Wow. Just wow Okay it deserves more words than that. What a wonderful piece and given it was composed at 14 it's utterly amazing. It sounds like a mature ear, not a young person. Obviously you spent your childhood practising while I was chasing clouds. I grew up in the bombastic 80's, the big sound of Genesis, Yes, Peter Gabriel (didn't even know the connection), Mr Mister, Go West. Since UA-cam I got to explore earlier years and wow, what a treasure trove of material. I'm here because of the emotional pull of your 70's keyboard VST demo. Oh that Mellotron sound! I thought Psychodellic section sounded like a Tony Banks influence. I've also explored Anthony Phillips which this whole piece reminded me of, and Steve Hackett. And Red. Yellow. !! Oh, I hear the Mike Oldfield midway in Red. Wow. I so enjoyed this because I've composed a neo-classical prog piece but I don't have the skills to play it live. It has so much life and feeling like those 70's giants. Probably influenced by Fifth of Firth. And finally Epic. Beautiful. Elegant, inspiring, clever, passionate, Wow Just wow.
Oh and I wondered whether that rolling bass line was influenced (subconsciously) by a Bond theme. Not sure the time frame is correct. What fun. I must say the Casio Privia did itself proud. No indication that it's not a real piano.
@@NathanEllery Thanks so much for your all of your comments 🙂 It *was* quite a large-scale composition, and kinda grew as it developed. If you listen to some of my other recordings on here made at around that sort of time you'll have some idea of how it might have sounded if I'd recorded it as a solo piano piece. And again, the stuff I made on the Tascam 244 in the 80s would give an idea of how it could have sounded if I'd recorded it then - with all the Mirage strings and bells and oboes and orchestral colourings. As it happened, I never got round to it and it wasn't until 2020 and a period of furlough that I actually gave it another thought. What it has actually benefitted from in that massive delay, of course, is a much cleaner recording than I could ever have done at the time, and better quality of instrumentation. Back when it was written, I would have been listening to the Hammonds, Mellotrons and Moogs of Wakeman and Banks so it seemed fitting to use these instruments rather than the 80s sample-based stuff that I'd annotated the score with when I was contemplating recording it in the 80s. Plus, although my playing technique was probably better in the 80s (especially for some of those fast passages near the beginning), I've probably developed a maturer ear for what makes for a pleasant solo over those improvised sections - back then, I would probably have been hammering away on the piano for three or four minutes over those repeated bass lines! It was fun to do at the time - took the best part of a week in all - and I was really pleased with the way that the Mellotrons and synth lines sounded in the finished version (I think my 14yr old self would have approved!), so thanks again for your comments, it's nice to know that someone else has listened to it. 🙂
Thanks again! I wrote it ages ago, as a teenager, though never recorded it back then (unusually, as I tended to record every idea I had!). In a way, that worked out well, as the quality of the recording today is obviously so much clearer than I could have got all those years ago.
Great one - another suite from you for my "going for a walk" or "working with my headphones on" playlist. Your musical creations should be more widely known and regarded.
Thanks! I was quite proud of this one - took long enough to get round to recording it!!! I do like the mellotronbits in this - worth the wait just for those sounds 🙂
@@billyrussYes, recording live instead of tweaking midi is even more impressive by modern standards. My fave part is starting at 12:24 with that kind of piano accompaniment and then mellotrone flute solo. Actually that piano part is something I will try to analyze and learn, as it's very similar to intros to one of the songs we play with our band. The recording of the piano parts has been made by much better pianist and up to this day I can't reproduce that style by ear. Thank you also for sharing the score, so that I may follow and read into that part.
@@dwsel Ah, yes - this is probably my favourite part as well. I always liked it when playing it all those years ago, but it's the entry of the low Mellotron flute that makes it work for me. I was messing around for ages with some of the solo parts when I was making the recording, trying to get the right feel, and then I came up with that and the feel of it reminded me of a Rick Wakeman Mellotron line from "Tales from Topographic Oceans", so I kept it - that was a conscious influence on that bit. I'll put it in a separate comment in case UA-cam decides to delete the comment, but it's 15:29 in the version of Topographic that I found online (the original one, not any of the remasters). I did cheat a bit because there are two pianos parts playing there - the part written in the score plus a second one just filling out the chords because it felt a little bare.
@@billyruss I've noticed that you divert from the score, and that a score is more like a sketch you build on nuances based on your current experience. But I think it's balanced and not very far away from the original in very tasteful way. That link worked, probably because it's your channel, so YT is behaving more liberally. In track you've sent that moment you've mentioned is like a quick sparkle of light, in your it is more extended in time for longer enjoyment.
Wow.
Just wow
Okay it deserves more words than that.
What a wonderful piece and given it was composed at 14 it's utterly amazing. It sounds like a mature ear, not a young person.
Obviously you spent your childhood practising while I was chasing clouds.
I grew up in the bombastic 80's, the big sound of Genesis, Yes, Peter Gabriel (didn't even know the connection), Mr Mister, Go West.
Since UA-cam I got to explore earlier years and wow, what a treasure trove of material.
I'm here because of the emotional pull of your 70's keyboard VST demo. Oh that Mellotron sound!
I thought Psychodellic section sounded like a Tony Banks influence. I've also explored Anthony Phillips which this whole piece reminded me of, and Steve Hackett.
And Red. Yellow. !!
Oh, I hear the Mike Oldfield midway in Red. Wow.
I so enjoyed this because I've composed a neo-classical prog piece but I don't have the skills to play it live. It has so much life and feeling like those 70's giants.
Probably influenced by Fifth of Firth.
And finally
Epic. Beautiful. Elegant, inspiring, clever, passionate,
Wow
Just wow.
Oh and I wondered whether that rolling bass line was influenced (subconsciously) by a Bond theme. Not sure the time frame is correct. What fun.
I must say the Casio Privia did itself proud. No indication that it's not a real piano.
@@NathanEllery Thanks so much for your all of your comments 🙂 It *was* quite a large-scale composition, and kinda grew as it developed. If you listen to some of my other recordings on here made at around that sort of time you'll have some idea of how it might have sounded if I'd recorded it as a solo piano piece. And again, the stuff I made on the Tascam 244 in the 80s would give an idea of how it could have sounded if I'd recorded it then - with all the Mirage strings and bells and oboes and orchestral colourings. As it happened, I never got round to it and it wasn't until 2020 and a period of furlough that I actually gave it another thought. What it has actually benefitted from in that massive delay, of course, is a much cleaner recording than I could ever have done at the time, and better quality of instrumentation. Back when it was written, I would have been listening to the Hammonds, Mellotrons and Moogs of Wakeman and Banks so it seemed fitting to use these instruments rather than the 80s sample-based stuff that I'd annotated the score with when I was contemplating recording it in the 80s. Plus, although my playing technique was probably better in the 80s (especially for some of those fast passages near the beginning), I've probably developed a maturer ear for what makes for a pleasant solo over those improvised sections - back then, I would probably have been hammering away on the piano for three or four minutes over those repeated bass lines!
It was fun to do at the time - took the best part of a week in all - and I was really pleased with the way that the Mellotrons and synth lines sounded in the finished version (I think my 14yr old self would have approved!), so thanks again for your comments, it's nice to know that someone else has listened to it. 🙂
You composed this? It's stunning, and the arrangement is just wow! You should be really famous.
Thanks again! I wrote it ages ago, as a teenager, though never recorded it back then (unusually, as I tended to record every idea I had!). In a way, that worked out well, as the quality of the recording today is obviously so much clearer than I could have got all those years ago.
this was really great. thanks for taking me along for the journey
Thanks for the comment, and glad you liked it! :-)
Great one - another suite from you for my "going for a walk" or "working with my headphones on" playlist. Your musical creations should be more widely known and regarded.
Thanks! I was quite proud of this one - took long enough to get round to recording it!!! I do like the mellotronbits in this - worth the wait just for those sounds 🙂
@@billyrussYes, recording live instead of tweaking midi is even more impressive by modern standards.
My fave part is starting at 12:24 with that kind of piano accompaniment and then mellotrone flute solo. Actually that piano part is something I will try to analyze and learn, as it's very similar to intros to one of the songs we play with our band. The recording of the piano parts has been made by much better pianist and up to this day I can't reproduce that style by ear. Thank you also for sharing the score, so that I may follow and read into that part.
@@dwsel Ah, yes - this is probably my favourite part as well. I always liked it when playing it all those years ago, but it's the entry of the low Mellotron flute that makes it work for me. I was messing around for ages with some of the solo parts when I was making the recording, trying to get the right feel, and then I came up with that and the feel of it reminded me of a Rick Wakeman Mellotron line from "Tales from Topographic Oceans", so I kept it - that was a conscious influence on that bit. I'll put it in a separate comment in case UA-cam decides to delete the comment, but it's 15:29 in the version of Topographic that I found online (the original one, not any of the remasters). I did cheat a bit because there are two pianos parts playing there - the part written in the score plus a second one just filling out the chords because it felt a little bare.
ua-cam.com/video/_rwNe2QXwrU/v-deo.html
@@billyruss I've noticed that you divert from the score, and that a score is more like a sketch you build on nuances based on your current experience. But I think it's balanced and not very far away from the original in very tasteful way.
That link worked, probably because it's your channel, so YT is behaving more liberally. In track you've sent that moment you've mentioned is like a quick sparkle of light, in your it is more extended in time for longer enjoyment.