Various styles and genres for diverse projects and clients. Let me know if there's anything you'd like to hear more of.

Scores for Films

This is music that invokes dreams, then lifts your heart to seek the source of such visions. Listening to Darvish is like encountering long, lost, dear friends returned from journeys to exotic countries, changed... and changing you as you listen to their tales. Every song is a postcard from the Beloved, equally flavored by modern jazz rhythms, Middle Eastern melodies, and percussion. Upbeat urban jazz suddenly shifts and you are whirled like a dervish, your heart spinning. Darvish's music asks your spirit questions, then it answers with the sounds of searching, discovery, delight, and ultimately peace.
Robert Hunt
For over five years, Peter Maund, Moses Sedler and Victor Spiegel have been getting together to make the most remarkable music: a blending of jazz, classical, Middle Eastern and Indian music. Strange modes, odd rhythms, fiery melodies unite into world fusion chamber music. It is the experience and backgrounds of these three accomplished musicians that illustrate the exotic sound of this long-awaited album, available at Amazon.com. The group is currently performing in the San Francisco Bay Area, and can be heard nationally on the Public Radio International program Echoes.

MOSES SEDLER • Cellist, composer, he has received wide acclaim for his fluid melodic sense and inventive rhythmic approach to the cello. His unique ability to improvise spontaneous live compositions has earned him a place among the most creative cellists in the country. Moses has appeared with Pharaoh Sanders, Hamza El Din, Paul McCandles, Omar Sosa, Kai Ekhardt, and with many others.  He has composed for many Bay Area dance companies including Alonzo King’s Lines Contemporary Ballet. When Moses moved to the Bay Area, he immersed himself in the study of North Indian classical music with Maestro Ali Akbar Khan and Tabla virtuoso Swapan Chaudury. Before moving to the Bay Area, Moses attended Cornish College of the Arts in Seattle where he studied classical composition and jazz improvisation. 

PETER MAUND • A native of San Francisco, Peter Maund studied percussion at the San Francisco Conservatory of Music; tabla with Swapan Chauduri at the Ali Akbar College of Music; and music, folklore, and ethnomusicology at the University of California, Berkeley (A.B., M.A.).  As a Ph.D. candidate at Berkeley, he specialized in the music of North India. Mr. Maund has presented lectures, workshops, and classes in the United States, Canada and Scotland.  He has served on the faculty of the University of California, Berkeley; the Amherst Early Music Institute; and the San Francisco Early Music Society.  Other workshop sponsors include the American Recorder Society (chapters in California and Florida), Vancouver Early Music, and Balnain House (Inverness and Glasgow).

VICTOR SPIEGEL • Victor began studying piano repertoire at the age of 5, and began his concert career at age 7.  His interest in all forms of music led him to study and practice the music of Africa, India, Indonesia, Tibet, Turkey, Rumania, and many of the world’s cultures.  He has scored over 100 audio tours for museums throughout the United States. Besides playing with Darvish, Victor performs and records solo piano albums, composes for films, documentaries, radio, TV, CD games, and interactive media.  He teaches privately, and has been Visiting Professor, an instructor at community colleges, and private schools. 


Darvish

"Apart from being the driving force behind the ensemble Darvish, Victor Spiegel performs individually. The CD Evocation is a recording of his solo piano compositions and, like the self-titled Darvish album, this is vintage Spiegel. Not only is he a pianist with astounding technical abilities, his interpretations are also highly original and sophisticated. Spiegel's versatility as a composer and arranger is further underscored by his apparent genius for incorporating a wide variety of musical styles from around the world. For Evocation he has borrowed from jazz, American folk, Turkish, Spanish, Jewish as well as mainstream western classical music traditions. 

The most amazing piece on this album is an adaptation of Indonesian gamelan music. Originally performed by a metallaphone orchestra consisting of a plethora of percussionists, Spiegel pulls it off to play a piano solo combining blues with gamelan scales. The result is a truly amazing blend that has retained an authentic Indonesian sound. In particular the central part of "American Gamelan," where the tropical tones, splashing off Spiegel's piano like raindrops, will transpose the listener's imagination to a temple courtyard on the Indonesian island of Bali at the high of the monsoon season. 

The CD's opening number is a statement of Spiegel's spiritual approach to music. Aside from his work as a professional musician and composer, he is also a practicing mystic. With "How Many Eyes" he reflects on the unique perspective that every human being has of both his inner self and the surrounding world. Consequently, experiences evoke different responses in every one of us. In that sense the composition is a celebration of the essence of individualism. This theme is further elaborated in the next track, "Sunrise on the Blue Nowhere," which is also covered on the Darvish album and recalls a transpacific sailing voyage. 

Is there a connection between Spiegel's adherence to a mystical order of medieval Ottoman origin and his choice of a Turkish tone pattern for the composition "Taxim"? Although he himself has reservations regarding the "barbaric" piano's suitability for illustrating the delicateness of Turkish and Persian lute music, I think Spiegel's contemplative rendition gives the listeners more than a fleeting impression of the depth and subtlety of Middle Eastern spiritual music. Further examples of synthesizing East and West in music are given in the two Indian raga compositions on this album. With his relentless dedication to practice, Spiegel learned to play sitar in order to get a real feeling for raga composition."

I especially want to mention "Raga in C." The penultimate track of Evocation fits seamlessly with the preceding number, a Mahler-inspired composition for which the Sufi master has given way to the maestro. To describe "Soon Enough," words like "lyrical," "haunting" and "subdued" come to mind. These two numbers are sufficient proof that Kipling's saying "East is East, and West is West and never the twain shall meet" does at least not apply to music. 

At the other end of the spectrum stands "Spain," a temperamental and rhythmic number in which the keys almost explode under the pianist's dexterity. Another contrast is provided by the album's closing track, "Shekinah." Although referring to a Jewish blessing this composition has a tempo more reminiscent of Africa. With this Spiegel shows again his ability to fuse seemingly juxtapositioned styles. 

The term "evocation" has a range of connotations, and like the word, this album arouses our imagination, stirs up emotions and raises the spirit, calling on the listener to open up his mind to a multiplicity of impressions.

- Rambles
written by Carool Kersten
published 15 February 2003

Buy All

evocation

Shakespeare's The Tempest is a powerful narrative of redemption and mercy. It is the story of Prospero, the magician banished to a desert island who forsakes revenge in the name of forgiveness. In our society, technology is our magic, and the roots of our industrial-technological complex lie in the imaginings of the imperialist 19th Century.
The Tempest - Steampunked! explores the contemporary theme of the unnerving ubiquity of technology. It will expose the trap that our love affair with technology and control can create, by setting the classic play in the context of a Jules Verne-esque world, filled with whimsical but eerily threatening machinery.
As Prospero makes the journey towards forgiveness and self-worth, he realises the futility of power and control, and the power of redemption. Zeppelin captains battling thunderstorms, a salvage yard hoarder Caliban, a Tesla-esque Prospero manipulating artificial lightning, and a virtual cyborg Ariel make The Tempest - Steampunked! a feast for the eyes and ears, and a new vision of Shakespeare's masterpiece.
The Tempest ran from the 29th August - 8 September at Sidetrack Theatre, Marrickville as part of the Sydney Fringe Festival. The film of the production is now available from Vimeo On Demand
https://victorspiegel.hearnow.com/the-tempest-steampunked

Purchase

The Tempest-Steampunked!

Music Box

It is fall. The large maple leaves, painted in their most alluring colors, float in the cool breeze, swirling around my head. Crunching under my feet.

Walk In The Woods

It's getting cold and them leaves, they be a-changing all kinds of colors!

Fall

FALL

Another orchestral painting, this one is pretty aggressive sometimes.

Phantazi

Originally for a Shakespeare play, the tune is based on, "And did those feet in ancient time"

JERU-SALAAM

Harp, Bass, Alto Flute, French Horn, Cello and Viola weave as spring's tendrils reach and grow with the essence of Life Energy.
6/8 E Lydian, for those keeping score.

Tender Tendrils

Stone Skimming

The Time Well

Orchestral picture of a summer afternoon - kids playing, storm clouds in the distance, couples having serious talks, laughter, balls bouncing, a young girl's scream of delight, bike tires scrunching on the grass, water balloons bursting, laughter...

Summer Afternoon

A music painting of a moment at the beach when we kids all ran into the water naked.

Skinny Dipping

solo piano. Summer, an oasis from the heat. A beautiful waterfull to play and lounge in.

By the Waterfall

Summer evening... hot, humid, still. High above the bats are returning to their home in the thousands. One turns abruptly about and heads back.

Summer Night

The heat from the day has not dissipated. It's still warm, radiating off the street, sidewalks and land. The air is like silk. Everything and everyone is in slow motion. We are walking through honey.

Moonful

For the 'Summer' album, coming soon to your streaming neighborhood.

Summertime

Floating down the river on inner tubes, the sun smashes down the heat, but we're cool. Passing the drinks, hats and sunglasses. A smile from Anna... and we're good.

Cooling Off

Theme music for an audio story about misadventures in a time machine.

The Manual Theme

Moonlit Dragonfly

Piano, percussion, Soprano Sax, Trombone
A tune from The Magic Horse' in a jazz version.
7/8, twisted minor.

Zan LaMur

Deep in the jungle, a shaman prepares the potion that will take you on a fantastic journey. You will never again be who you are now. Bye bye.

SHAMAN

Dolls Attack

The Canyon

Nine3

This is music that invokes dreams, then lifts your heart to seek the source of such visions. Listening to Darvish is like encountering long, lost, dear friends returned from journeys to exotic countries, changed... and changing you as you listen to their tales. Every song is a postcard from the Beloved, equally flavored by modern jazz rhythms, Middle Eastern melodies, and percussion. Upbeat urban jazz suddenly shifts and you are whirled like a dervish, your heart spinning. Darvish's music asks your spirit questions, then it answers with the sounds of searching, discovery, delight, and ultimately peace.
Robert Hunt
For over five years, Peter Maund, Moses Sedler and Victor Spiegel have been getting together to make the most remarkable music: a blending of jazz, classical, Middle Eastern and Indian music. Strange modes, odd rhythms, fiery melodies unite into world fusion chamber music. It is the experience and backgrounds of these three accomplished musicians that illustrate the exotic sound of this long-awaited album, available at Amazon.com. The group is currently performing in the San Francisco Bay Area, and can be heard nationally on the Public Radio International program Echoes.
MOSES SEDLER • Cellist, composer, he has received wide acclaim for his fluid melodic sense and inventive rhythmic approach to the cello. His unique ability to improvise spontaneous live compositions has earned him a place among the most creative cellists in the country. Moses has appeared with Pharaoh Sanders, Hamza El Din, Paul McCandles, Omar Sosa, Kai Ekhardt, and with many others. He has composed for many Bay Area dance companies including Alonzo King’s Lines Contemporary Ballet. When Moses moved to the Bay Area, he immersed himself in the study of North Indian classical music with Maestro Ali Akbar Khan and Tabla virtuoso Swapan Chaudury. Before moving to the Bay Area, Moses attended Cornish College of the Arts in Seattle where he studied classical composition and jazz improvisation.
PETER MAUND • A native of San Francisco, Peter Maund studied percussion at the San Francisco Conservatory of Music; tabla with Swapan Chauduri at the Ali Akbar College of Music; and music, folklore, and ethnomusicology at the University of California, Berkeley (A.B., M.A.).
As a Ph.D. candidate at Berkeley, he specialized in the music of North India. Mr. Maund has presented lectures, workshops, and classes in the United States, Canada and Scotland. He has served on the faculty of the University of California, Berkeley; the Amherst Early Music Institute; and the San Francisco Early Music Society. Other workshop sponsors include the American Recorder Society (chapters in California and Florida), Vancouver Early Music, and Balnain House (Inverness and Glasgow).
VICTOR SPIEGEL • Victor began studying piano repertoire at the age of 5, and began his concert career at age 7. His interest in all forms of music led him to study and practice the music of Africa, India, Indonesia, Tibet, Turkey, Rumania, and many of the world’s cultures. He has scored over 100 audio tours for museums throughout the United States. Besides playing with Darvish, Victor performs and records solo piano albums, composes for films, documentaries, radio, TV, CD games, and interactive media. He teaches privately, and has been Visiting Professor, an instructor at community colleges, and private schools.

Picture of Dorian Mode

Witch one

Which two

CANCER HEALING

Spiker

You've been invited to a gala ball... and they've promised you dinner. They just forgot to add that you ARE dinner. Oh dear. Your last party of the year. At least take a spin on the dance floor. What a nice waltz. Fancy a glass of bubbly?

Vampire Waltz

Heart Study

Spinner

Sunrise on the Blue Nowhere

Sunrise On the Blue Nowhere

Darivsh

Hayy Jilani

Lullaby

3 Point Landing

purchase

Evocation

Spain

American Gamelan

Soon Enough

Raga in C

Shekinah

This track is from the album The Tempest: Steampunked!

The Tempest: Steampunked!

Marooned

This track is from the album The Tempest: Steampunked! and is available for purchase https://victorspiegel.hearnow.com/the-tempest-steampunked

Mad Scientist

https://victorspiegel.hearnow.com/the-tempest-steampunked

Miranda's Protest

Ariel

The Tabourer

Zikr of the Qadiri Rifai

Bismillah

La ilaha Ilallah part 1

ya Hayy

Flute, Harp, Cello. It be purdy and relaksing.

Subtle Light

GEODE

Victor Spiegel: recording artist, teacher, composer, director, actor and voice over professional. 
His study of world music cultures gives his music an added edge and depth. He began composing at 15, after having studied piano for 10 years then attended California Institute of the Arts, where he studied composition with Harold Stein, Harold Budd, Jim Tenney, and others.
A deep love of Indian music brought him to learn from Ravi Shankar, Haral Rao, and Amiyo Das Gupta. Spiegel continued his music education earning a BA at the University of California, and an MA in Music Composition from Mills College, studying with Lou Harrison and Terry Riley.
Spiegel's singular piano sound is a fusion of lush harmonies and rhythms of jazz, classical and musical influences from India, Japan, Indonesia, Africa, the Middle East and Eastern Europe. He continues to score for film, television, theater, dance and other media.

Victor Spiegel

Pinned to spotlight

Popular tracks