Follow me on Spotify to be in with a chance to win two tickets to my next solo piano performance which is on Friday 16th August (7.15pm) underground, in the dark, inside the Victoria Tunnel. The draw will take place on Monday 10th August 2019. If you don’t have a Spotify account leave your email address instead.

This is the 1905 Bechstein in my studio being put to work over the next few days. I am setting up for four mics. Firstly a Rode stereo pair placed inside the lid, close up to the strings for a detailed, clear and pure sound. And secondly two condenser mics in omni mode, a little way out from the instrument but in the firing line of the reflected sound from the lid, which on a grand piano acts in the same way as a speaker – projecting the sound out to the front. The second pair should capture a more rounded ‘room’ sound.

When I mix and master I will listen to the recordings from both sets of microphones and maybe blend the two together with a little reverb and eq.

I also have some stands set up for cameras to record video and stills from the sessions.

The piano tuner is coming in tomorrow and recording will begin in earnest shortly after. For now there is just a bit more practice to be done.

Hopefully you will be able to hear (and see) the results of this process soon.

A composition I put together about a year ago will be re-recorded and released as a single on Spotify,Apple Music, Deezer and all good online streaming and download services towards the end of June 2019.

‘Crescent Moon’ was inspired by the first movement of the Beethoven’s Piano Sonata No. 14 in C♯ minor “Quasi una fantasia”, Op. 27, No. 2 – popularly known as the Moonlight Sonata.

It is one of the most popular piano pieces of all time and I always thought that it had a very special quality about it. I was inspired to use it as a jumping off point to create something new.

According to Wikipedia “the name “Moonlight Sonata” comes from remarks made by the German music critic and poet Ludwig Rellstab. In 1832, five years after Beethoven’s death, Rellstab likened the effect of the first movement to that of moonlight shining upon Lake Lucerne. Within ten years, the name “Moonlight Sonata” (“Mondscheinsonate” in German) was being used in German and English publications. Later in the nineteenth century, the sonata was universally known by that name. Many critics have objected to the subjective, romantic nature of the title “Moonlight”, which has at times been called “a misleading approach to a movement with almost the character of a funeral march” and “absurd”. Other critics have approved of the sobriquet, finding it evocative or in line with their own interpretation of the work.”

My version is kind of a rework/remix/tribute/re-imagining of the original.

Eric Morecambe would have probably said that its “…all the same notes…not necessarily in the same order.”

If you would like to be one of the first to hear it on release visit my spotify artist page here and click ‘follow’

Spotify will let you know once the track is released and you can listen to it immediately. I would love to hear what you think about it- do let me know.

Check out the new album released today. 18 solo piano pieces, over 73 minutes of music including live versions of two previously unreleased tracks plus remastered versions of the rest of the catalogue.

Have a listen below. I hope you like it.