Retro Electro

Variation 18 of Rachmaninoff's Rhapsody on a Theme of Paganini composed in 1934. Rachmaninoff said of this piece: "This one, is for my agent." as he sensed it would become a commercial hit. It's composed by playing upside down the original melody from Paganini. The original is like a piano concerto (solo piano vs orchestra) and I'm trying to do it on a single keyboard with sampled sounds.

The theme was used in the movie Somewhere in Time in 1980 starring Christopher Reeve and Jane Seymour.

The instrument is a Clavia Nord Stage 2 using a sampled Bösendorfer grand piano and sampled orchestra strings.

Transcription for solo piano by Hermene W. Eichhorn. Re-uploaded with new take on Jan 26, 2014.

Live video: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Pgj3lVcaGT4

Video

Somewhere In Time: Rachmaninoff's Rhapsody On A Theme Of Paganini, Variation 18

Solfeggietto in C minor (H 220, Wq. 117: 2) (yeah they used to name music like we name software) composed in 1770 by C.P.E. Bach, son of J.S.

Live video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pJ8fyDSYaOI

Skinny Pete plays it in the music store scene in Breaking Bad season 5 episode 3 (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CQlAmtWHPII) and he makes more mistakes than me.

The instrument is Clavia Nord Stage 2 using a sampled Yamaha C7 grand piano and a few touches of synth.

Updated with a better take with less reverb on Feb 23, 2014.

C.P.E. Bach - Solfeggietto [piano + synth]

Metamorphosis Two, from Philip Glass' Solo Piano album composed in 1989. This part is also the theme from the film The Hours and is also used in the film The Thin Blue Line (Houston Skyline).

Live video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IFYPNwEs698

The instrument is a Clavia Nord Stage 2 using a sampled Yamaha C7 grand piano, with reverb, delay, and some dark synth.

Updated with a better take on June 13, 2014.

Philip Glass - Metamorphosis Two [piano + synth]

Piano Concerto No. 21 K. 467, 2nd movement: Andante in F major  by Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart (1785).

Live video: https://youtu.be/vDJdG8Qj4UE

The original is piano solo vs full orchestra. I'm trying to do it all live one one track with piano and some synth. So it feels a little bit empty at times.

The instrument is a Clavia Nord Stage 2 using a sampled Yamaha C7 grand piano and some sampled Mellotron flute and a synth pad.

Spotify

Mozart - Piano Concerto No. 21, Andante [piano + synth]

Mozart's classic classical track: Rondo Alla Turca, Allegretto in A minor and major from the Sonata No.11 K. 331 (300i), composed around 1783.

Live video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-pKKWDumCAo

I play it faster than it should. That's how I love to play it, it makes me laugh and feel good, but yeah I understand it's too fast.

The instrument is a Clavia Nord Stage 2 using a sampled Bösendorfer grand piano, oh, and you may spot a short sample from the amazing movie Amadeus.

Live video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-pKKWDumCAo

Mozart - Turkish March (Rondo Alla Turca)

Prelude Op. 28, No. 4, in E minor – "Suffocation" – by Frédéric Chopin.

“And then the 'note bleue' resonates and there we are, in the azure of the transparent night.” – George Sand

Live video: https://youtu.be/aL-l_JjLES0

Piano: Klavins Una Corda with light felt
Synth: Waldorf Blofeld
Controllers: Dexibell VIVO S9 + Expressive E Touché
Additional effects: Elektron Analog Heat +FX

Chopin: Prelude 4

Attempt to electronic dance music on the chords of Chopin (prelude no.4 in E minor). The style is influenced by Jean-Michel Jarre.

Live video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=63Q7bJXUrCo

The instruments are a Nord Stage 2, using slightly modified Arpamed preset arpeggiators, synced to an Elektron Rytm using a slightly modified Mysko preset.

f r y d e r y k [Nord Stage 2 + Elektron Rytm]

Samuel Barber's Adagio For Strings. This is from 1936, earlier than the 60's but so much more modern, isn't it? The ultimate ambient trance-ish piece... Tried to make it sound like metallic yet organic strings, mixing Clavia's string orchestra samples with synthesizers.

Live video: http://youtu.be/NdXiKehJCrI

If this is too ambient for you (sometimes it is for me), Tiësto used the first notes ad nauseam in an upbeat trance track.

Barber - Adagio For Strings

1ère Gymnopédie.

Live video: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zZd4BYOzXBo

Lent et douloureux.
Slow and sorrowful.

"Oblique et coupant l'ombre un torrent éclatant; Ruisselait en flots d'or sur la dalle polie; Où les atomes d'ambre au feu se miroitant; Mêlaient leur sarabande à la gymnopédie."

"Slanting and shadow-cutting a flickering eddy
Trickled in gusts of gold to the shiny flagstone
Where the atoms of amber in the fire mirroring themselves
Mingled their sarabande to the gymnopaedia"

- Contamine de Latour

The instrument is a Clavia Nord Stage 2 using a sampled Yamaha C7 with a generous amount of reverb and phaser, and a thin layer of strings.

Erik Satie - Gymnopédie No. 1 [phaser]

Prelude No. 1 in C major, BWV 846, from The Well-Tempered Clavier, composed by Johann Sebastian Bach.

Live video: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xRAJrOFLD2Q

Bach did these pieces for music students in 1722, and it seems that all composers and musicians from then on became his students.

The instrument is a Clavia Nord Stage 2, using a sampled short stringed Italian harpsichord, along with sampled Eminent 310 strings with wah and phaser effects.

J.S. Bach - Prelude No. 1 in C major

George Frideric Handel's Sarabande from the keyboard suite in D minor, HWV 437 (nomenclature not to be confused with German cars). It was dance music 300 years ago from what I understand. Stanley Kubrick used it in the Barry Lyndon soundtrack, and I'm trying to do it more in a "switched-on" Clockwork Orangish style. Brian de Palma also used it in Redacted.

Live video: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xG-8xtLUZrY

The instrument is a Clavia Nord Stage 2, simulating a B3 Hammond organ with some overdrive, a French harpsichord, Eminent 310 strings/pads (made famous by Jean-Michel Jarre) with wah effect, and a church organ for the reprise at the end.

Handel - Sarabande

Piano Concerto No. 23 K. 488, 2nd movement: Andante/Adagio in F-sharp minor by Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart (1786).

The instrument is a Clavia Nord Piano 3 using a sampled extra soft Bösendorfer 130 upright piano, with effects, and a sampled Willow flute.

Live video: https://youtu.be/eL8_ZJcO27M

#pianoday

Adagio from Mozart's Piano Concerto No. 23 [solo fragments]

Live video: https://youtu.be/_Yyzo9RDf7o

“The crowd intimidates me, its breath suffocates me. I feel paralyzed by its curious look, and the unknown faces make me dumb.” – Chopin

The instrument is a Nord Piano 3, using a sampled extra soft Bösendorfer 130 upright piano with effects and angelic synthesizer voices.

Chopin - Suffocation (Prelude No. 4 in E minor, Op. 28)

Mozart's classic classical track: Alla Turca, Allegretto in A minor and major from the Sonata No.11, composed around 1783.

Live video: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kr-ok1kuNBo

I'm trying to use a different sound. Probably not such a great idea... Sounds a little bit "switched on", like Wendy Carlos (A Clockwork Orange soundtrack).

The instrument is a Clavia Nord Stage 2 using a mix of Rhodes and Clavinet electric pianos with some synth and wah wah effect. It's from a preset called "Full House" that basically mix all kinds of keyboard sounds but an acoustic piano. Plus I sticked a sample from the amazing Amadeus movie at the end for good measure.

Mozart - Turkish March [switched on]

Frédéric Chopin - Prelude in E minor Op. 28 No. 4 "Suffocation" (1835)
So emotional yet so logical, so easy yet so tricky.

Live video: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=47lM6Hvin-0

I took some liberties with it, replacing the chords on the left hands with mini arpeggios, and playing it on electric instruments. I call this take "Electrocution". :-) A little bit Vangelis-style.

The instrument is Clavia Nord Stage 2 using a sampled Rhodes Mark I electric piano set to low and a pulse wave virtual-analog waveform oscillator.

Chopin - Prelude No. 4 "Suffocation" [Electrocution]

Beethoven - Piano Sonata No.14 in C sharp minor "Moonlight Sonata" Op.27 No.2, Movement I: Adagio Sostenuto (1801)

Live video: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1nvnvdT79UY

Adding a lot of reverb and dark synth pads to this piece, making it sound a little bit like something out of Vangelis' Blade Runner soundtrack. I'm playing it too fast.

The instrument is a Nord Stage 2 using a sampled Steinway Model D grand piano, some virtual analog synthesizer, and an enormous amount of reverb.

Beethoven - Moonlight Sonata [piano + synth]

Toccata and Fugue in D minor, BWV 565 (not to be confused with a series of German cars), attributed to Johann Sebastian Bach. This is from around 1700 but sounds timeless to me.

Live video: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GGUBreY-6J8

I'm using the Nord Stage 2 sampled church organs and I've added some harpsichord to try to give it a little bit different feel. I only play the beginning and the end of the fugue (the middle part is less fun...) Organ (and harpsichord) are not the most expressive instruments - you can't control the volume of each note - yet this piece works so well and is so overwhelmingly beautiful.

Cute story: I remember attending church every Sunday when I was a kid and naively hoping they'd play this piece!

J.S. Bach - Toccata & Fugue in D minor [organs + harpsichord]

The Flight of the Bumblebee, composed by Rimsky-Korsakov, arranged for piano by Rachmaninov. This is originally an orchestral interlude composed in 1899 for some opera nobody knows about, but this little interlude is so fun and famous.

I took me lot of hours practicing like a parrot, for this so-so result. I'm not very good at this and enjoy better non percussive Vangelis style better but this is a good track to show off. :-)

The instrument is a Clavia Nord Stage 2 using a sampled Petrof upright piano with lot of reverb and some overdriven synthesizer. Speed is 170BPM (more than 11 notes per second).

Live video: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HiTgcVl41sQ

Flight Of The Bumblebee [amateur piano + synth]

atmospheric piano + electronica

playing Barber, Beethoven, Chopin, Craig Armstrong, David Arnold & Michael Price, Ennio Morricone, Erik Satie, Handel, Harry Gregson-Williams & John Powell, John Ottman, John Williams, J.S. Bach, Kanye West, Leonard Cohen, Ludovico Einaudi, Max Richter, Michael Nyman, Michel Polnareff, Mike Oldfield, Mozart, Nino Rota, Philip Glass, Pink Floyd, Ravel, Ryuichi Sakamoto, Serge Gainsbourg, Vangelis, Vladimir Cosma, Yann Tiersen, Yiruma

Retro Electro

Piano in a Living Room