James Creed: piano and comically-small harmonica

From 'Piano Studies 1–6', available pay-what-you-can via Bandcamp

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The scores in this little collection are for pianists and pianos. They could be “performance pieces,” but principally they are nice things to do or nice ways to think about things that we’re doing already. They are more like letters, in a sense: though they can and perhaps will be performed publicly, they address themselves to the pianist sitting at the piano whether others are there to observe or not. For these recordings the letters were addressed to myself.

They all, in some way, follow on from something Fernando and Mira said in the reading/study group we set up with friends – that part of being a pianist is being prepared to play any piano in the world (I prefer “every” to “any”) and I just think that’s wonderful.

Thanks to: Fernando Yada Rodrigues; Mira Benjamin; Katie Grout; Anne Han; Konstantinos Glynos; Khabat Abas; Jess Porter-Langson; Jay Keys; Clare Spollen; Luis John; Claudia Creed.

Thanks also to: the piano at home; the piano at Callum, Jenny, Sylvia and Pete’s; the piano at Gwyneth’s; the piano in room 167 at Goldsmiths; the piano at Pembroke House.

Piano Study 5 (2021)

Pete Furniss: bass clarinet
Niamh Gallagher: viola
Katie Grout: flute
Jay Keys: upright piano
Madhuri Marina Martinez: violin
Frank Withers: vibraphone
Fernando Yada Rodrigues: grand piano

May 2021, Deptford Town Hall, London

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See, this is just the song folded up together into a neat parcel. It's a letter fashioned into its own envelope. All of it is still in there, it's just pocket-sized now. Not that it was all that big before - people have been carrying it around for years of course. Really I've done nothing at all worth talking about, just a little folding up. I should probably say that it'll sound a bit different though, but I suppose you can see that already. You might have to listen carefully for a while, but that's a nice way to listen, isn't it? I think so, at least. It'll take a bit of patience, and then you might hear it or you might not. Or you might find something else instead. But that would be just as good, wouldn't it? The only other thing I'll say, though I'm not sure that I should, is that it's not really a chord. It's just some notes happening together. It's the song on pause and play at the same time. I'm not sure that made sense. . . all I mean is that it's not so much about balancing them as letting them balance themselves. Or letting them not balance themselves. It's about being careful, but not because it's fragile - the opposite, I suppose. Maybe I've said too much. Or maybe I just haven't said anything useful. . . Well, either way, here it is. Feel free to ignore all of this.

yours,
James M. Creed, summer 2020

Lomond (2020): Outline Ensemble; London; 2021

Performed at Klangraum, Düsseldorf, July 2022.

Angeles Rojas: piano;
Antoine Beuger: flute;
Bernd Bleffert: voice; percussion;
James Creed, vibraphone;
Katie Porter: bass clarinet; 
Lörinc Muntag: shruti box; 
Steven Vinkenoog: guitar.

Lomond (2020): Klangraum; Düsseldorf; 2022

Clare Spollen, piano; Anne Yin Han, violin; Evie Hilyer-Ziegler, violin; Freda D'Souza, violin; James Creed, chamber organ.

From 'Six Studies', available through Sawyer Editions

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The pieces in this collection ['Six Studies'] are studies, of a sort, and all written in 2021 or 2022. Along with most other things I’ve produced in the same period, there’s an unintended, relentless sentimentality to them – inevitable, I suppose, if working with diatonic clusters. They’re all very simple, and, with the exception of Piano and Accompaniment, aren’t really “compositions” so much as demonstrations of what instruments are busy doing while we might be busy thinking about other things. That’s not to ignore a performer, and really it’s the opposite: these pieces are unconstructed, they are timbre, they begin as studies of (for instance) the piano and end as studies of particular fingers at a particular piano, which is much more interesting. Piano and Accompaniment seems an outlier, perhaps, as a piece with more moving parts, but it isn’t – it’s the same concerns for ensemble, with some very faint shaping from me.

Thanks to: Kory, Clare, Anne, Freda, Evie, Scott, Amber, Katie, Meghan, Mia, Fernando, Joy and Ben, and thanks for listening.

Piano and Accompaniment: after an étude by Camille Saint-Saëns, composer (2022)

Clare Spollen: accordion
Alex Lyon: clarinet
Fernando Yada Rodrigues: piano
Anne Yin Han: violin
Pentu: guitar
Tabby Griffiths: flute

Recording from open workshop at Goldsmiths, University of London, 6 July 2023

Tending

Performed at Goldsmiths College, London, June 11, 2024

Anirudh Krishna, keyboards;
Avin Noorbakhsh, Kamancheh;
Ao Shen, melodica;
Boaz Johnson, vibraphone;
Dillon Harrison, percussion;
Eva Allinder, voice;
Giles Penny, guitar;
Imogen Burman-Mitchell, cello;
Jack Cheeseman, guitar;
James Creed, reed organ, guitar and miniature harmonica;
Louis Gardner, piano;
Talia Hunter, hurdy gurdy;
Veronika Dressel, flute;

Lomond (2020): Goldsmiths Contemporary Music Ensemble; London; 2024

Performed at Trudi's Kitchen, Arnhem, June 16, 2024

C: James Creed, guitar;
D: Arjen Stolk, bass clarinet;
E: Clare Spollen, piano;
F: Steven Vinkenoog, guitar;
G: Tamara Kho, violin;
A: Harm-Jan Roeles, double bass.

Lomond (2020): Music for a While; Arnhem; 2024

Performed (by me) at All Souls' Church, Leeds, July 16, 2024.

Originally composed for Huw Morgan, Huw's (lovely) performance available via Mainly Slow Organ Music on Bandcamp.

Pipe Organ Study 1 (2023)

Performed at All Souls' Church, Leeds, July 16, 2024

Kory Reeder, piano;
James Creed, guitar.

Duo (2024)

Composed for and performed by Square Music, recorded at the Pianodrome, Leeds City Museum, September 2024

Clare Spollen, piano;
Fernando Yada Rodrigues, piano;
Jay Austin Keys, piano;
Maya-Leigh Rosenwasser, piano.

*Symphony no. 2, "Awakening of Spring" (version 1), BVN 53: mmt. 2, lento religioso quasi adagio, bb. 1–4 (1914, rev. 1926–1933)

Four Pianos: after four bars by Rued Langgaard, composer* (2024)

Welcoming the new piano (R), saying thank you to the old piano (L) at Avalon Café, Bermondsey, 26 September 2024.

Fernando Yada Rodrigues, piano (R);
Jay Austin Keys, piano (L);
Anne Yin Han, violin;
Matthew Gilley, violin;
Freya Hicks, viola;
Rebecca Burden, cello.

Piano(s) And String Quartet (2024)

Recorded at To Your Ear, St. Catherine's Hatcham, Telegraph Hill, April 16 2025

Amalia Young, violin;
Anne Yin Han, violin;
Fernando Yada, piano;
James Creed, guitar.

Second Piece for Jennie Gottschalk (2025)

Performed by Marsyas Trio at Howard Assembly Room, Leeds, November 2025.

Commissioned by Smeaton300, city of Leeds programme of events celebrating the 300th anniversary of the birth, in Leeds, of John Smeaton, civil engineer.

Helen Vidovich, flute; Val Welbanks, cello; Olga Stezhko, piano.

Trio (2024)

Commissioned and performed by Terra Invisus, released on their 2024 album "Visions".

Alex Lyon, bass clarinet; Rebecca Burden, cello; Milda Vitartaitė, piano. 

Trio: after an étude by Hélène de Montegeroult, composer (2023)

1. 2nd/3rd down (04:30)
2. 3rd/3rd up (04:20)
3. 3rd/4th down (04:11)
4. 4th/4th up (04:03)
5. 4th/5th down (03:55)
6. 5th/5th up (03:46)
7. 5th/6th down (03:38)
8. 6th/6th up (03:30)
9. 6th/7th down (03:22)
10. 7th/7th up (03:13)
11. 7th/8th down (03:05)
12. 8th/8th up (02:57)
13. 8th/9th down (02:48)
14. 9th/9th up (02:40)
15. 9th/10th down (02:32)
16. 10th/10th up (02:23)
17. 10th/11th down (02:15)
18. 11th/11th up (02:07)
19. 11th/12th down (01:59)
20. 12th/12th up (01:50)
21. 12th/13th down (01:42)
22. 13th/13th up (01:34)
23. 13th/14th down (01:25)
24. 14th/14th up (01:17)
25. 14th/15th down (01:09)
26. 15th/15th up (01:00)
27. 15th/16th down (00:52)
28. 16th/16th up (00:44)
29. 16th/17th down (00:35)
30. 17th/17th up (00:27)
31. 17th/18th down (00:19)
32. 18th/18th up (00:13)
33. Cadence (00:23)

A Simple Study (for Tom Johnson) (2025)

Performed with flxnflx at The Attic at Seagulls, Leeds, 2024

Maya-Leigh Rosenwasser, piano and miniature harmonica;
James McIlwrath, miniature harmonica;
James Creed, miniature harmonica.

Piano Study 5 (2021) — Leeds (with flxnflx), 2024

Solo improvisation (St. Cyprian's, London, 2025-06-20)

Sextet and Solo (2025)

Solo improvisation 2 (St. Cyprian's, London, 2025-06-20)

Octet, or, Music for 9+ Musicians (2025)

Lomond (2020): Guildhall Experimental Music Marathon; London; 2025

Fernando Yada Rodrigues: piano

From 'Southcote', available via NX Records

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See, this is just the song folded up together into a neat parcel. It's a letter fashioned into its own envelope. All of it is still in there, it's just pocket-sized now. Not that it was all that big before - people have been carrying it around for years of course. Really I've done nothing at all worth talking about, just a little folding up. I should probably say that it'll sound a bit different though, but I suppose you can see that already. You might have to listen carefully for a while, but that's a nice way to listen, isn't it? I think so, at least. It'll take a bit of patience, and then you might hear it or you might not. Or you might find something else instead. But that would be just as good, wouldn't it? The only other thing I'll say, though I'm not sure that I should, is that it's not really a chord. It's just some notes happening together. It's the song on pause and play at the same time. I'm not sure that made sense. . . all I mean is that it's not so much about balancing them as letting them balance themselves. Or letting them not balance themselves. It's about being careful, but not because it's fragile - the opposite, I suppose. Maybe I've said too much. Or maybe I just haven't said anything useful. . . Well, either way, here it is. Feel free to ignore all of this.

yours,
James M. Creed, summer 2020

Lomond (2020): Fernando Yada Rodrigues; Berkshire; 2020

Mandhira de Saram: violin 
Patrick Dawkins: violin 
Richard Jones: viola 
Valerie Welbanks: cello

Workshop recording as part of Ligeti Quartet's "Workout" series of 100 workshops: ligetiquartet.com/workout

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Seven Lines for the Ligeti Quartet is a simple piece about coming and going, about the meeting of the many forces at play in apparent stillness, and about playing together. Three chords - an alternating pair and a bookend - are repeated and run through simple incremental processes as the piece unfolds. It is composed with and structured by a text:

strange to call it a sea
every river in the same boat
forgotten and remembered in the firth
the Colorado and the Yaqui share a gulf
down at the south tip of California
high tide cradled by a kind moon
on the first night of spring

James M. Creed

Pinned to spotlight

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