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You Are Here Now --- 2019-07-12

Liner Notes: "My four Piano Solos came out of a three day recording and concert cycle at the Teatro DOM La Cupola del Pilastro in Bologna in the Spring of 2018 as part of the Contesto Series of the Art Foundation Compagnia Laminarie. The Contesto Series was very interesting for me in that it related to my own ideas and experiences around the risks I enjoy taking in live performance or in a recording situation. That the music I make on each occasion is site specific. Whenever I arrive at a concert hall or theatre, there will be an instrument there that I have never played before, in an acoustic environment that will be different each time. This unique situation involves the country, the particular venue, the nature of the piano, the atmosphere surrounding the event and, most especially, the audience present or, in contrast, the mood of an intimate recording with just a few people. In Bologna, I had the enjoyment of a three day recording session followed by a performance on the evening of the last day. The recording process starts immediately as a key part of the risk, as I want to document my initial exploration of the piano and the space, and the pleasure of discovering new work. Through my exploration of improvisation and composition, I have sought out a variety of ways to make musical structures while keeping it a mysterious process. Treading a line between more traditional piano techniques while pushing the medium. For me, this is part of the excitement of playing solo in that there is nowhere to hide and nothing to mask the intensity of that one-to-one (to many) moment of communication with the audience. This approach is something that I like when performing my written work as well, as I will play it differently each time and I’m always looking for another way to make a phrase or to completely change the notes on the page. This can be quite a challenge to my fellow players as, on occasions, I will push this risk-taking too far for comfort. In my work, I’m always aiming for this sense of disruption of the sound so, no matter what the context, I will try not to settle and push further. I started this process as a young pianist and, also, when I was in my first group Rip Rig And Panic which featured, amongst others, the great trumpeter Don Cherry. Playing with Don, I began to try to experiment with finding a way to use clusters of notes and intervals in order to attempt to play between the fixed notes on the piano to make the effects more like that of a trumpet, when it is gliding and moving in between regular intervals and playing half notes and quarter notes. The Amiata Piano Sextet is a chamber piece in six movements. It is inspired by an area of land in Tuscany with the extinct volcano of Monte Amiata, which was last active over one hundred and fifty thousand years ago. It was recorded at the Teatro di Castagnoli in Scansano during the Morellino Classica Festival in Tuscany in August 2018. The Amiata itself represents an area of great natural force and beauty with a palpable sense of history. The first movement is about the land before any traces of humanity, when it was in a primordial state. In the Second movement, the piece develops to a point where we see the first human presences. This is followed by the third movement, representing a castle, the Castello di Potentino which is to be found about half way up the mountain and sits like a fortress overlooking the wild mountain’s surrounding lands. This movement is set during a war and represents humans in their destructive mode and the life at the castle during this period. I have included a Waltz time dance in 3/4 representing a moment of jollity; a respite from an otherwise turbulent epoch. The fourth movement further explores the land and its nature and how it continues to evolve over time. The fifth movement begins to describe the fractured forces of nature as they react to environmental shifts. This leads to our final movement which is paired down to a duet for piano and double bass. This movement is split into two parts, each half very similar but played with subtle differences. The two instruments create a change from the ensemble sound of the sextet and I now imagine a place that has lost all traces of life and there is no one left to bear witness to its existence. Almost like the music is the only thing that is playing itself out in an impossible world devoid of all human presence.