Category: Sunday Sounds

Sunday Sounds

Oliver Sadie was one of the first musicians whose piano recordings I discovered when I joined SoundCloud a few years ago, and with whom I connected in those earlier, more “community” oriented days on the platform.

One aspect of Oliver’s musical development which has inspired many is his ability to provide a complete “package” – not simply great music, but also well played, beautifully recorded and packaged. These reveal the skills and dedication of a true professional, and it has been a pleasure to see over the years how his subsequent career as an upcoming award-winning media composer has developed.

An irony is that although Oliver has worked so hard to develop his career, his music comes easily and naturally.

He is one of the most talented free improvisers I know of outside of jazz, effortlessly playing, recording and performing fully-formed piano works with the spontaneity that comes from genuine talent, and with an appeal that has naturally attracted a huge following.

“Solo” is a track in which Oliver returns to this simple ethos.

Follow: Oliver Sadie on SoundCloud

Sunday Sounds showcases great keyboard music featuring players past and present, from classic recordings to great new music discoveries.

Sunday Sounds

This week, I am sharing a compilation of some of my favourite pieces by Greek pianist and composer, Fivos Valachis, whom I have had the pleasure of knowing online for a few years now. He is a musician for whom I have the utmost respect.

Fivos also has an interesting “piano journey” story to tell, which I will let him share in his own words while you enjoy listening to his music:

“Born in Athens (Greece) in 1959, crossroad of Western and Eastern culture, I learnt as a child to appreciate both classical and popular culture.

In 1967, I fell in love with the piano, beginning the study of the instrument. My adolescent years were years of continuous curiosity and musical experimentation, moving from folk music to hard rock, from pop / rock to classical music. These were also the years that I composed my first “rudimentary” pieces and songs. And I learnt to also play the guitar, accordion, bouzouki and baglama.

In 1977, after finishing High School, I concluded my studies in classical piano at the Conservatory of Athens and then moved to Turin, Italy for graduate studies in Computer Science. As I continued my studies I also played as a pianist in piano-bar, taught piano and harmony, and worked as a private freelance musician. 1978, I was the winner of second prize of UNESCO’s International Competition for original music for children. 1981, parallel to the university, I graduated in jazz technique and improvisation with teacher Giorgio Gaslini.

For the next 20 years, for personal reasons, I largely retired into the background, but composed Greek and Italian songs and music for advertising under a pseudonym. At the same time I continued to compose neo-classical piano music, and gave small private concerts for up to 50 people.

In May 2013 I woke up and decided to share my musical diary not only with friends and family, but through the internet with everyone using SoundCloud   and streaming concerts on YouTube. The effect of this decision on my life was unimaginable: new contacts with great musicians, 21 charity concerts in one year in Italy, and many new friends around the world.”

Fivos is indeed a musician who has taken the internet with both hands and found a way to share his wonderful music far and wide. In the process he has gained an enthusiastic and large international audience.

Follow: Fivos Valachis on SoundCloud

Sunday Sounds showcases great keyboard music featuring players past and present, from classic recordings to great new music discoveries.

Sunday Sounds

Andrej Zatkalík is a musician based in Bratislava, Slovakia, who regularly shares his piano improvisations on SoundCloud, and they are simply too good to miss!

An improvisation of two halves, reflective and passionate by turns, Ancient Memories is a typically astonishing work which reveals Andrej’s technical prowess and assimilation of classical piano styles.

Writing about his musical process, Andrej says:

“My first musical steps began in childhood at the age of 8, when I started playing the piano. I learnt at the local musical school for the next seven years. From that time on, my greatest passion has been piano improvising. It’s like an open-ended adventure to put your fingers on the piano keys and let your soul speak with the universal language of music!

I often play around with simple musical motifs, adding changes and variations to them. That way I create my improvisations.

Sometimes I record myself playing, and by listening back I can find some interesting melodies or chord progressions, which I don’t remember playing. My music is mostly unplanned, and the majority of my piano pieces I have created during one evening, which is why I often use the word “evening“ or “night“ in title name.”

Follow: Andrej Zatkalík on SoundCloud

Sunday Sounds showcases great keyboard music featuring players past and present, from classic recordings to great new music discoveries.

Sunday Sounds

This aptly named piece by Simeon Walker is a delight of restraint and warmth. Perfect for the season – and I hope you love this as much as I do!

Simeon explains:

“Last year, on January 2nd, I sat down to play and began to think through my thoughts about the new year ahead.

For me, this song is about contrasts. The space between anticipation and tentativeness about all that will happen. Musically, I tried to capture this through full, warm, chord-based movement, whilst trying to retain a coldness and hesitance in the sound, that could also reflect the time of year.

I tried to leave as much space as possible in this piece to enable the listener to be aware of their own feelings about the new year. Contrast and space.”

Follow: Simeon Walker on SoundCloud

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Sunday Sounds showcases great keyboard music featuring players past and present, from classic recordings to great new music discoveries.

Sunday Sounds

Tammy Howarth composed this while a second year student at the Liverpool Institute for Performing Arts.

I first heard Tammy’s original music posted on SoundCloud before she had finished schooling in Pembrokeshire, and was immediately struck by her originality and talent.

“Aftermath” is a deeply reflective piece, its engaging melody underpinned by subtle arrangement and production. Unlike many pieces in a so-called “post-minimal” style, the arrangement never becomes too much, drowning out the core piano content … it’s this musical sensitivity, restraint and sophistication that I find particularly striking and appealing.

I hope you enjoy this too!

Follow: Tammy Howarth on SoundCloud

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Sunday Sounds showcases great keyboard music featuring players past and present, from classic recordings to great new music discoveries.

Sunday Sounds

The Sunday Sounds feature will occasionally feature my own original piano compositions, and it seems fitting to begin where I myself started.

This piece was improvised late one night some years ago. Listening back to it I realised that the structure and musical content was satisfactory without any editing, and when I subsequently set up my own SoundCloud account, it was the first piano track that I ever shared.

From the start, it has proved popular with listeners, and if this is your first encounter with it, I hope you will enjoy the piece!

Follow: Andrew Eales on SoundCloud

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Sunday Sounds showcases great keyboard music featuring players past and present, from classic recordings to great new music discoveries.

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Sunday Sounds

Manchester based pianist and composer Terry Robinson says of this beautiful composition:

My wife bought a fabulous original watercolour painting of purple poppies and she left it on the music stand of my piano. As I sat down to practice I gazed at the painting and improvised this track. It has two aspects – the present day image of poppies blowing in the wind and the associated remembrance of soldiers who died in battle.

I recorded the improvisation and practised it until I could play the left hand part without it sounding too amateurish – at the end of recording the track my left hand felt about ready to fall off!

It’s a great track! Have a listen:

Follow: Terry Robinson on SoundCloud

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Sunday Sounds showcases great keyboard music featuring players past and present, from classic recordings to great new music discoveries.

Sunday Sounds

One of the loveliest piano solos I have heard on SoundCloud, “The Break of Dawn” is composed by Christian Smith, a 21 year old composer from Hampshire, England, specialising in romantic and uplifting piano and string compositions.

Christian writes:

After 9 months of writers block, and many failed attempts, I have finally managed to complete a composition.

And what a composition it is!

Follow: Christian Smith on SoundCloud

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Sunday Sounds showcases great keyboard music featuring players past and present, from classic recordings to great new music discoveries.