A selection of tracks from artists that I particularly like that have real feeling or mood, Ones I would have liked to have composed myself (and some I did!). I hope you enjoy these artists/composers too.

Essentially Piano

Wednesday Collection #85

Letters to the Editor.

Piano Gods & Goddess

Written by Blake Ewing
Performed by Blake Ewing with cello performances by Craig Hultgren
Album art by Matthew Salleh and Rose Tucker

Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/album/6pyl44xfQwbJRWeImzhCPj?si=e4aca961eded4a88
Apple: https://music.apple.com/us/album/we-dont-deserve-dogs-original-motion-picture-soundtrack/1566426258

Film, CD, vinyl: https://www.wedontdeservedogs.com

We Don't Deserve Dogs (Original Motion Picture SoundtracK)

We Don't Deserve Dogs

She's s a bolt of lightning in a clear blue sky.  The whole world get's a little bit brighter when she comes walking by.  A stunning ray of sunshine on a cloudy rainy day.  She's nothing more left to say.  She's a Sunshine Superday.

The Perpetual Recreation

Sunshine Superday

How To Lie With Statistics.  2021 Janine Levinson

You take the bottom
You take the top
You take the middle
And add them up
Then you divide
So everyone is average

And then you talk 
About it all
You make it so
You smooth it out
If you don't speak
Don't say the word
Then it won't be

May it never be

The sound of the word makes you average
And when you say the word it makes you average
And time will see what becomes of me
'Cause I don't believe in average

And so you speak
You speak the word
Then everyone is indistinct
The twenty-four, the ninety-three
The thirty-five, the seventeen

And not a one will hear his name
But instead will stand in line
And just because the world is round
Will join their hands and always rhyme

The sound of the word makes you average
And when you say the word it makes you average
And time will see what becomes of me
'Cause I don't believe the averages

Average things in a special design
Special things in an average design
Some times in your life, in your lifetime
Special things in a special design

You take the bottom
You take the top
You take the middle
You add them up
Then you divide
So everyone is average

And then you talk 
About it all
And wonder what
What can it mean
To then divide 
To find the mean
Of ninety five and seventeen

The sound of the word makes you average
When you say the word it makes you average
I don't believe in average

How to Lie with Statistics

welcome to our new 'reality'...

"The Somnambulist" is the eighth single from my debut solo album, Year Zero, to be released soon....

"The Somnambulist" will also be available on all other digital platforms to download and/or stream.... iTunes, Spotify, Napster, Deezer, GooglePlay, AppleMusic, YouTube etc...

(c)(p) written & performed by Miaow McDonald

engineered/co-produced by Robert Davidson, the 'Aged Choir Boy'.

Miaow McDonald: Vocals, Bass, Guitars, Drums, Xylophone and other sonic perversions
Cameron Jay: Trumpets
Robert Davidson: Drums

Miaow McDonald only plays Fender Guitars.


and here are the words:

take off that mask
i just wanna see you
is it too much to ask,
that i see the real you?
plasticene brain
you're not the same girl -
weathered and vain -
fake in the real world....

you're sleepwalkin'
shut your mouth!
i'm tired of your talkin'
open your mind -
i'll give you a word of advice...
open your eyes and...
WAKE UP!

take off those gloves
'cos i don't wanna fight.
bare me your soul in
unfiltered light...
fuck, you look tired
of all this pretending...
you're totally wired
it's never-ending....

you're sleepwalkin'
shut your mouth!
i'm tired of your talkin'
open your mind -
i'll give you a word of advice...
open your eyes and...
WAKE UP!

wake up, wake up
wake up, wake up
wake up, wake up
(mmm-hmmm)
wake up, wake up
(you've got to...)
wake up, wake up
(uh-huh huh)
wake up, wake up

ALL RIGHTS RESERVED 2021

If you wanna hear more from Cameron Jay, you can visit his YouTube Channel: https://youtube.com/user/zoots251

or you can find him on Facebook...  @cameronjaytrumpet

buy me a coffee...

The Somnambulist

This is a re-recording of an old song of our old band from the early 90s. I couldn't convince our singer @user-20931549 to sing on it yet (or any other member to record their parts), so all done by myself few years ago, for now as an instrumental. Anyway, I like it ;-)

Guitars, Bass, Drum Programming: @bonetender
Music: https://soundcloud.com/maersk-dddb/lovely-lemon-tea

©vonLieblos & Bonetender (& others) 2022 All Rights Reserved

Lovely Öemontea

Lovely Lemontea

No Direction

Long Way Home

Too Much Fun

JOY is the latest single from DEADHEAD DAISIES. Stream it everywhere now you freaks: https://smarturl.it/deadheaddaisies

Thinking about my daddy and me.  Our last picture together.

Many thanks to David Dunham for mastering my track. @david-dunhamuser589535203

I Wish

Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/intl-de/album/3ROhTHrVNxzfcoLKJvhTbY
Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UjIFwZ_Puog


The inspiration for this track is a vision where I am not sure whether it is a faint memory from some childhood holiday or whether I have dreamt it  :
Standing on the edge of a rocky cliff, gazing out at the tumultuous ocean below. The waves crashing against the rocks with a thunderous roar, the force of the water sending a spray of mist and foam high into the air. In the distance a lone lighthouse
overlooking the scenery. A glimps of the power and majesty of nature and our own smallness in comparison. 

Composition-wise: The piece consists of three parts (@0:01, @0:59, @1:45) that always start with the same 5 note-motive but then develop into three distinct variations with different characteristics but throughout the track there is a certain sense of dramatic scenery.
The left hand is throughout the piece mostly in octave jumps (which became quite challenging condition-wise at the end of the piece) that segment the 4/4 beat into groups of 3-3-2 (the only notable exception is the part @0:35ff with its chromatic baseline).
The right hand alternates between lyric parts such as in the beginning or @0:59ff and rhythmic syncopic parts such as @2:30ff that leads to the final where the right hand preceeds the left hand by a beat to create a sense of energy.

The track has been recorded on a Roland FP-90 and mastered in Cubase by adding compressor, reverb, a Stereo enhancer and fiddling a bit with the EQ. 
The picture was created with Stable Diffusion.

Lighthouse On The Rocks (Solo Piano)

This piece was inspired by listening to a piece of music by my good friend Jean-Pierre Dubois (JiPé)....he allowed me to use his theme, for which I'm very grateful....

I hope you will enjoy listening...

Art picture is by Larisa-K on Pixabay.....

Une Fantaisie Poétique

Everyone knows that the British love their dogs, this little dog was no exception. Bloomer was born in Athens and lived there with my daughter for many happy years. She was quite a little character, so it was a great shame when we lost her a few years ago.

When I wrote this song, I could hear the two syllables of her name resonating in my head, so this became a song to remember her by, I hope you enjoy it.

For A Little Shaggy Dog

Something I recorded at the beginning of the year at home.. warts and all

Disquiet Improv

Federico Albanese - THE BLUE HOUR

'The Blue Hour', released on LP, CD, Download via Berlin Classics Neue Meister on 15 January, 2016

Buy on Itunes - itunes.apple.com/us/album/the-blu…our/id1053970394

Berlin based, ‘piano poet’ Federico Albanese took inspiration from the brief transitional state between day and night, writing a collection of chamber-music miniatures that withdraw, explore, yet assert their laconic melodies all the more decisively. The emotions to which Albanese has given expression in his thirteen compositions have been articulated with well-considered gestures.

Equally well-considered is the choice of instruments that Federico Albanese deploys on ‘The Blue Hour’. Piano and synthesizers are joined by a cello, magnified by over-dubbing and sound effects that culminate into a little chamber orchestra, which swells the acoustics while checking the dominance of a clear solo voice. Albanese esteems the Gesamtklang, the overall sound image, with its mixture of compositional precision and dreamlike fluidity. For this reason, the pieces are recorded from start to finish on analogue equipment, further enhancing the warmth of their sound. In ‘Céline’ we hear a discreet beat, scarcely perceptible, a gentle pulse that lends structure without jeopardizing the charm of ‘The Blue Hour’.

“There is a particular moment when opposites are very close, almost touching one another. When there is still light but not quite darkness. A world in between, where all things are uncertain, vague, floating into shade. We can follow or observe, unsure where this would lead - into darkness or light; into the shadow of memories and dreams. A reflection of our desires and hopes, ready to be seen or unseen. It can be a sudden glimpse, with ideas turning into shapes, not yet complete. You can see things, but are unsure what they are. It is an unrevealed choice. A place to recover and heal, lulled by the security of the warm shadow of an ancient tree upon a hill" – Federico Albanese

Shadow Land Part 1

7:12 AM

You Stay, I Go

Select your favorite platform: https://ampl.ink/d3Qm4 
'Pianette' consists of a collection of solo piano compositions inspired by dreams and the bucolic fantasy of mechanical toys, the dolls, the essence of the circus and the puppets.
Available on CD, Sheet Music Book & digital.
Analog Mastered by Ian Hawgood · Cover image by Larissa Kulik
Design by Nikki Snow BNBA
www.bruno-sanfilippo.com

DOLL

Select your platform

Doll

THE FREEMARTIN CALF (an original soundtrack) 
original music by Frédéric D. Oberland with Gaspar Claus
poetry & film by Jayne Amara Ross 

Out on Deluxe LP+DVD & Digital - September 23th 2013 via Gizeh Records
ORDER: https://fredericdoberland.bandcamp.com/album/the-freemartin-calf-ost

FILM TRAILER: https://vimeo.com/14898901

///

“An arresting film narrative and  a provocative stand-alone soundtrack. Moments of beauty are many." Textura

“Delicate and very effecting. A comparison would be the spoken elements of Swans and lyrically it shares much with the film noir cool of Enablers." Nine Hertz

“Shot in stark black and white and imbued with a mesmerising dreamlike fragility, the film’s look brings to mind some of the great Expressionist movies of 1930s Germany as well as Tarkovsky’s Stalker and the work of modern masters such as Béla Tarr”. Decoder Magazine

“Elegant, harrowing, and consistently captivating." A Closer Listen

“Deeply evocative and dangerously sensual.” Fluid Radio

///

The film The Freemartin Calf was shot on super 8, hand-processed and edited at home by Jayne Amara Ross between 2009 and 2010.

The music was composed and recorded at Magnum Diva Studio by Frédéric D. Oberland with Gaspar Claus /// Mixed on an analog console at Le Fresnoy by Maxime Champesme /// Mastered to tape at Durton Studio by Nils Frahm /// Jayne Amara Ross: narration /// Frédéric D. Oberland : electric bowed guitar, fender rhodes, piano, kalimba, harmonium, theremin, bowed glockenspiel, bells, electronics /// Gaspar Claus: cello /// Maxime Champesme: sound design, field recordings

///
www.fredericdoberland.com
www.jayneamaraross.com
www.myspace.com/gasparclaus

ORDER LP+DVD

The End / Credits (feat. Gaspar Claus & Jayne Amara Ross)

I played tabla as I had no drums around but hey, I dig it and I hope you dig it too! x

"You know the place where I hide,
low and down.

You drag me further in
and I'm staying in.
Some day, I'll be free - (oh no)

You know I want your love.
All the things I aspire to be
you smash them to inprison me

Please, don't die.
I sure will cry
You know, you know, you know
I can't resist the beauty of your call."

Music, lyrics and performance by Giovanni Capineri

Starstreamer

Don't miss the video: https://youtu.be/NGgdJNoJBic

Para Lia
Fade To Grey
Album: Gone With The Flow
paralia.bandcamp.com/album/gone-with-the-flow
Vinyl / CD / Digital

What's the story behind this song and the album as a unit? Find it out: Visit the 3D virtual art exhibition, realized by SophisticatedApe, with the great work of Louis Renzoni and the music of Para Lia with a lot of background information here:
https://www.sophisticatedape.com/gone-with-the-flow-exhibition/
It is like an interactive visit in a gallery: Use your mouse and the left button to walk around, use the arrow keys on your keyboard or the W-A-S-D keys (forward, left, back, right, respectively). On mobile devices, touch and drag in the direction you would like to move.

words and music by René Methner
mix and production: René Methner
mastering: Thomas Heimann-Trosien, TurnstyleMastering, Berlin

Follow Para Lia on:
www.facebook.com/paraliamusic/
www.instagram.com/paralia.music/
twitter.com/para_lia_band

everything fades to grey
since you're gone
my silent film tries to go on
since you're gone
i got no clue where i belong
since you're gone
i am a figurine, a wounded toon
i slowly fade to grey

i lose myself in my cocoon
i slowly fade to grey
i gotta get out of here soon

i feel like losing my mind
since you're gone
the doctor says "those pills are fine
don't waste your time, get a move on!"
i gotta get away
before i'm lost in grey

i lose myself in my cocoon
i slowly fade to grey
i gotta get out of here soon

i hide myself in grey
i lose myself in my cocoon
i slowly fade to grey
i gotta get out of here soon
i slowly fade to grey
i feel like losing my mind
since you're gone
i gotta get away

Fade To Grey

Grateful

UPDATE October 2024

Hi there,
first of I all I would like to say THANK YOU for all your likes and comments during the last months and years and say SORRY that I did not answer for a longer time. 

A few years ago I decided to make a change in my life and learned a new profession (physiotherapist). It took me a few years so that my focus was another one than my music. But now, after finishing the training and arriving in my new job I returned to my passion "piano music". 
Well, I did not stop to play the piano, but it did not really flow. Too many thoughts in my mind. 
But now, it feels so good and easy to play and ideas for new tracks are coming back. And exactly this mood and these emotions made it possible to create two new tracks within a short time and to record them in my favourite recording studio "Tonstudio Katzer" in Nürnberg (Thank you again, Romin! Great job! Always a great time!)

So from now on I will be more present on my platform and try my very best to answer to the comments I got and get! Thank you for your support!! Take care! :-)
____________________________________________________________________________
Hi there,
my name is Claudia Schlegel and I am glad you drop by. 🙂

I learned to play the piano as a child for several years. Honestly I don´t really know how many. But already in that time I prefered to compose than just to play already existing classical piano pieces. For sure I learned quite a lot from my piano teacher as he was a really good pianist and it was great to play pieces from Tschaikowky, Rachmaninoff etc. But it did not catch me enough for continuing. So I stopped and concentrated on sports and came back to playing  the piano not until seven years ago. It was like „love at second sight“. Since that time I compose my own piano pieces in my leisure time, by which I can express my emotions and handle different situations in live. My music helps me quite a lot to calm down. 

You are very welcome to listen to them. If you like them I will be very happy! If not, no problem at all. I am glad that at least you gave it a try! 

My tracks "Grateful", "Lost in dreams", "Let go", "Traumpfad", "Neuanfang" and "A Sunday in November" (studio version) have been recorded in "Tonstudio Katzer" in Nürnberg in Germany in 2019 and 2022, my new tracks "For more humanity" and "Open your heart" in October 2024. Thank you Romin! Amazing job! Always a great experience and pleasure to be in your studio and to get your professional input! :-) 

Have a nice day everybody and take care! 😊

Claudia