Recorded at Steinway Piano Gallery Calgary
Model D 605734

Moment Musicaux No. 3 in B Minor - Sergei Rachmaninoff

So I've gone and done something a little different today. One of my favorite songs from the 70s was Roberta Flack's cover of the Carole King song "Will You Still Love Me Tomorrow", made famous by The Shirelles. While The Shirelles sang an upbeat soda-pop diner style song that seemed optimistic, this one sounded less so and quite sad. Roberta Flack's was always my favorite but there seems to be no music for it printed; the recording is only found on the 1971 album "Quiet Fire".

Obviously being a rare song without music printed, there also isn't a karaoke or accompaniment track either. I decided today to improvise one from ear and record it, in case anyone wants to download it and sing their own cover. While I don't own any rights to this song, if you do end up recording a cover with this accompaniment, a little shout out would be appreciated.  

(Shameless request - I've always wondered what Morgan James​ would sound like singing this... :) And if you don't know who Morgan James is, you're really missing out.)

Stories from PH1

Will You Still Love Me Tomorrow (Roberta Flack version)(Accompaniment)

My friend Jeremy on Instagram (@planesandpianos) asked if I could record this piece, and I happily obliged tonight.  

It was a real trip back to my childhood where I listened to this repeatedly while going to sleep on a tape recorder, along with other David Lanza tracks.  I hadn't heard it in over 20 years until today when Jeremy uploaded himself playing an excerpt of it while showing how to start an APU on a Gulfstream.  

Jeremy buddy, I don't know how they're related but I like your style.  I hope you enjoy this and thanks for the memories my friend.  Aim high!

Cristofori's Dream - David Lanza (cover)

On January 15, 2015, I started uploading content here as part of a new years resolution to share some of my past performances.  Recently I just passed what I feel is a little milestone - over 1000 plays of my music, much of which was in the last twelve months since uploading new recordings I've done at home.  I'm humbled and touched that so many people have taken time out to listen, and many of you have downloaded them too.  I hope you enjoy them, it's my little way of sharing what I do in my evenings.

This one was uploaded already but the track dates from my university undergrad days.  I've since taken that one down as I feel that, while my recording setup here is amateur by all means (and you'll probably hear some occasional clipping in the audio... grr...), I feel like I've come a long way since those days despite the fact that I don't play nearly as much as I did when studying.  Rachmaninoff is the one composer that hits me closest to my emotional core, and while I really don't have the hands or technique to master him, I try anyway and I enjoy it when I can get my hands around something like this.

I hope you enjoy, and I'd love it if you shared it with your friends and family if you think they too will enjoy it.

Etude Tableaux Op. 39 No. 2 - Sergei Rachmaninoff

A year ago today, I uploaded my first solo piano recording in years to SoundCloud as a way of sharing some of the private work I do at home in the evenings as an amateur pianist. I was eager to try out a new microphone with a piano that I adore. It's by no means a perfect setup, and I'm no professional recording technician, but it has allowed me to share a little bit of what my evenings sound like in my apartment in downtown Calgary.

My first track was this Intermezzo, and it was done carefully and delicately (as it was something I had only just picked up about a week beforehand). The recording was very successful in my eyes - 162 plays and 12 downloads, basically someone listened to it almost every other day.

A year later and after a lot of performances of it on my own, I decided to record it again and listen to how it had changed. This new take, while being only a snapshot in time of how I felt playing it tonight, shows a much more fluid and whimsical interpretation. I felt a lot more comfortable with it, and I let it carry me along a bit more instead of focusing on "playing it", if that makes sense. My microphone was setup differently, not *in* the piano close to the strings where some of the overtones were a bit too present, but out in the room where some ambient noise is more audible but more of the richness of the piano resonates better. There are things I like about each and I am limited by having only one podcasting microphone - but I hope you enjoy listening to it. I'm curious to know what you think, so feel free to comment below.

Thank you for a year of listening to my little bit of music on the internet. I hope to keep making more.

Intermezzo in A Major Op. 118 No. 2 - Johannes Brahms (2017)

A little something for Chopin's birthday.

I've been a long-time believer that Chopin's best works were his "moderately" difficult works, rather than his easiest or his most difficult.  His easiest were for young students and often didn't really contain enough substance; similarly, his difficult works focused on technical bravura and also seemed to lack substance, sacrificing it for bombastic and complex patterns, as if to compete with the likes of composers like Liszt who often stole the spotlight.  

It's hard to steal any spotlights with introspective and sad waltzes like this, but I feel they say the most about who Chopin was inside, and his character seems to really blossom in works like the waltzes, nocturnes, and mazurkas.  This one seems like a simple elegy but its simplicity makes it difficult and delicate; everything is exposed in the quiet moments where the cello-like melody sings its sad song.  There are moments where things overflow, as if the quiet introverted melody loses control and can't help but cry out.  Other moments almost shine hope only to be overshadowed and repeated in the minor key, as if to bring itself back to reality.

Forgive the imperfections and the not always consistent ornamentation; the delicacy is, as I said, exposed, and I put this together relatively quickly.  But I think there's some really nice things in here, and I feel it shows Chopin at his emotional core.

2017

Waltz in A minor Op. 34 No. 2 - Frederic Chopin

Coloratura Soprano Anna Larsen came by my apartment tonight and recorded this stunning track that is a mashup of Debussy's Clair de Lune (almost exactly as the original, I think it cuts two bars) and music by Libby Larsen, exquisitely setting words by Patricia Hampl over Debussy's masterwork that we all know so well.  

Anna tells me that the character in this song is a woman who once was a pilot, but left her career for the love a man - a love that vanished and left her reminiscing and wanting to be in the skies above once more.  Obviously, that strikes a chord in me being that aviation and music are my two favorite things, and this combines so much together that I love.  

Anna is an incredible Calgary-based coloratura soprano and just finished her Masters Degree last year at the University of Maryland.  She is also a graduate of the University of Alberta, and continues to perform here in her hometown.  I highly urge you to seek out her performances, as she has range and agility that is rare and spectacular.  Many thanks for indulging me in a little recording session, Anna!

Clair's Aria - Larsen / Debussy - Featuring Anna Mendham

In celebration of reaching 2000 plays of my music, and because I really wanted to push the newly regulated action on my piano, I bring you one of the few pieces of music that's always stayed memorized for me.  

It started off as my audition piece for Acadia University back in 1999, and it became a traditional finisher for five years of Christmas parties in London, Ontario for their department of Anatomy and Cell Biology (a favourite of the past Chair).  Debussy's "Pour le Piano" suite starts with this Prelude, which hits like an attack on the concert hall.  There's typical late romantic period virtuosity, newly developing jazz chords, and the mushy impressionist sounds he was developing and experimenting with.  I'm sure this won't be to everyone's taste, but it sure is fun to play.

Thank you all so much for listening, commenting, and enjoying my little amateur recordings from home.  It's great to share with you what I'm sure my neighbours are sick of!

Prelude, from "Pour le Piano" - Claude Debussy

This piece of Rachmaninoff has been with me almost 20 years.  I first learned it back in my teens as something I could fit my rather small hands around, and the dark nature spoke volumes to me; whether that's because I was young and angsty, or whether I was just feeling the enormous emotional outpouring found in this haunting piece of B minor is still up in the air.  I think I felt a tremendous amount of tragedy and loss in this piece, and I kept it in my repertoire since first playing it at a Kiwanis Festival in Halifax around the age of 16.  To this day, it still stirs the same feelings and it's a hard one to perform, not just for its difficult climax, but for the delicate control needed for the main theme at both the beginning and end.  The sad blooming of major chord dying into tonic minor chord in the coda is heartbreaking, and Rachmaninoff loves this gesture (you can find it in the coda of the 1st movement of the 2nd Sonata too).  

Forgive the tuning on my piano, it's not great right now - but I really wanted to get this one uploaded, and the take is pretty good.  I hope you enjoy it and I'm curious to know what you envision when you hear it, so leave a comment about it below.

Prelude Op. 32 No. 10 - Sergei Rachmaninoff

On the eve of my 35th birthday, I thought it would be nice to record something that I've always enjoyed playing, along with something calming and soothing.  I hope this brings you the same.

Sonata Op. 13 "Pathetique" - Adagio Cantabile - L. van Beethoven

Young artist and aspiring opera singer Irina Popescu is featured in this track, as she prepares to move to Frankfurt, Germany and embark on her career.  We put together some tracks yesterday to help her along the way with auditions, and this was one we thought would be fun to feature here.  

This light and fun aria is sung by "Prince Orlofsky" in Johann Strauss's popular opera "Die Fledermaus", and the title translates to "each one has their own taste", or simply - to each their own.  Best of luck to Irina on her adventures in Europe and enjoy this little snippet of her portfolio.

Chacun a son gout (Die Fledermaus) - J. Strauss - Featuring Irina Popescu

It's been a while since I recorded anything and I've been thinking lately I should do something again.  This famous little gem by Schumann was the perfect piece to bring out, especially since sleep lately has been troublesome and Träumerei (being german for "dreaming") allows a calm and peacefulness I found rather therapeutic to learn and record.  I do hope you enjoy it.

(Also, keen ears will hear a click on one of my upper notes, it's a G that needs a little adjustment from the piano tech.  Ah, the joys of owning an old piano.  I still thought this was worth posting nevertheless.)

Träumerei, from "Kinderszenen" - Robert Schumann

After discussion with some friends about "fortepianos" and tuning, I've decided to release a recording from my undergraduate university days of Beethoven's famous "Moonlight" sonata, played a copy of a 1795 Walter Fortepiano, a very similar instrument to those built in Vienna around the time of Mozart, Beethoven, Haydn, and others from the Classical period.  

This piano was tuned for the recital at A=415hz (one semitone flatter than modern standard pitch) using a "Vallotti" temperament (meaning not all notes are spaced evenly), and you'll notice some interesting things I chose to do as a student discovering various performance practice techniques.  Firstly, the opening movement that makes this sonata famous is played using a "moderator" lever - a knee lever played with the left knee that places a piece of felt between the strings and the hammers.  It gives the whole piece a very soft colour, which I felt necessary considering the very bright nature of the fortepiano without it.  I also left the damper lever (played with the right knee) up for the entire piece without "changing" it - basically, this is the equivalent to the modern piano's sustain pedal, but the Walter fortepiano has no pedals, only levers under the keyboard played with the knees.  You can get away with leaving the dampers up the entire time on the fortepiano because the decay is so fast that the blurring of dissonant notes isn't muddy, something you would have a much harder time executing on a modern piano with their much longer and more resonant decays.  

The second and third movements are played without the moderator pedal, and the sound colour is immediately noticeable - very bright, very rich, and very crisp in the damping.  Other things to note - the keys are significantly smaller than modern piano keys, the colours are reversed (white on black keys), and the key depth is much shallower than a modern piano.  

Fortepianos are fussy and lose their tuning much faster than modern pianos.  The strings are smaller, there are less of them, the octave span is five octaves (F to G), there is no iron frame (all wood), and the strings are not crossed, they're completely straight.  Things evolved in piano construction vastly from 1790 to 1890 and the piano we have now is relatively the same as those from about 1900 onwards, but it fascinates me that this is what Beethoven felt and heard when he played the piano in his youth.  It really changes the tone and atmosphere for me and heavily influences how I translate his music to a modern piano.  

Please note that this is a live student performance, it is in no way perfect (as none of my performances are), and I'd probably do some things different now, almost 13 years later.  But I do hope you find it interesting and entertaining.  Let me know your thoughts!

Sonata Op. 27 No. 2 'Moonlight' - Presto Agitato - L. van Beethoven

Sonata Op. 27 No. 2 'Moonlight' - Allegretto - L. van Beethoven

Sonata Op. 27 No. 2 'Moonlight' - Adagio Sostenuto - L. van Beethoven

By request, some folks asked to hear this. It's just something that I've been mulling over and playing around with in my head for a while now. It's rough and still a bit improvised, and likely has more fleshing out and expansion before I feel it's done. I take a little inspiration from Ben Folds' harmonies on his album "The Unauthorized Biography of Reinhold Messner" and Tom Odell's album "Long Way Down".

No lyrics to it yet though I'd like to have some some day. Let me know what you think.

Unnamed Sketch (original)

*Reuploaded with newly remastered audio!*

This was a pet project of mine in the fall/winter of 2020 as a song of hope for everyone affected by the COVID-19 pandemic. It's a cover of the finale from the award-winning musical "Next to Normal", and it is performed by singers and musicians from Calgary and Toronto who volunteered to take part.

Click here to see the original video: youtu.be/1GrEU2JFvrc

The performing arts community, from students to amateurs to professionals, have struggled through the pause caused by the pandemic, and it was my hope that putting together a song from such a powerful musical - one of hope and promise for better times ahead amid struggle and sadness - would inspire all who sang it and heard it.

The Band:
- Ian Robertson, piano
- Josh Bailey, bass
- Ron Murias, drums

The Cast:
- Emily Robertson
- Alex Panneton
- Andrea Timmons
- Victoria Clark
- Theo Ho
- Anna Mendham
- Kaitlyn Bergeron
- Jenna Paquette

Next to Normal was written by Brian Yorkey, with music by Tom Kitt, 2008.

"Light" - from the musical Next to Normal (remote cover)

"One Take"

I sat down tonight at my favorite Steinway and just recorded the first take of my favorite piece of Debussy - the classic first "Arabesque".  I've played this a thousand times different ways and this was just what I came up with on the spot tonight.  It's been a long hard pandemic and while it looks like it won't be over for a bit, at least music can be of some comfort while we wait.  I hope you enjoy this.

Arabesque No. 1 - Claude Debussy

Ian Robertson is a Calgary-based freelance pianist and music director; classically trained but regularly rocks out to great musicals.  Available as a voice coach, piano teacher, accompanist, and music director.

Ian Robertson

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