Piano World Home Page Forums Our Most Popular Forums Adult Beginners Forum A new New Age thread...

Another PW thread about New Age piano music has gotten thread-crapped into oblivion, so I thought I'd start a new thread over here for those of us who enjoy New Age piano music.

So let's resume the discussion here, with a caveat: If you think [New Age pianist du jour] is a talentless hack whose technique and compositional skills are bested by a tone-deaf first-year beginner with wooden hands, let's not go there.

That said, I am open to more substantial discussions about the musical merits of various New Age performers, as long as there isn't any "bashing."

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I took a New Age piece to my lesson yesterday, but my piano teacher didn't like it. It was "Flowers on the Water" by Kostia. He thought this piece didn't have much musical sophistication and thought I should spend my time on something else. From trying to play it, I think the effect of this piece is more in the way it's played than just what's on the page ... which I couldn't exactly convey when I was basically sight-reading the piece.

I'd also like to get the Mannheim Steamroller "Fresh Aire Interludes" music book. Those are some more Debussy-like piano interludes, possibly more musically sophisticated than Kostia.

Anyone got some more New Age recommendations, particularly ones a piano teacher would approve of? I'm looking for something around Grade 6 difficulty.

Einaudi and Tiersen, not sure if Tiersen is new age but I do love his music. I'm also working on a really pretty (but rather difficult) piece by Andre Gagnon (a french canadian composer), not sure if he's new age either, but very pretty music.

Actually, I'm still not altogether sure what new age is (anyone living and currently composing??).

Oh yeah, David Lanz's Cristofori Dream, almost forgot.

Have also heard some pretty pieces by Jim Brickman in the ABF but haven't tried my hand at those yet.

BTW, please post recording(s) if you have them, or if not (go make some!) One of the joy of the ABF is how it's exposed me to new music, and I don't think I recognize the piece you've mentioned

Colin-

You have hit the "problem" many people have with New Age music. A lot of it is not really complex, difficult music, but it is very beautiful. At least, I think so. And a lot of the beauty is, as you say, in the execution, rather than the actual notes on the page.

As for individual pieces, I've played the First Interlude and Mist from Fresh Aire 1 and neither is partcularly difficult. Chocolate Fudge from the same album is a bit trickier. Fresh Aire itself, tho I have not played it, looks reasonably easy.

Hi Colin, great idea for the new thread. I had given up on the other one in the nonclassical forum. :rolleyes:

I'll second the recommendation to try some Einaudi. Teachers may find his work a little more technically interesting, as he has some interesting chord progressions. Not to mention you get a thorough immersion in arpeggios with his work. Browse through the Einaudi thread and listen to some of the recordings there. "Le Onde" in particular teaches a lot of broken chords as well as technique in terms of bringing out a melody voice while leaving other notes played by the same hand barely perceptible.

Brickman's work is beautiful, and it also might be appealing to a teacher because it's rhythmically much more complex than the typical new age fare. (Which is probably why I can't play any of it worth beans! ) "Lake Erie Rainfall" is a good example of that, and it's played at a rather fast tempo, too.

Colin:

I still have not warmed up to the moniker "new-age" as it just sounds so goofy!, like alien space-ship music or something.

Like you, I have really come to love much of this incredibly nice sounding music.

If you listen to some of the past online recitals here in the AB forum, you will hear a lot of it performed by Monica Kern, Kawaigirl, Euan Morrison, Stephenc, and others. Oh yea, me too!

I almost think that David Lanz "Christofori's Dream" should be a required piece to learn as it will improve your hand position and stretch so much.

A very beautiful but not too challenging piece to play is Einaudi's "Nefeli". Many of us in this forum have performed it and everyones version is a joy to listen to, (unless you are a die-hard "play it as written" fan), in that case, you may want to pass on my version.

I've heard Stephenc perform Jim Brickmans "Lake eerie Rainfall" absolutely perfectly to the tee.
I tried to play it as written like him but It was just way over my abilities so I ended up making up a bunch of stuff in order to pull it off.

The point I'm trying to make is that neo-classical type music is not about impressive technical runs and finger gymnastics, but rather about how beautiful the sounds produced are; no matter how difficult or simple they may be to execute.

I really don't care if I can't read difficult music or play very complex technical runs as I only want to produce ear-pleasing music that I enjoy creating.

BTW, if you agree with what I have said, I will give this post a 5-star rating, if not....well you know the consequences!!

Since there was a request for recordings... I've been trying for AGES to get a better recording of Cristofori's Dream with my Zoom. This one isn't perfect (I messed up on that first D-F#-A octaves part that I always mess up on ), but it's better than the distortion and hiss-filled old recording from my B.Z. days (Before Zoom).

Cristofori\'s Dream

pretty, as always, Monica.

Very nice Monica Piano sounds great!

I can listen to this piece a thousand times and I won't be tired of listening to it.

Colin: you said you were looking for something of a 6 grade level , here it is:

Maksim Mrvica performing Tonci Huljic's Croatian Rhapsody HERE !!

http://www.ymm.co.jp/pianolife/wma/0606a_croatian.asx

I just love this song even though I know I will probably never be able to play it!

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P,S. Nice recording Monica, just lovely!!

What Kawaigirl said!. Monica, maybe you could include that performance in our upcoming piano genre exhibition as well. Its a perfect example of how nice this type of music can sound.

kawaigirl, do you have a version recorded as well? if not, why not?

Sid, I had posted the piece last year on one of the threads but the recording quality wasn't great as I was still trying to learn how to record.

I have a newer recording but I'm not happy with the result of it.

I still believe Monica does a marvelous job with the piece.

I'm starting to like some of Kevin Kerns music also....anyone played any of his?

Sid, where did you get Andre Gagnon's sheet music?

rocky, I haven't played any of Kevin Kern's music (though I should, since he's my namesake ), but I have heard him on David Nevue's Whisperings station, and I think it's very pretty. Heck, I think it's ALL very pretty.

Speaking of David Nevue, no new age thread would be complete without recommending his work. Colin, if you haven't already, try playing "Overcome." It's got a classical air and those bass runs really give your left hand a workout.

Colin,

There's Michael Nyman, Philip Glass and Craig Armstrong to add to the list.

kawaigirl,

I used the site that mfortin (Martin) recommended (I wonder if he's still out there, I loved hearing him play!).

Here's the direct link:

http://chantdemonpays.qc.ca/titres/ga_imp.html

And here's the thread where he posted his recording:

http://www.pianoworld.com/ubb/cgi-bin/ultimatebb.cgi?/topic/32/2946.html

Do you know about Gagnon? Martin's recording was the first and last I've heard of him, we don't get much exposure to Canadian composers (let alone french canadian composers down here in sunny southern california...lol, we actually have a heat wave right now, feels like summer).

BTW, how do we categorize Tiersen and Gagnon? Are they new age?

Sid:

I'm gonna make this easy for you. Here's how it works here.

Monica is a perfectionist. All of her recordings will be performed as close to perfection as her abilities allow. She even once was not happy with a 5 plus minute recording of a difficult piece as her time was like 4 seconds different from the original performers!! She will not submit anything she would not be proud of. Use her recordings at any time as a quality reference of the original.

Kawaigirl is very similar to Monica's attention to detail, only she is a machine. In case you did'nt know it, she pumps out a new performance quality recording vitually every week!.

I have heard many of her unpublished recordings and just when you think that they can't possibly get any more expressive or beautiful, they do!.

Euan Morrison is another one. Just when you think you have'nt heard much of his music in a while....Wham-O, he knocks you down with a show-stopping performance like his last recital submission.

There are several other AB "role models" of new-age/romantic/neo-classical type of music here as well. I would also suggest listening to some of Stephenc performances, speciafically his Jim Brickman pieces.

Should you want a totally unconventional, re-invent the wheel type of hybrid mush-mix of music to listen to, then, and only then should you listen to mine!

I hope this helps!