A brief review of a memorable life with ups and downs, sad but also magnificent moments.

A Memorable Life

So happy to be able to share a new track made with the brilliant @debra_buesking

This Scottish inspired Celtic track gets it name from the opening words of a poem by Gerard Manley Hopkins (posted below).  For those unaware, a burn is the Scottish/Northern English word for a small river.  The title also reminds me of the look and feel of  that other Scottish liquid Whiskey!  Have a wee dram while you listen.

Inversnaid

This darksome burn, horseback brown,
His rollrock highroad roaring down,
In coop and in comb the fleece of his foam
Flutes and low to the lake falls home.

A windpuff-bonnet of fáwn-fróth
Turns and twindles over the broth
Of a pool so pitchblack, féll-frówning,
It rounds and rounds Despair to drowning.

Degged with dew, dappled with dew
Are the groins of the braes that the brook treads through,
Wiry heathpacks, flitches of fern,
And the beadbonny ash that sits over the burn.

What would the world be, once bereft
Of wet and of wildness? Let them be left,
O let them be left, wildness and wet;
Long live the weeds and the wilderness yet.

Gerard Manley Hopkins

Piano - Debra Buesking
Low Whistles, Uilleann Pipes - Philleann

Darksome Burn (Philleann & Debra Buesking)

Piano variations on an orchestral theme drawn from Rimsky-Korsakov's Scheherazade Opus 35. Your time is better spent listening to the extraordinary beauty of this work by Rimsky-Korsakov. Behold the fire...not the shadow cast

First Variation on Op. 35 Rimsky-Korsakov

(fast) frei improvisiert, wenig Technik (aber oho...), spontan ohne Vorbereitung - einfach drauflos...

1momentplease  - mit Petra Köhler / Querflöte

Q: What do you say, when you lose control of your Steinway Imperial Grand at 25,000 feet and the pedals no longer respond?

A: Talk to me Rimsky

Variations for piano on an orchestral theme by Rimsky-Korsakov

part 1 & 2.
This was one of the earlier bits of music I recorded shortly after a 20 year (hard to believe) 'break' from writing music. It's also one of the very few songs that were just solo piano and which I could play without multiple tracks. So it was surprising that this took only about 2 days from initial conception to final recording - even though I've revised it a few times since then, as usual (thus this latest re-upload).  I may try to add some strings to this one day, which I think would work nicely.  


All comments welcome, and don't be shy to be critical or suggest ideas to help me improve. :)

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here's some pictures I took: www.flickr.com/photos/mark_boucher/
my best photos on 500px (safe site): 500px.com/p/mrmark?view=photos

A New Nostalgia... (solo piano)

Another incredible collaboration with composer Mopso Drive 
FABRIZIO DE LATOULIERE from Bologna, Italy and the masterful engineering and mixing by Gemini AKA Nigel Robinson who I am forever grateful for.  Vocals by Cara25 and lyrics inspired by the 6 of Swords Tarot card.  Leave everything behind and start a new life.

Variations for piano on an orchestral theme by Rimsky-Korsakov

Paul Maurice Roche | Composer