irish literature and society from the Middle Ages. Joyce’s Leopold Bloom in Ulysses is, perhaps, the most famous Jew in Irish literature and his struggle with national identity pinpoints the difficulties many Jewish people have had in Ireland. Fionn Davenport visits the gallery to look at the exhibition and he meets Barry Montgomery who is a research associate in Irish-Jewish Literature at the Ulster University, to discuss anti-semitism and the notion of the wandering jew. They’re also joined by Rióna Ní Fhrighil, lecturer in Modern Irish at NUI Galway who describes a 1968 satirical novel written in Irish featuring a Jewish character - one of the few such characters in the Irish canon. An Uain Bheó, written by Diarmuid Ó Súilleabháin. His character, Louis Stein, is an Irish-Jewish medical student whose experience echoes that of Joyce’s Bloom. 

Ruth Gilligan’s 4th novel Nine Folds of Makes a Paper Swan (Atlantic Books) has just been published and it tells the story of Jewish identity and heritage in Ireland through characters and interwoven stories set in 1901, 1958 and 2013. She talks about the background to the novel and we hear her read excerpts from it. Fionn also speaks to Maurice Cohen who is Chairman of the Jewish Representative Council. He tells Fionn about his family who came here 100 years ago.

The National Gallery in Dublin is holding a series of talks over the summer highlighting the work of Irish artists in France from 1860 to 1915. Dozen of men and women, including Sarah Purser, William Leech and  Roderic O’Conor, travelled there to encounter new sights and new styles of painting. Their work can be seen at the gallery and the influences of major movements in art, such as impressionism and post-impressionism are clearly evident. Fionn visits the museum to view the works and to hear how the experience helped the painters to develop their own styles as well as influence Irish artists at home.

Maria Delaney explores the work of Irish silversmiths, spanning the centuries from 18th century Dublin to the present day. She discusses the life of master silversmith Thomas Bolton, later Lord Mayor of Dublin, joins makers Stuart Cairns and Cara Murphy as they exhibit their work in London’s V&A museum and she visits the National College of Art and Design in Dublin where ‘Metalwork’ students, Aisling McLoughlin and AnneMarie Reinhold are preparing for their final year showcase.

The Dublin International Piano Festival and Academy is now in its fourth year. Concerts and masterclasses are planned for various venues across the city. Dr. Archie Chen from The Piano Academy of Ireland introduces us to highlights of this year’s festival and discusses the life and works of Frédéric Chopin whose name is most closely associated with the piano. Dr.Chen then dives into Chopin’s watery Barcarolle opus 60 and brings us on an aural journey through rivers, streams and cascades.

Inside Culture #16 (Jews in Literature, Ruth Gilligan, Silversmiths & International Piano Festival)

Recorded in the quiet of the night on my upright piano>  A gentle, reflective piece ;)

'Nightsongs' - Album out May 4th. 2018

Listen on Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/album/3F6DEwiwbwJ8HwNHNrUeye?si=VgUp_dd0Qv2XkPWuaQt3-A

Listen on Spotify

Night Song

Buy the NFT! https://opensea.io/assets/0x495f947276749ce646f68ac8c248420045cb7b5e/24496840140547630814271513401791786089804692598360724963467026530417195876353/

A Christmas present from little Archie Chen performing from Grieg's Lyric Pieces Op. 54, No. 3, Trolltog(March of the Dwarfs)

This is a studio recording made for RTE's Arena broadcast on July 20th 2017.

My SoundCloud Channel: @archie-chen
Official Website: www.archiechen.com
Youtube DIPF www.youtube.com/c/PianofestivalIe
Youtube Archie www.youtube.com/c/ArchieChenPianist
Festival Website: www.pianofestival.ie
Teaching Website: www.pianoacademy.ie

Piano: Steinway B
Recorded at RTE Radio Centre, Dublin

Edvard Grieg 'March of the Dwarfs' op. 54, no. 3

Solomon Clive Chen, age 10 performs John Field, Nocturne no. 10 in E Minor ‘Melancolie’, H. 46 in memory of Clive Gouldson RIP.

www.pianoacademy.ie

Solomon Clive Chen John Field, Nocturne no. 10 in E minor, 'Melancolie', H. 46

Chopin may have first dabbled in the world of Impromptus in 1834, but it wasn't until six years after his death that his "Fantaisie Impromptu" hit the streets (and eventually inspired the Tin Pan Alley classic "I'm Always Chasing Rainbows"). His earliest published Impromptu was in A-flat Major, written in 1837, the same year he met the one and only George Sand. Dedicated to Countess de Lobau, one of his fancy-pants pupils, it was published in December.

Fast forward to the summer of 1838, and Chopin's health was in serious decline. In a move that would make anyone question his judgement, he decided to spend the damp Parisian winter on the sunny, fresh-aired island of Majorca (which his friends, who had never been there, assured him was delightful). Spoiler alert: it was not delightful. Terrible weather, shabby accommodations, and a distinct lack of a piano meant that by the time he was diagnosed with TB, things were looking pretty grim. But a piano finally arrived from Paris, and by the end of December, Chopin was well enough to start composing again.

The Impromptu No. 2 in F-sharp Major, which was sketched during his unfortunate stay with George on Majorca and completed at her country house in Nohant, has the chill vibes of a nocturne. The opening section has two contrasting melodies, and the central episode is all about a more assertive theme with a dotted-rhythm ostinato in the bass. The big surprise comes at the end, when the opening phrase returns in the unexpected key of F Major, delaying the reappearance of the second theme with some sweeping figurations in the right hand.

Live from the National Concert Hall in Dublin, Ireland, 11th October, 2010. Please comment and share!

Piano: Hamburg Steinway D
Piano Technician: Paul Wade
Recording Engineer: Darby Carroll

My SoundCloud Channel: https://soundcloud.com/archie-chen
Official Website: http://www.archiechen.com
Youtube DIPF https://www.youtube.com/c/PianofestivalIe
Youtube Archie https://www.youtube.com/c/ArchieChenPianist
Festival Website: http://www.pianofestival.ie
Teaching Website: http://www.pianoacademy.ie

Frederic Chopin Impromptu no. 2 in F sharp major, op. 36

Archie Chen is a concert pianist, creator, and cultural leader whose music spans from the world’s great stages to the quantum unknown. Praised by the Irish Times for his “daring velocity” and “fiery temperament,” he has performed at Carnegie Hall, Lincoln Center, the Gewandhaus, and beyond — captivating audiences across Europe, Asia, and the Americas.

As Executive Director of Holy Names Music Center in Spokane, Archie brings the same artistry and vision he brings to the keyboard: bold, creative, and committed to transformation. His recordings on Sony Classical and Carnegie Artists showcase not just technical brilliance but an alchemist’s touch — turning rhythm into resonance, matter into music.

This page is where it all comes together: live takes, studio sessions, and sound experiments. A space to step inside the frequency and hear music not just as notes, but as energy in motion.

Frédéric Chopin Nocturne in E-flat Major, Op. 55 No. 2

Archie Chen

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