Irene - 13 minutes 49 seconds

Piano and dramatic strings, written for Irene

$1.99 Download Now

I love writing music about people; I find it to be one of the most stimulating approaches to composition. People touch me in so many different ways, they create emotions and memories, they are complex and my perception of them unique. Tapping into that part of my brain when I’m playing has always been a rich creative vein.

This track was written as a thank you to my Aunt Irene for looking after us when we were in Paris. My Uncle Dominic had passed away the previous year and it was the first time we had seen her since the funeral. The piece starts off incredibly sadly and yet by the midway has become dramatic and full of life – just like my wonderful Parisian Aunt.

The melody that comes in around 9 ½ minutes is possibly one of my favorite string passes in the entire music2work2 catalog to date.

If you like the track you can share it across your Networks - just click share on the right of the player. Irene is part of The Reader's Playlist.

Lally - 15 minutes 21 seconds

Piano theme inspired by my Grandmother and Miles Davis' "Blue in Green"

Written for Lally, my maternal Grandmother – this track is built around three chords: B minor, B minor7 and D major. It’s one of the first times that I sat down with a set of chords in mind for a piece.

I had been listening to “A Kind of Blue” and reading about how the sessions came about. The story goes that Miles Davis had approached pianist Bill Evans at some point before they recorded the track “Blue in Green” and handed him a note that had just two chords on it – from that, Bill Evans developed the piece and it’s probably my favorite on the album.

Lally passed away from a stroke at the beginning of the year – she was 91 and had had an incredible life. There was enough time to fly to Scotland and hold her hand and tell her we loved her before she passed on. She was a wonderful person, kind and gentle but not someone who suffered fools gladly. I love the fact that this music exists – I think of her every time I listen to it.

----------------

Emma's Numbers - 14 minutes 13 seconds

Second Piano piece written for a friend fighting Cancer

An old friend was dealing with cancer so I wrote her some music. After sending it to her, I asked for her numbers and then produced this piece. When I’m writing for or about someone, I often ask them for a couple of numbers, I use these to denote the meter and beats per minute of the piece – I like the randomness of the process and the idea that the recipient is determining the musical outcome.

Emma survived and continues to Skipper her yacht around the globe – she’s an amazing lady. Having had the pieces for a while Emma and her husband Richard sent me the feedback below.

---

"The first piece makes me remember the moment all this shit began, the horrific nightmare and all its tricks.

Rich and I were talking and for us the piece takes us on a little journey from the beginning right up to the post-mastectomy stage. I feel aggression, hatred and fear at the outset and then the music lifts which for us denotes the next step – the positive move forward after the removal of the cancer – the brighter side of this nightmare beginning to shine through if you like, the positive rather than the negative.

The second piece of music takes on the treatment – tentative at the outset taking on the unknown – I can see myself treading carefully through mess, gently with each step, nervously moving forward - sometimes feeling delicate from treatment, sometimes charging forward with stubbornness – positive and almost light hearted, but each step with determination, all the time pushing, pushing to beat this.

This cancer is strange – whilst I have a cast of thousands around me each one supporting, helping in their own different way - I feel like a boxer – ultimately it is me that stands alone in the ring to deal with this, me that has to step forward and take the hit.

I write this as I listen to Emma’s Numbers – I can just see you sitting there, eyes closed, composing, thinking, feeling the music. We were having dinner whilst listening to my iPod last night, we had friends over, and they asked what we were listening to – the second piece – they loved it. Just thought you’d like to know that."

I did - thank you Em!

----------------