I wrote this piece after I had a wonderful sommer in southern France. It was my first time to be there and it was full of new impressions so I had to put it into music.

Berlin Affair 3

Ein Sommer in Südfrankreich/ One Summer In Southern France

It was a windy day of the fall. I was playing the piano at home looking out of the window and saw all the leaves flying around.  At some point all the flying leaves started to look as if they were notes flying around through the streets and between the buildings disappering to the sky.

Berlin Affair 2

Noten im Wind / Music in Wind

Berlin Affair

Première Ballade/F.Chopin

Since I've been on the road a lot in my life, I often suffered from the longing for somebody who I loved.  I wrote this piece when I could not stand my desire to see somebody and I had to get it out in some way.  So I wrote this piece.  In this piece you actually hear my longing.  

Sehnsucht (Longing)/ Chie Ishii

All the etudes of Chopin ask for virtuosity of high order and necessitates considerable endurance.  This particular etude is an excellent finger study for both hands and at the same time, a brilliant piece to play on the stage.    

Etude Op.10 Nr.4 / F.Chopin

This piece is a musical diary of a wonderful day with a man I loved.  - It was a beautiful sunny day.  We had some breakfast in one of our favorite cafes.  We drove quite a long way to get to the ocean.  We went for walk on the beach eating an icecream.  Early in the evening, we had a delicious meal in a nice restaurants.  Later in the evening we went to the movie for the late showing.  It was such a day full of harmony and happiness.  I woke up in the morning on the day after and started writing this piece.  

Ein Tag mit Dir / One Day With You

This piece came to me on the street of Berlin, Germany at the sunrise.  It was shortly after I moved to Berlin.  As the sun came out, I stood there and watched, how this big city was slowly waking up.  Then I suddenly started thinking about my future, how my life was going to be in Germany.  I had a very mixed feeling about it.  Because, at that time, I spoke very little German, I did not have a job, yet and I hardly knew anybody in Germany.  It was a very beginning of my life in a foreign country.  At this moment, I heard a melody in me, and it became a new composition.

In der großen Stadt / In The Big City

"Ich denke an Dich" is the first German sentence which I learned to say.  And this was the last sentence I heard from the man I once loved.  It was on the phone, and after that, we were never to see each other again.  After this phone call, I wrote this piece.    

There was a piece under the same title on my first Berlin Affair album, which was played by four hands.  This new version of the piece is for piano solo.   I arranged it so that I can play it alone. 

Ich denke an Dich /  I Will Think About You

There was a moment in my life as I felt and knew that one very important era of my life had ended and the new had begun at the same time.  At first I was very sad to leave the old period behind because it had been rich in learning and growth, but then I found myself standing there with a very strong and positive expectation for the future.  I realized it had to be that way and that the development of the past had led to a new start.

Der neue Anfang / A New Start

My father wanted to cut all the ties to us, in another word, to his own family.  When this happened, i was already an adult living overseas, so I could see this incident just as a fact.  I either suffer from it nor think about it.  But some years ago on his birthday, I thought about him again and wondered if he was still alive.  Then he would have been 75 years old on that day. While I was pondering like this, this piece came to me. 

Several years have passed ever since I composed this piece. Now I know that he had not lived any more when I wrote it.

Vater, wo bist Du? / Father, Where Are You

Japanese Pianist, Composer, Author of music books and Bassist   

Chie Ishii - Pianist & Composer

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