In this album, I present my interpretation of two popular works by Ludvig van Beethoven: Quasi una Fantasia, aka Moonlight Sonata, and Pathétique. 

For each piece I crated a "piano" that brought out what I felt when I listen to the piece. These are layered, built from many sampled acoustic and electric pianos along with electronic synthesizer patches I created. I also used various effects and edits to achieve the crafted sound that I desired like distant canyon echos, dense hall reverberation and other flights of my imagination. Let the music take you on a journey and I hope you enjoy my work.

Howard channels Ludwig van Beethoven - Alotta Sonata

All credit to -https://www.tiktok.com/@austincfarwell/video/6908083598180551941?lang=en&is_copy_url=0&is_from_webapp=v3&sender_device=pc&sender_web_id=6945035635359270401
This is just my extended track, Enjoy :)

Austin Farwell - The Feeling of Being in Love

10 夜市の料理人 11 CATACOMBAE. 12 Adagio Lamentoso.

WinterJourney 24 The Hurdy - Gurdy Man

Winterjourney 06 Life Cycle

JS Bach: Wachet Auf Ruft Uns Die Stimme, BWV 140 (arr. Francesco Tristano)

A Human’s Touch is not the only TWRP song please guys

Ladybug - TWRP

In tribute to one of my favourite composers.
A fresh remix for an appearance with dignity ;)

Modest Mussorgski: The old castle - Cover by Spektralfarben (Remix 2017)

I found an old box of cassettes with a couple of gems in it. One actually has my final project from an electronic music composition class I took in 1979. I was poking my nose into dusty corners in the basement of the music building at the University of Arizona, and found a rack of wire wrapped circuit boards with a terminal, a couple of 8" floppy drives, and an 88 key keyboard attached! I started asking around, and learned that it was one of the 5 prototypes of the Micor Coupland digital synthesizer. It had been left by a professor who had retired, and no one knew anything about it. So being me, I asked if I could play around with it. They made me take the 400 level class (as a sophomore) to get access to it, and I happily obliged, and got a couple of friends to help me haul it out of the basement and set it up in the 8-track studio. Now keep in mind that in 1979 no one had even considered a digital synthesizer, and you could count the polyphonic synths in the WORLD on one hand. Here was a FULLY (88-note) polyphonic DIGITAL synth! So I set about putting it all back together, started sticking floppies in until I found one that actually booted up, and I was off and running.
It was based on the TI-9900 microprocessor. Sounds were created by entering an equation that gave voltage as a function of time. It had 2 oscillators, the main oscillator and a modulation oscillator, and an ADSR that controlled the amplitude. The keyboard was the only "performance" control - all other real-time changes to the sound had to be commanded on the terminal. I learned to type with one hand while playing with the other.
Anyway, this is what came out of a fun-filled semester playing with this beast. I am putting it up here strictly for its historical significance; to showcase what this synth could have become if Micor hadn't pulled the funding.
There is a little bit of info on it at http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Coupland_Digital_Music_Synthesizer - but the story I heard (from a girl I was dating, who's father was a friend of Rick Coupland) was that Rick was so mad when Micor pulled the funding that he destroyed all of the documentation, and wouldn't even talk about the project to anyone after that. This MAY be the only surviving recording of this magnificent instrument.

Micor Coupland (first digital synthesizer)

When I Looked Up 🙌
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We Dream Of Eden - When I Looked Up

This first movement is played at Adagio sostenuto which translate to slow and sustained and is in the key of C# Minor. I used three piano samples for this, electric, 5 meter grand and Distant Mountain Grand to get the space into the music.

Ah, Ludwig van Beethoven, thou art so HUGE! So immense!  This is my recording of "Moonlight Sonata" or as it is actually titled, Quasi una Fantasia which translates to  "sonata in the manner of a fantasy".  This is the second sonata from the Opus 27 and was written in 1801.  The name, moonlight sonata, was actually penned by Ludwig Rellstab who thought the piece reminded him of the moons reflection off of lake Luzern in Switzerland.

The sonata breaks with normal form in that it is represented as a slow movement, a little faster movement and then a fast movement. Traditionally a sonata would be fast movement, slow movement, and finally an ending fast movement.

Moonlight Sonata 1st Movement - Beethoven - Quasi una fantasia

This second movement is played allegreto which translates as a little quickly.  This movement is in the key of Bb Minor. I used three piano samples for this, electric, 5 meter grand and Distant Mountain Grand to get the space into the music.

Moonlight Sonata 2nd Movement - Beethoven - Quasi una fantasia

This final movement is again in C# Minor and is presented as Presto Agitato which is "fast, agitated." I used three piano samples for this, electric, 5 meter grand and Distant Mountain Grand to get the space into the music.

Ah, Ludwig van Beethoven, thou art so HUGE! So immense! This is my recording of "Moonlight Sonata" or as it is actually titled, Quasi una Fantasia which translates to "sonata in the manner of a fantasy". This is the second sonata from the Opus 27 and was written in 1801. The name, moonlight sonata, was actually penned by Ludwig Rellstab who thought the piece reminded him of the moons reflection off of lake Luzern in Switzerland.

The sonata breaks with normal form in that it is represented as a slow movement, a little faster movement and then a fast movement. Traditionally a sonata would be fast movement, slow movement, and finally an ending fast movement.

Moonlight Sonata 3rd Movement - Beethoven - Quasi una fantasia

This is Ludwig at his finest. The Sonata in C Minor Opus 13 Fist Movement, better known as Sonata Pathétique was written for Prince Karl von Lichnowsky by Beethoven. 

The first movement is know as Grave – Allegro di molto e con brio, which uses the Mannheim crescendos or Rocket theme. I used 6 audio tracks of instruments to get this sound for the work from distant grand to fender rhodes to a 5 meter grand piano. I hope you like it.

Pathétique - Sonata in C Minor Opus 13 1st Movement - Beethoven

The Sonata in C Minor Opus 13 Second Movement, better known as Sonata Pathétique was written for Prince Karl von Lichnowsky by Beethoven. 

The second movement is know as Adagio cantabile (Slowly, in a singing style), opens with a famous cantabile melody. This theme is played three times, always in A-flat major, separated by two modulating episodes, making it a five-part rondo. 

This is an 8 chanel stereo mix using Grand Piano, 5 Meter Grand, Distant Grand,  Echo Grand Piano, Fender Rhodes Piano, and several synthesized choral and string patches mixed together. I hop you like it!

Pathétique - Sonata in C Minor Opus 13 2nd Movement - Beethoven

The Sonata in C Minor Opus 13 Third Movement, better known as Sonata Pathétique was written for Prince Karl von Lichnowsky by Beethoven. The third movement is known as a Rondo: Allegro (Quickly). 

This is a 9 Chanel stereo mix using 5 meter grand piano, Grand Piano, Echo Grand Piano, Distant piano, Fender Rhodes Piano, and several synthesized choral and string patches mixed together. I hope you like it!

Pathétique - Sonata in C Minor Opus 13 3rd Movement - Beethoven

Cavatina by Stanley Myers. The famous John Williams arrangement.
This piece was recorded for Jean from the Booterstown Guitar Circle.

Eimear kindly gave me a loan of her David Adams guitar for this recording. It has a lovely woody, mellow tone that really suits this piece.

Cavatina- Stanley Myers (arr. John Williams)

I create electronic music in the spirit of Tomita and Wendy Carlos. I also like to rock and am into Pink Floyd. I have been a user of Cakewalk since version 1.0 and currently use Reason, Cakewalk and Audacity along with a studio full of electronic instruments and effects. I play with local musicians and I work at composing electronic renditions of classical music.

Pathétique - Sonata in C Minor Opus 13 3rd Movement - Beethoven

Howard F. Arner, Jr.

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