Piano Pieces by Steven McDaniel
My very good friend the painter Tajinder Bhui wanted me to create some music to reflect her work and accompany her exhibition at Queen Mary, University of London, in March 2012. Her pictures are extraordinary and powerful; totally contemporary and abstract yet full of warmth, emotion and colour. Indeed, Tajinder says that emotion is what this particular series of works express, but refuses to explain further, leaving it to the viewer to make their own response. So I did.
The music I created all sprung from my improvisations at the keyboard, performed with these beautiful paintings in mind. Capturing an inspired performance as it happens provides rich source material for later manipulation. Recording the ‘Midi Information’ (data about the pitch and velocity of each note strike), allows endless manipulation possibilities, while retaining the feel of the playing. Some of the improvisations were almost complete in themselves, just needing a little tidying up to overcome slips of the fingers. Others provided starting points for much more ‘composed’ pieces.
The aim was to use computer technology to create highly realistic audio productions to sound and feel as if the pieces were being played on real pianos by real concert pianists in a real environment, to completely represent what I was imagining. (I hope one day to actually make this happen in a live performance!). This production makes use of three settings from the ‘Imperial Grand’ virtual instrument for Sample Tank by Allan Parsons, to realise the three different pianos needed for the work.
Steven McDaniel
Tajinder Bhui Art: http://www.bhuiart.co.uk
Tracklist
| 1. | Opening | 2:44 |
| 2. | The Stream | 8:48 |
| 3. | Melancholia | 9:18 |
| 4. | New Light | 7:55 |
| 5. | Morning | 6:28 |
| 6. | Majesty | 9:57 |
| 7. | The Sea | 5:45 |
| 8. | Closing | 1:38 |
Credits
Composed, performed and produced by Steven McDaniel
License
All rights reserved.
Planet Zyz isn't cool. That's because I'm not cool and Planet Zyz is just where music and stuff I'm involved with gets made and put out to the Big Wide World. Cottage Industry? Well, actually a Terrace-in-Milton-Keynes industry. Every album is different to the others, and none of them quite fit in with where all the Cool Stuff is. Outsider Art? This stuff is from a different planet.