About these piano compositions
1. Three Chords for Calliope This piece is a short set of variations revolving around, as the title suggests, three chords. It is characterised by occasional wide leaps in the right hand and takes for inspiration the Greek goddess Calliope, one of the Nine Muses. VIDEO
2. Monomania (or, An Over-Caffeinated Study in Obsession) You know that sense of impending doom which arrives after one too many coffees? Yeah, that. VIDEO
3. Elegy for a Rehearsal Room I Once Knew The title kind of explains my thinking behind this one. Click here to watch me discuss the inspiration behind this composition.
4. Isle of the Dead This piece is based on the mysterious painting of the same name by Arnold Böcklin. I reached out to my audience to suggest an inspiration for my next piece, and this was it. VIDEO
5. The Muted Nostalgia of a Millennial Gazing Over Suburban Rooftops, Recalling the Heartfelt Ambitions of Youth, Now Mere Memories (Unripe Fruits It Would Be Folly to Taste) Serving Only to Highlight the Multifarious Disappointments of Existence, the Daily Banalities and Nightly Malaise (But At Least Those Fruits Are Being Plucked from the Branch Less and Less Often Now, As Time Creeps Ambivalently, Glacially, Unmercifully Onwards…)… Title says it all really. VIDEO
6. Canon No. 1, “Heat Death of the Universe” My first attempt at a simple canon at the octave. The right hand strictly imitates the left at a distance of two beats until the final two bars where it diverts slightly. VIDEO
7. The Lassitude of Hal Incandenza My second composition inspired by David Foster Wallace’s magnum opus, Infinite Jest. VIDEO
8. As My Beloved Writes Two Rooms Away A short simple piece, composed as my wife was working diligently on her novel a couple of rooms away from me. VIDEO
9. Triads Written for a beginner piano student of mine. The title is an anagram of her name. VIDEO
10. Mercury (as seen from a Bamboo Grove) 1452 notes inspired by Bach’s Prelude in C minor. This version recorded with the Una Corda virtual piano from Native Instruments. VIDEO
11. Conflagration in D# minor Inspired by Turner’s painting of the 1834 blaze which destroyed the Houses of Lords and Commons VIDEO
12. Midnight in Argentina A mischievous short piece with a Latin American feel. VIDEO
13. The Aleph Inspired by the tale of the same name by Jorge Luis Borges, this piece features 622 repetitions of the note A. Plus some other notes. VIDEO
14. The Standing Stones of Brodgar What must it have been like to conceive of, and construct, an ancient stone circle? Specifically, the incredible Ring of Brodgar on Orkney? This composition investigates. VIDEO
15. The curse is come upon me Inspired by John William Waterhouse’s masterpiece, The Lady of Shalott. VIDEO
16. Praeludium Pentagonus For once, a piece not inspired by anything extramusical. In this composition, neither hand moves from its initial 5-finger position. VIDEO
17. City of Regret: John Proctor’s Inevitable Demise A piece with a title drawn by public suggestions! VIDEO
18. In Search of Elphinstone A short ‘character’ piece, alternating between slow, subdued sections in three time, and energetic, scalic passages in four time. A fun one to play! VIDEO
19. The Moons of Pluto — I. Charon The first in a set of five piano pieces written in honour of the five moons of Pluto. VIDEO
20. The Moons of Pluto — II. Kerberos The second in a set of five piano pieces written in honour of the five moons of Pluto. VIDEO
21. Sub Specie Aeternitatis Written to celebrate the birth of my son, Raphael. VIDEO
22. The Moons of Pluto — III. Styx The third in a set of five piano pieces written in honour of the five moons of Pluto. VIDEO
23. The Moons of Pluto — IV. Nix The fourth in a set of five piano pieces written in honour of the five moons of Pluto. VIDEO
24. Nocturne for Oppenheimer A dark piece about the so-called “father of the atomic bomb”. VIDEO
25. Oxen of the Sun A piece inspired by the same episode in Ulysses by James Joyce. VIDEO
26. Stopping by Woods on a Snowy Evening Inspired by Robert Frost’s poem of the same name. VIDEO
27. The Moons of Pluto — V. Hydra The fifth and final piano piece in a set written in honour of the five moons of Pluto. VIDEO
28. Delete the Adjectives Inspired by Harper Lee’s novel, To Kill a Mockingbird. VIDEO
29. An Aggregate of Last Moments “Our history is an aggregate of last moments” wrote Thomas Pynchon in Gravity’s Rainbow. This piece is a musical response to that phrase. VIDEO
30. Winter Landscape This piece is inspired by the painting of the same name by Kandinsky. VIDEO
31. Capriccio No. 1 An exuberant and buoyant piece in the key of A major. Inspired by a certain composer; can you guess who? VIDEO
32. The Library of Des Esseintes Inspired by the dark and fascinating novel À rebours by J. K. Huysmans. VIDEO