If you are looking for some quiet background piano music, head over to the Just Listen page.
Finishing the Art of Fugue
No, this isn’t piano music. It’s not calm, quiet, meditative.
My friend Michael Ferguson made a bold step. He wrote an ending to J. S. Bach’s Art of Fugue. He had his performance of it recorded by Minnesota Public Radio. He posted this video recently. It’s profound and I am glad to be sharing it here.
I hope you enjoy it!
New music – Not here
Another bit of music to add to the collection – enjoy!
dw
Copyright © 2020 dwpianomusic.com
Petition
The last time I published music here was in December, 2018; I finally have something new to post and I hope you like it.
Petition
Copyright © 2020, dwpianomusic.com
Here is a poem I saw recently on a blog I follow that captures some of the emotion I feel when playing this piece. I’ve taken it from here: https://poets.org/poem/memoriam-ring-out-wild-bells
In Memoriam, [Ring out, wild bells]
Alfred Lord Tennyson – 1809-1892Ring out, wild bells, to the wild sky,
The flying cloud, the frosty light:
The year is dying in the night;
Ring out, wild bells, and let him die.Ring out the old, ring in the new,
Ring, happy bells, across the snow:
The year is going, let him go;
Ring out the false, ring in the true.Ring out the grief that saps the mind
For those that here we see no more;
Ring out the feud of rich and poor,
Ring in redress to all mankind.Ring out a slowly dying cause,
And ancient forms of party strife;
Ring in the nobler modes of life,
With sweeter manners, purer laws.Ring out the want, the care, the sin,
The faithless coldness of the times;
Ring out, ring out my mournful rhymes
But ring the fuller minstrel in.Ring out false pride in place and blood,
The civic slander and the spite;
Ring in the love of truth and right,
Ring in the common love of good.Ring out old shapes of foul disease;
Ring out the narrowing lust of gold;
Ring out the thousand wars of old,
Ring in the thousand years of peace.Ring in the valiant man and free,
The larger heart, the kindlier hand;
Ring out the darkness of the land,
Ring in the Christ that is to be.This poem is in the public domain.
Grace and peace to you…
dw
I posted earlier about my goal to record an EP this year and make it available on Bandcamp, etc.: that is now a goal for 2019.
I worked on it…I really did. And I learned a few things:
- Playing ‘live’ on a Steinway grand at the cancer center and playing in my studio on a digital keyboard (albeit a good one) are two really different experiences. It’s almost as though I lose the meaning of the music when I’m recording.
- I’m not a sound engineer, but I know I’m not quite satisfied with the final sound quality I’m getting so far. I want to take some time to try a few different approaches.
- I want a more solid theme for the EP/album – not a ‘variety pack’.
- I’m letting perfection get in the way of good. I record countless takes and am not fully satisfied with any of them. I have to accept that my technique is only so good, that it’s okay for my recordings to reflect me, where I am, how I play.
Thank you for listening this year – I can’t begin to tell you how much that encourages me! And grace and peace to you in 2019!
dw
p.s. I’m always open to your thoughts about how I could make this site better for you – don’t hesitate to let me know.
Cortège
A leave-taking for a tumultuous year.
Cortège
Grace and peace to you…
dw
Copyright © 2018, dwpianomusic.com
Study in Silence
I’m very happy, after a very long hiatus, to post new music again today. This piece is a side-effect of a collaboration with my friend Ehsan to write a new Sanctus (which we will share once we have a good recording). The recurring motif is from the hymn “Let All Mortal Flesh Keep Silence”. I hope you enjoy it.
Grace and peace to you…
dw