While My Guitar Gently Weeps

Time Is A Two Way Street- Robert Dick

Vintage toy organ improv for visual artist Alteronce Gumby's final review at Yale School of Art. May 2016.

Toy Organ Improv

THE PRELUDES PROJECT is Holly Roadfeldt’s debut album on NAVONA records, and features a complete recording of Chopin’s Op. 28 preludes for piano and a new set of twenty-six piano preludes written by American composer Kirk O’Riordan. In her performance of these works, Roadfeldt takes claim to one of the most iconic pieces in the solo piano repertoire, and also annoints O’Riordan’s new work as an impressive achievement among Classical music’s greatest sets of piano preludes.

French composer Frédéric Chopin finished composing his Twenty-Four Preludes, Op. 28, in 1839, envisioning the set as a response to the twenty-four preludes in J. S. Bach’s monumental Well-Tempered Clavier. This connection is meaningful to any assessment of Chopin’s work, as Bach’s composition aimed to showcase the chromatic potential of a newly invented tuning system for keyboard instruments. By the same token, Chopin’s Op. 28 preludes put on display the unprecedented expressive powers of the modern piano, which was a relatively new instrument in 1839, and would continue to be refined over the course of the nineteenth century. To this end, Roadfeldt’s performance of the Chopin unquestionably captures the elegance, power, and intimacy that the composer explores in these pioneering preludes.

In THE PRELUDES PROJECT, Roadfeldt also makes the persuasive case that, as Chopin’s preludes were to Bach’s Well-Tempered Clavier, so might O’Riordan’s preludes be to Chopin’s. Certainly, O’Riordan matches Chopin’s ability to create a vast collection of nuanced, indelible, and – most importantly – satisfactorily self-contained musical statements. As one expects, the Twenty-Six Preludes vary a great deal, but each achieves its beauty by crafting a unique space with the piano’s voice. In this way, O’Riordan’s preludes connect with the fundamental motivations underlying Bach and Chopin’s famous preludes: exploring the sound of the instrument.

Of course, Holly Roadfeldt molds the piano’s sound in THE PRELUDES PROJECT, and, in her masterful rendering of Chopin and O’Riordan’s pieces, brings these two works side-by-side. As a result, one should consider Roadfeldt’s performance on this album as significant a contribution to piano music as the compositions she performs.

http://www.ravellorecords.com/catalog/rr7947/

Holly Roadfeldt - THE PRELUDES PROJECT

The Great Gate Of Kiev

So… Here's my remake of Hans Zimmer's Time from Inception (2010). All done by ear, without no help from sheet music or existing remakes.  It was a big project for me and first one where I used all my knowledge to date about orchestration. I know it's just the beggining and I have a lot to learn, so don't be shy - give me your feedback! :) 

Time (Hans Zimmer remake)

il dolce stile nuovo (in English: The Sweet New Style) begun as a song for voice and piano.  After I had written the intro, I called the poet only to have her tell me that she didn’t want me setting that particular poem.  Dismayed, the piece sat in a drawer for a few months while I tried to figure out what to do with it.  Finally, I got an idea to compose a piano trio, and use the introductory material as a basis for the piece.

This piece for me is just about the joy of writing and playing music.  It brings together all of my major musical influences – rock, jazz, heavy metal, renaissance and baroque music, classical Japanese music, and modern concert music.

Jan Valta, violin – Lukas Polak, cello – Jan Petr, piano

Synesthesiac

Notes

Il Dolce Stile Nuovo

Copland Clarinet Concerto live at QSO studios 1999 Young Performer's Awards Queensland Sympony Orchestra Neil Stulberg conducting

Copland Clarinet Concerto live at QSO studios 1999 Young Performer's Awards

This is an old recording of mine of Štepán Rak's beautiful Romance.

Stepan Rak - Romance

Purchase link: https://mollyjoycemusic.com/product/dew-of-the-moon/

Dew of the Moon, for solo alto saxophone, was written in the fall of 2012 in New York City and was commissioned by saxophonist Don-Paul Kahl. 

When I first received the commission from Don-Paul in the summer of 2012, I was currently studying composition in Berlin, and one of my composer colleagues there had presented a piece of hers in which she had set the poem The Land Which is Not, by Edith Södergran. I quickly fell in love with the poem and the sense of longing and ambiguity that it exudes, specifically the line “in the dew of the moon.” I thus decided to take the idea of the “dew of the moon,” and whatever that may mean, as inspiration for the piece. As I thought about it more, I realized that for me the “dew of the moon” could possibly be a dance floor, and therefore I decided to try to translate whatever this dance floor with people dancing on it might be to shape the music for the saxophone.

Dew of the Moon is also dedicated to Don-Paul Kahl, who I am so grateful to have met as a colleague, friend, and future collaborator.

While My Guitar Gently Weeps

Hugh Chandler

Related tracks