Piano World Home Page Forums Our Most Popular Forums Pianist Corner Members Recordings - Pianist Corner Chandler--"Melody"

Yes, "Chandler," as in PW member Steve Chandler, who graciously sent me a copy of his composition, "Melody," when I fell in love with it about three weeks ago.

It was during one of those heated thread debacles, and Steve made a comment that was nicely grounded in reality, and I thought, "Who is this guy?" and clicked on his sig line, which led to links to some of his compositions. When I listened to "Melody," I had an instant connection to it, and I could hear it in my mind's ear they way I wanted to shape it and sing it, and I could practically feel it in my fingers! And in my imagination I could hear the way those complex harmonies would come through the Lester.

So, I PM'd Steve, and he sent me the PDF, and we've had a great conversation as I've gotten to know this piece. I hope I've done it justice. There are no wasted notes, and all of them are critical. It's like one of those finely crafted short poems where every word counts. I'd like to finesse the performance a little better, to let it breathe easier and relax some more. And the recording is not the best (there was a low hum coming from somewhere that I tried to EQ out, which wrecked some of the tone *sigh*). But I wanted to get this one out while the piano was still in pretty good tune.*

I may yet youtube-i-fy this with the score, but until then, here is the mp3 audio on boxnet:

Steve Chandler--Melody

Hope you like it! Thanks so much, Steve!

--Andy Strong

_____________
*EBVT III by Bill Bremmer

HI, Andy,
I really liked it--very pretty! You play beautifully, and it is such a pretty composition.
Thanks for posting!
Kathy

Great work, Andy. Your sensitivity to the score and ability to translate your interpretive abilities to the piano itself gives it meaning it wouldn't have otherwise. Bravo, my friend!

Glen

Andy,

Thanks so much for posting this. What a stunning job. You've brought a sensitivity to it that really impresses me. Frankly, you've given me reason to rethink how I play my own piece. I hope you'll be interested in learning some of the others.

Gorgeous piece - gorgeous performance !!!!!

Here is a slightly better EQ'd and de-hissed treatment of the recording (I think...) At least, to my ears it sounds a little more immediate and intimate and, somehow, less cloudy.

Steve Chandler--"Melody"

--Andy

Andy,

This is beautiful playing and a beautiful piece! It's no nice to have such amazing composers amongst ourselves! I'm listening to the first recording (first link) through my laptop and I don't hear anything bad really...

Steve,

This's been one of my major problems: Every time someone else touches my works, I find out that their performance is so much better (different?) than mine... So I have decided to stop performing my own works until further notice, or unless I have no other choice (as it happened with one of my works recently).

Thanks for writing such a beautiful music! Wonderful stuff!

Thanks, all, for the kind words about the playing.

Steve, I read through Wobbly Waltz, Tender 7, and Consolation today. I can't decide which one to concentrate on, so I think I'll work on all three and echo Nikolas's words about thanks for writing such beautiful music!

--Andy

I've listened a few times and it's beautiful. I wish I could compose.
I also like the warm and slightly fuzzy sound of the recording.

vry lovely...

Composing ain't easy, and this stuff is EXCELLENT!

JG

Here is a YouTube-i-fied version, just to keep you posted:



--Andy

Andy, as always your interpretation goes to the heart. I seriously doubt anyone else could make that Lester sing like you do. And Steve, thanks for a lovely composition.

Thank you, Chris! Steve's composition went right to my heart (as do others of his!) and I played it the way my heart took it.

I still maintain that the Lester, itself, has a unique voice that sings in and of itself, (an odd combination of false beats, inharmonicities, and old, seasoned wood), and that the EBVT III temperament enhances the character of the instrument. I know you probably get tired of me hawking that temperament (there are others to try, as well, such as Ron Koval's modified Valotti, etc., etc., etc., etc.!), but I am compelled to get the word out about it! Folks, take a step away from Equal Temperament, and be amazed at your "new" piano!

I also truly believe that music making is about listening and understanding the instrument you are sitting at at the time. That is, every instrument has a unique tone profile, and it is up to the musician to work with the instrument in a way that makes the most of those tones.

Bunny trail (with a purpose)--I recall a presentation I attended in the Spring of 2012 sponsored by the Pianoforte Society in Chicago, in which Trevor Stephenson demonstrated several different temperaments on several different pianos, including some Mozart on a pianoforte built and tuned by Norm Sheppard. (BTW, that presentation is where I heard Ron's modified Valotti, tuned on a Shigeru Kawai (amazing!)). During social time, I got to talk a little bit with Norm, and after discovering the various instruments he'd built and helped restore in order for Trevor to demonstrate musical ideas based on historical principles, I wondered out loud if they just glommed on to available instruments and suped them up, or what? "Oh no!," he said [I'm paraphrasing...]. "It's more like writing a novel. We start with an idea about the sound we want to represent, and then go about making it. For example, when we built the Italian haprsichord, we knew we needed to have something with a fiery sound, something that would drive the stiletto in fast and hard, *chshhk!*, and every day that we went to work, we talked about that, to make sure that we were on the right track."

Here. (Italian harpsichord)

as opposed to

Here. (German harpsichord)

or

Here. (English Parlor Grand)

Thanks for listening!
--Andy

I don't come to the Member recordings forum very often. I want to thank Andy for his excellent work with my piece. This video is very cool and enjoyable. His playing is sensitive and heartfelt. One of the most gratifying parts of composing is writing a piece, learning to play it and then someone else learns it and plays it for you and shows you something in your own music you didn't know was there. Andy's approach is much more rhythmically free than I would ever play it, but it works. I love it.

Very good composition and very good performance!! I've really liked it

It has a very good harmonic color and it's played with an special sensitivity. Continue like that!!