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Interesting things come from online connections – and this is one of the nicest projects I’ve been involved in recently, thanks to a Twitter/Facebook connection with composer Doug Thomas.

The Seasons is Doug’s hommage to Tchaikovsky’s suite of 12 piano miniatures which bears the same name, a year-long collaborative project with 12 pianists from around the world. Doug composed 12 short pieces, 1 for each pianist participating in the project. Each pianist recorded his/her piece and these recordings were released month by month via Doug’s SoundCloud and social media. Now all 12 pieces have been collated into an album, available via SoundCloud and Spotify (in a fully mixed/engineered version).

The music is generally minimalist in style, and each piece is different – like Tchaikovsky’s Season’s, Doug captures the character of each month, from the solemn frozen majesty of January to the reawakening of nature after winter (March – which Doug composed for me), the sunny playfulness of July and the melancholy nostalgia of December at the close of the year.

Other pianists participating in the project include Christina McMaster, Clio Monterey and Simeon Walker – all of whom have, coincidentally, appeared in my Meet the Artist series. This for me is a mark of the wonderful connectivity that social media affords us, and that those of us in the piano world have many overlapping networks and circles within circles.

It is very special to have a work composed especially for one and I felt a huge responsibility towards the composer and his music to interpret the work in a way which I hoped would fit with his original vision for the work, which conveys the excitement of nature bursting into life again after the winter chill.

Listen to the album on Spotify

In addition to the album, the sheet music for the complete project is also available here.

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A selection of piano music that touches your soul, beyond any other….

Andrew James Johnson is a Composer and Pianist from the UK renowned for his melodically inspired and elegantly crafted solo piano works. His music speaks directly to the heart, conveying a range of emotions from the first few bars. As the music flows from his fingertips, Andrew caresses the piano with his yearning phrases alongside a natural virtuosity that takes the listener on a transcendent musical journey.

andrewjamesjohnson.co.uk

 

 

 

By |

A selection of piano music that touches your soul, beyond any other….

Andrew James Johnson is a Composer and Pianist from the UK renowned for his melodically inspired and elegantly crafted solo piano works. His music speaks directly to the heart, conveying a range of emotions from the first few bars. As the music flows from his fingertips, Andrew caresses the piano with his yearning phrases alongside a natural virtuosity that takes the listener on a transcendent musical journey.

andrewjamesjohnson.co.uk

 

 

 

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This playlist contains a selection of recordings from up-and-coming colleagues of mine, really well known artists in the Classical world as well as some original compositions by some of the artists.  This playlist includes Fabiana and Paula Chavez, the Piano duo twin sisters from Argentina (currently studying at Trinity-Laban Conservatoire in London), who have overcome a major physical disability of blindness to record their album and I feature a couple of tracks from that. One of the highlights is British pianist Stephen Hough’s ‘Broken Branches’ Piano Sonata: I attended the world premiere performance of this work in 2011 at London’s Wigmore Hall.  Hope you enjoy it!

Daniel Roberts is a graduate of Leeds College of Music, where he studied with Helen Reid and Natalia Strelchenko. A former student of the later Peter Feuchtwanger, Daniel has performed around the UK, Europe, South America, and USA. He lives in Brazil.

danielrobertsmusic.com

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Double-bassist and director of Classical Evolution, Heather Bird shares her mixtape of music which reminds her of childhood musical encounters, teenage hearthrobs, student music making, living and working in Spain and performing at the Proms for the first time…….

Brandenburgs – apparently when I was a baby my dad would put the headphones from his big wooden stereo on me and play this. I’d sit there for hours and yell the place down if they took the headphones off before the end of a phrase. Strange kid….My grandma bought me a penny whistle when I was 18 months and I worked out bits of 3 and 5 on it.

Dvorak- my mum’s favourite piece and she adored Du Pré. She died when I was 12 and was so supportive of my flute playing. She wanted me to take up the cello as well as the flute. Bass is an improvement on that I suppose! Still can’t listen to this without crying.

Mahler 2. Mum took me to see the Hallé playing this when I was 4. The bit where the flutes go mad in the last movement is the reason I took up the flute.

Save All Your Kisses For Me. I had the best grandma in the world. She was a school cook in Liverpool. I would phone her every day from when I was 6 and we would sing this down the phone to each other.

So What – first heard this when I was about 10 and completely fell in love. Would improvise over the kind of blue album for hours on my flute. Have lost count of how many copies of this album I’ve bought.

Lloyd Cole. My first love. Several ex-boyfriends bear a striking resemblance….

Sueños de autostop!! I lived near Cádiz for three years and played in a band with some Argentinian guys. They introduced me to this band Me Daras Mil Hijos which translates as “I’ll give you 1000 sons. Optimistic. This reminds me of me, my kid and my band driving down the Costa de la Luz to gigs in Sevilla and Granada singing along to this. Very happy time of my life and amazing musically to work with these incredible musicians.

Nielsen 5. I got put in Symphony Orchestra at the RNCM in my first week. We did Nielsen 5 and toured it to Denmark and Sweden. It was my first real taste of top class playing. I was thinking about leaving the RNCM for various reasons and this made me stay. I also accidentally offered the queen of Denmark a free pint of carlsberg accidentally in Tivoli Gardens, Copenhagen.

Stone Roses. This album was the theme tune to my late teens.
Took my son to see them a couple of years ago and he said that I was mum dancing. How time flies…..
Brahms. Played my first prom back after a break to be a parent with the OAE under Marin Alsop. It was stunning and working with her was an immense privilege. It was great to get back to that level after the parent break as you always wonder in the back of your mind if you will get to that point again. It was a wonderful gig and the OAE are definitely my favourite orchestra to work with. I felt very lucky that night.
 

 

To submit your Mixtape, click here