Musicians article index
This section provides news and information about leading pianists and synth musicians.
Review: Oleg Prodeus: The 13
April 13, 2012
Oleg Prodeus
Although the album sits in the alternative pop/rock genre, it goes far deeper than that. It oozes class and depth, and so it should as it took the multi-instrumentalist Oleg three intensive years to complete.
Listen to each of the thirteen tracks and you’ll be sure to hear a rich diversity of synthetic textures, arpeggiations and distortions, yet all fitting perfectly within the overall mix.
Every track is highly listenable, at times featuring unexpected arrangements and melodies. Personal favourites include the opening track “Savior”, “Can You Feel the Rain”, “Do You Know the Way”, and “Last Hero In This Universe”.
The 13 album cover
“The 13″ is diverse in richness, yet fits together perfectly. There are elements of good pop, of eighties and nineties influences, electronic and acoustic, and great vocal presence. This is definitely an album worth exploring. James Moore from Independent Music Productions” said that “The 13″ was “highly recommended for fans of Depeche Mode, Nine Inch Nails, Ours, Muse, and Sneaker Pimps.”
Check out every track on Oleg Prodeus’s web site and buy on iTunes, Bandcamp or Amazon.
Previously to “The 13″, singer/songwriter, producer, multimedia artist and filmmaker/director Oleg composed two other solo albums — “To The Sky” and “Collective Farm”, as well as composing and producing five songs for the film soundtrack of Pepe Danquart’s motion picture “C(r)ook“.
Check out Oleg’s YouTube channel for more music videos.
Review: Francis Bowie EP
April 13, 2012
Francis Bowie
Producing in the electronic/intelligent pop music style, his EP features a range of soaring synthesiser lines together with orchestral backing. The style is light and fresh without falling into the Pop Idol trap.
“IPM is an attempt to put some quality, dignity and honour back into popular music,” Bowie says.
His EP features four tracks. “Endlessly” is delightfully upbeat with plenty of synth evidence.
“Wasting My Time” has an almost sci-fi electronic feel with lots of deep synth action, orchestral strings and piano. Fantastic.
Finally, after “Sunny Day”, comes “Silly And Crazy”, featuring synth zings and altered electric pianos.
Those of you with creativity that extends beyond the music keyboard may also be interested to know that Francis is also a painter, sculptor, designer, writer and gallery owner.
Check out the official YouTube channel, web site and Facebook page. Buy the EP for $3 or more or check out Francis Bowie’s SoundCloud page.
Preview: Alex Nackman – This Revolution
March 22, 2012
New York City based Alex Nackman is no musical novice, having five albums under his belt as well as being a proficient writer and producer, and his work takes a further turn in his latest album “This Revolution“.
Taking influence from a plethora of ’90s sounds including Duran Duran, New Order, The Cure and U2, it’s no surprise that – despite the fact that you hear a strong guitar influence in his music – there’s also a lot of synthesiser goodness oozing through the soundscape.
Alex Nackman
Not to mention acoustic piano. Take a look at a snap of the gorgeous studio Alex works in and you’ll see a grand piano as well as assorted xylophones/glockenspiels. There’s definitely an Alesis synth floating around too.
Alex Nackman studio
Alex Nackman studio
One reviewer described This Revolution as “paced exceptionally well. Moving from one song to the next seems like a natural progression… There are a fair number of songs that immediately pull you in with either a really great drum groove, an interesting repeated melody line, or a combination of both.”
Another described it as “sonically full” with “an edge” and a sounds that’s “incredibly durable”.
Get a taste of the album with the fourth track “Burn from the Rockets”:
This Revolution album cover
Download the album from iTunes
For those itching to know about some of the gear that Alex uses, here we go:
- Nord Electro 75
- Mooger Vintage Synth
- Summit Audio TLA-50 Compressor
- Universal Audio LA-610
- Neumann TLM67
- Electro Harmonix Memory-Man Delay
- Keeley OCD Pedal
Brahms – Rhapsody For Piano in G Minor
January 16, 2012
Like many composers in the 19th century, Brahms made his reputation by playing his own and other composers pieces on the piano. From what I’ve read, he was not the most brilliant of pianists as far as technique, but he was very musical. In his later years he hated to practice and played the premiere of his 2nd Piano Concerto after hardly touching a piano in years. He admitted he had better things to do than practice the piano three hours a day.
He played his own compositions to Robert and Clara Schumann in their home when he was 20 years old. Robert Schumann was not only a composer, but was an influential critic and writer. Brahms had been on concert tour with a Hungarian violinist as an accompanist when Joseph Joachim heard him, introduced him to Liszt and gave him a letter of introduction to the Schumanns. Schumann wrote about him in an article titled ‘New Paths’ in a music journal and hailed him as a genius.
Brahms continued to compose and be involved in the musical life of Hamburg, Dusseldorf and Vienna. His compositions were met with mixed results, his first piano concerto was roundly criticized and hissed at the first performance. It wasn’t until he composed his German Requiem in 1868 that Brahms got his European reputation as a great composer.
A contemporary of Brahms said that he played the piano like a composer. If his playing style is reflected in his music for solo piano, he was not a brilliant technician. his piano music is not full of scales running up and down the keyboard, but rather much of his music is dense with thick chords, with the melody embedded sometimes in an inner voice, sometimes an outer voice. This aspect of his music makes it difficult to play in its own way. Brahms piano music is not so much difficult because of technical glitter, but of musical substance and balance. Brahms had a tendency to write music in phrases made up of odd numbers of measures. Instead of 4-bar phrases Brahms many times writes 5-bar phrases. Couple this with the aforementioned thick chordal structure, and you’ve unlocked some of the reasons why Brahms music can sound not quite conventional, but not quite radical either. Brahms indeed found his own voice.
The Rhapsody For Piano in G minor is one of two that Brahms wrote in 1879 at the height of his popularity. It is in many ways typical Brahms. A lot going on, danger of the melody being swamped by all the inner workings, first theme threading through the accompaniment, the Brahmsian dilemma of keeping everything in balance. But Brahms leads the way for the pianist, as long as they remain alert and pay attention. Even the ritard at the end of the piece is worked out by Brahms, as the final six bars hold the melody in tied whole notes while the accompaniment is marked ‘quasi ritard’, with the eighth note accompaniment turning into quarter note triplets, and then to quarter notes thus creating Brahms’ ‘quasi ritard’.
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Liszt – Malediction For Piano and Strings
January 16, 2012
Franz Liszt was a musical genius, as a performer on the piano, conductor of an orchestra, and as a composer. He also had a tremendous drive to succeed and be all that he could be. He knew he was blessed with talent, and he felt obligated to develop that talent as much as he could. He first became a virtuoso pianist who also was one of the best sight readers of the time. He would put a manuscript copy of an orchestral work he had never seen or heard before on the music bench and play through it, arranging it as he went so it sounded well on the piano. What seemed to come easy to him to others was a combination of natural talent and hard work. He spent countless hours at the piano developing one of the finest techniques of any pianist.
This is not to say he never composed. He began composing pieces as soon as he had learned the rudiments of music. He composed an opera when he was thirteen, Don Sanche that was premiered in Paris when Liszt was fourteen. And he composed his first version of the Transcendental Etudes for solo piano in 1826 when he was fifteen and composed many fantasies and paraphrases on opera tunes. After the death of his father he lived in an apartment in Paris with his mother and made money for them both to live on by giving piano lessons dawn until dusk and did no composing.
He was a touring virtuoso for about eight years and only composed during holidays after the concert season. He began experimenting writing for piano and orchestra and one of his earliest compositions for this combination was what is now called Malediction, written for piano and string orchestra or string sextet. Malediction means ‘curse’, this word was written over the first part of the work in the manuscript by Liszt. There is no other title on it. It was given this title by musicologists who found the piece in 1915.
That this is an experimental piece is evident, as some of the seams show. Liszt was learning how to orchestrate and write a concerto for piano and orchestra, not an easy thing to do especially with the pianos of the day. To keep the soloist and orchestra in balance was something Liszt had to learn. That isn’t to say this piece is only a curiosity. Far from it. It shows an expanded idea of harmony, especially in the first part, the part marked Malediction. Some of the chords in this section are quite striking in their dissonance, especially when we know the piece was written in 1833-1834. Liszt was in his early 20′s, fresh from meeting Berlioz and attending the premiere of Symphonie Fantastique in 1830. As a composer, Liszt was in the avant-garde of the era almost immediately.
Malediction is in one movement, and originally may have had a program to go with it. A tone poem for piano and orchestra essentially, that changes moods and shifts tempos throughout. It begins in a minor key and ends in a major key and has a lot going on in between. It is a glimpse into the creative mind of the young Franz Liszt.
Visit Musical Musings for thoughts and impressions about musicians, composers and their music. http://muswrite.blogspot.com/
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Nick Rhodes, Duran Duran synth man, talks analog and digital
October 10, 2011
The Las Vegas Review Journal has published a really interesting interview with Nick Rhodes, the keyboard/synth player in Duran Duran.
Not only do we get a glimpse of some of his influences — including Kraftwerk, Wendy Carlos, David Bowie, Brian Eno, Bjork and Portishead — but an interesting look at how digital is used to take some of his beloved analog sounds on tour.
Rhodes must re-create those synthetic tones digitally, because it’s not practical to drag vintage analog machinery on the road. (Rhodes does bring one digitally controlled analog synthesizer on tour. It’s called the Andromeda.)
So to re-create the album on tour, Duran Duran digitally sampled all their synthesized tones and texture.
“Digital sampling now is amazing,” Rhodes says.
But digital still doesn’t have the same aural response as analog, he says.
“Analog can do things that digital will never be able to do. It’s got a heartbeat,” he says. “Analog instruments are all like wild animals you have to tame. You can get things out of those beasts that you’re never going to get out of digital synthesisers.”
Yamaha Disklavier used on Mike Garson’s Bowie Variations CD
October 4, 2011
In crafting his latest release, The Bowie Variations
According to Garson, The Bowie Variations was the perfect vehicle for the Disklavier. “There was no studio or hall involved initially and no need to force creativity all at once,” says Garson, noting that he was able to spread out the recording over the period of a month and work on it at home at his own pace. Once the creative process was complete, Yamaha provided a duplicate Disklavier piano at Oxnard Performing Arts Centre, where famed recording engineer Professor Johnson expertly mic’d the piano and it then played itself for the next several hours. The CD is now available on Reference Recordings, an audiophile label that records the best classical and jazz artists of our times.
The record and playback function likewise enabled him to layer multiple piano parts. “It’s like having six hands,” he relates. “The Disklavier has really allowed me to record track over track, and let me completely abandon myself to the creative process. It was fun. I wasn’t pressured in any way and wrote or improvised when I felt it.”
In the 1980s, Garson became the first musician to ever use the Yamaha Disklavier, a traditional acoustic piano equipped with an integrated digital electronics system that enables the recording, playback and creation of complex multi-track arrangements. An early adopter of the instrument, Garson procured the first one on the market and still treasures it to this day. “The piano is so good that I never wanted to change it,” said Garson. “There really aren’t too many pianos out there that sound better than this one.”
Ever since he obtained the instrument, it quickly became Garson’s main compositional and improvisational tool. “Prior to that, all my music was written by hand,” he recalled. Since he began using the Disklavier in the late 1980s, Garson saw his productivity – as well as the complexity of his work – skyrocket. “Because of the Disklavier, I can play pieces that are much more involved now. Before, it was mostly pop and jazz tunes, which are less dense by nature, but now I can play sonatas, nocturnes and etudes, which are far more intricate and elaborate.” Garson even coined a label for the music he makes with his Disklavier. He calls it “now music” because it allows him to orchestrate what he feels “in the moment.”
Over the next few months, Garson plans on performing some of the music from his latest work live in concert, with some dates already set for Washington State and Indiana. He is also weighing the possibility of a Bowie Variations Volume 2. For piano enthusiasts, Garson’s sheet music from the CD is also available. “It’s rather difficult,” he warns, “but pianists can really have a ball. Just listen to the recording for the feel and then check out the notes.”
An acclaimed jazz pianist who began playing at the age of 12, Yamaha Artist Mike Garson now boasts nearly 4,000 original compositions to his name and an illustrious career spanning over 40 decades with David Bowie, Nine Inch Nails and the Smashing Pumpkins. Although his background is in classical jazz, he learned a great deal early on at the hands of music icons like Lennie Tristano, Hal Overton and Herbie Hancock, and developed the creative flair and improvisation skills that propelled him to stardom.
A signed copy of The Bowie Variations is available at www.mikegarson.com.
Chick Corea Mark V Sample Library comes to Yamaha MOTIF XF
October 4, 2011
In 1984, renowned piano player Chick Corea worked with Harold Rhodes in the creation of the Stage 73 Mark V electric piano. Over the next ten years, Corea and his team developed what they called the Number One, replacing hammers, developing custom electronics and creating an instrument that reflected the singular talent and innovation of its owner.
In 2009, after enduring years of pounding from one of modern music’s most innovative composers and performers, the keyboard became too fragile to take on the road. Before being shipped into storage, however, Corea and his tech team painstakingly sampled every note at Mad Hatter Studios in Los Angeles. After months of searching for the right technology platform, Corea took the massive amount of data to industry-leading sound designers, who developed Chick’s Mark V Sample Library for the Motif XF and worked with Keyfax NewMedia to bring it to the Motif community.
The library is being used by Corea in his Motif XF8 on the current Return to Forever reunion tour and is available for purchase by end users exclusively at www.motifator.com for $129.
“If you want to own a piece of musical history, or just be able to access a landmark Mark V that speaks with clarity, character and punch, this sample library is unparalleled,” said Athan Billias, Director of Marketing at the Pro Audio & Combo Division at Yamaha Corporation of America.
Corea’s direct involvement in the process makes this sampling session unique. A specially developed vorsetzer player piano mechanism helped capture pristinely balanced velocities across the entire keyboard scale. The library contains all of the original samples recorded in the meticulously engineered sampling sessions and consists of 12 unlooped velocity layers and note offs. The full, natural sustain of each note is meticulously maintained. Corea even provided several songs demos recorded on the Motif XF using the sounds that are included with the Motif XF library file.
Part of what makes this collection unique is the custom hammer and pre-amp configuration of Chick’s original electronic piano instrument. At F# above Middle C, Corea and his team modified the hammers from the standard neoprene to wood and sent the signal from those keys to a completely separate pre-amp with a specially designed EQ. This creates an almost split keyboard effect that lets notes in the treble register ring with a clarity and punch that is unavailable on a standard Mark V. The sound designers used proprietary Yamaha tools for sound compression so that this amazing collection fits easily onto a FL- 512M flashboard module for the XF.
Fred Falke gives tour of home studio
October 1, 2011
Fred Falke, known for producing music in the French House genre, gave Music Radar a tour of his home studio. As you might expect, it’s pretty impressive.
Take the tour and see his Yamaha CS-80, Roland TR-909, ARP Solina String Ensemble, Korg Trident, Univox Minikorg, Moog Polymoog, plus the all-important rack of effects et al, The Yamaha NS10 speakers, Ableton Live, and his beloved bass guitar.
Mesmerism: Alexandra Dariescu to premiere work in Merseyside
October 1, 2011
Next Saturday, 8th October, 7.30pm, Merseyside composer Alexandra Dariescu will premiere her new piano work Mesmerism at the Pacific Road Arts Centre in Birkenhead.
Mesmerism was commissioned from Oxton-born composer, Emily Howard, by the Liverpool Mozart Orchestra (LMO), to celebrate the orchestra’s 60th anniversary year.
Mark Heron, the LMO Musical Director, will conduct the orchestra for the première, in a concert which will also feature well-loved classics performed by the orchestra in its first season in 1951.
The commission was made possible by generous support from the PRS for Music Foundation.
Tickets can be pre-ordered from www.pacificroad.co.uk.
(Via)
