Hi Simeon, I’m really enjoying your 17 minutes piece Roam on the Thesis Drive 2 compilation, which I’ve only recently discovered. I’d be very interested to know if this was improvised, and if you might do some more long-form solo piano works in the future.
Hi Richard, thanks very much for your comment, and for listening to that piece. I really loved working on that one for Gregory's brilliant Thesis Drive project, and it was a great opportunity to be even more spacious and taking a slower approach to musical development, partly afforded by the nature of the project, and also the freedom Gregory gave me in relation to the brief, and letting the musical ideas happen over a more elongated period of time.
To your first question - yes, I'd say that the whole first section is what might best be described as semi-improvised. I really like taking that perspective...having some general musical ideas and content, but building in the freedom and flexibility to be able to take it wherever you feel it needs to go...as the wind blows!
I called the piece 'Roam', as it was something I was working on during April and May 2020, when our movements were suddenly so restricted, and as the weather was conversely really beautiful at the time, I was really feeling that urge to get out into the open countryside and to roam free.
To the second question - yes indeed, I actually have something scheduled for next February, a similar length piece inspired by the Suffolk coastline. It's solo piano (although recorded on a Steinway grand rather than felted upright), but also incorporates numerous field recordings of the location (Shingle Street & Orford Ness). It's a little more experimental in compositional style, perhaps a bit more impressionist (although I hate having to put labels on things, especially labels which the impressionists themselves didn't like or agree with!), and I'm really looking forward to sharing that!
Hi Simeon, thanks very much for all the background to Roam (maybe I should have guessed the Covid part of it) - I’ll be listening to it slightly differently from now on. Really looking forward to the new piece in February (sounds pretty special) but for now I’m loving my Imprints CD…
Hi Richard, I just remembered there's something else I've done recently on this theme, and would like to share it with you. Could you pop me a quick email to info@simeonwalker.co.uk and I'll send you a link/Bandcamp code to something I think you might be interested in? Thanks!
Hello friend, thanks for the question. I think I'd have to say it's my piece 'Chiaroscuro' (a clip is the only thing I have to share at the moment: https://www.instagram.com/p/CwNjbqhsexg/)
It's a piece which I wrote for my new piano & drums duo, and so there's inevitably a slightly jazzier edge to the harmony - and I think the melodic content too - although a review from earlier in the year likened it to a bigger, more 'Romantic' interlude, which I guess I can see some element of that too. When we play it as a duo, it has an extended middle section which is essentially a "solo" of sorts, improvising around the themes and ideas of earlier, but when I play it solo, I condense the middle section to make it a little more concise.
I love playing it in the middle of a set, as it provides quite a nice contrast with earlier, more minimal and reflective pieces, and allows me to just expand a little bit in terms of the amount of notes and playing style, and, by virtue of the increased dynamics and expression, it seems to stick in audiences' minds a little and be a notable favourite.
We recorded it earlier in the year (as ENGAWA, as we are now called), and it will be out...at some point - once we've worked out what to do with it!
Hi Simeon, I’m really enjoying your 17 minutes piece Roam on the Thesis Drive 2 compilation, which I’ve only recently discovered. I’d be very interested to know if this was improvised, and if you might do some more long-form solo piano works in the future.
Thanks, Richard
Hi Richard, thanks very much for your comment, and for listening to that piece. I really loved working on that one for Gregory's brilliant Thesis Drive project, and it was a great opportunity to be even more spacious and taking a slower approach to musical development, partly afforded by the nature of the project, and also the freedom Gregory gave me in relation to the brief, and letting the musical ideas happen over a more elongated period of time.
To your first question - yes, I'd say that the whole first section is what might best be described as semi-improvised. I really like taking that perspective...having some general musical ideas and content, but building in the freedom and flexibility to be able to take it wherever you feel it needs to go...as the wind blows!
I called the piece 'Roam', as it was something I was working on during April and May 2020, when our movements were suddenly so restricted, and as the weather was conversely really beautiful at the time, I was really feeling that urge to get out into the open countryside and to roam free.
To the second question - yes indeed, I actually have something scheduled for next February, a similar length piece inspired by the Suffolk coastline. It's solo piano (although recorded on a Steinway grand rather than felted upright), but also incorporates numerous field recordings of the location (Shingle Street & Orford Ness). It's a little more experimental in compositional style, perhaps a bit more impressionist (although I hate having to put labels on things, especially labels which the impressionists themselves didn't like or agree with!), and I'm really looking forward to sharing that!
Hi Simeon, thanks very much for all the background to Roam (maybe I should have guessed the Covid part of it) - I’ll be listening to it slightly differently from now on. Really looking forward to the new piece in February (sounds pretty special) but for now I’m loving my Imprints CD…
Hi Richard, I just remembered there's something else I've done recently on this theme, and would like to share it with you. Could you pop me a quick email to info@simeonwalker.co.uk and I'll send you a link/Bandcamp code to something I think you might be interested in? Thanks!
What's your current favourite piece to perform and why?
Hello friend, thanks for the question. I think I'd have to say it's my piece 'Chiaroscuro' (a clip is the only thing I have to share at the moment: https://www.instagram.com/p/CwNjbqhsexg/)
It's a piece which I wrote for my new piano & drums duo, and so there's inevitably a slightly jazzier edge to the harmony - and I think the melodic content too - although a review from earlier in the year likened it to a bigger, more 'Romantic' interlude, which I guess I can see some element of that too. When we play it as a duo, it has an extended middle section which is essentially a "solo" of sorts, improvising around the themes and ideas of earlier, but when I play it solo, I condense the middle section to make it a little more concise.
I love playing it in the middle of a set, as it provides quite a nice contrast with earlier, more minimal and reflective pieces, and allows me to just expand a little bit in terms of the amount of notes and playing style, and, by virtue of the increased dynamics and expression, it seems to stick in audiences' minds a little and be a notable favourite.
We recorded it earlier in the year (as ENGAWA, as we are now called), and it will be out...at some point - once we've worked out what to do with it!
Very cool! I think I might have seen you do this live at the house concerts at Steve and Ilse’s, can that be right?
Yes, pretty much sure I played it there. It’s always a bit different every time, which is fun!