You don't hear these pieces every day...

...but you will, once I record them and you buy the CD or download it. :)

Looking forward to playing this recital, in which I trace the development of Edvard Grieg as composer of piano music, through an exploration of some of his lesser known (but unique and beautiful) works.

A tiny taste from the pop-up program

On Saturday, 3 days after deciding to put on a "pop-up" recital, Drew Santini (baritone) and I enjoyed performing for a wonderful audience in Stratford. Thanks to Andrew Hancock we have 15 seconds of video to share from that event; just a phrase or two...(click on the link)

http://instagram.com/p/cAG-CdEDq9/  ...from "The Salley Gardens, arranged by Benjamin Britten.

Jānis Mediņš Daina 14

I'm not sure how old I was when I first heard this piece played by Canadian-Latvian pianist, Arturs Ozolins...in my teens, I think. I loved it so much then, and I still do. One of the set of 24 "Dainas" by Latvian composer Jānis Mediņš, which I am making my way through. This #14 continues to be my favourite of all of them, even though there are so many gorgeous pieces in the set.

Jānis Mediņš was born in Riga, Latvia in 1890 and died in 1966 in Sweden. His piano music is richly romantic and capitalizes on the expressive possibilities of the instrument. Dainas are technically folk songs, but these pieces are quite removed from folk music. Still, there is an element of the haunting, deeply-felt lyricism of that genre.

I thought I'd put my iPhone to use today and made a little video of me (well, my hands anyway) playing the piece. The combination of the device and the instrument doesn't quite do it justice, but hopefully it will be enough to give you an idea of how wonderful Jānis Mediņš' music is.

Happy 2nd Anniversary, Volume Two!

I just happened to notice that my 2nd solo CD ("Piano Music of Edvard Grieg: Volume 2") was released exactly two years ago today.  I have trouble understanding exactly how two years could have passed since then, but then again 2010 and 2011 have been a time of great challenge in my life as many of you know.

As I get going again with renewed focus on my performing and recording career after somewhat of a hiatus for the past 16 months, I just thought I'd take a moment to mark the occasion of this anniversary with a little blogpost. Stay tuned for news of the next recording as well; there's a "Piano Music of Edvard Grieg: Volume 3" brewing. It was December 2006 when I first went to the studio to record "Piano Music of Edvard Grieg" (Volume 1). Apparently Grieg has now had me in his clutches for five full years and shows no signs of letting go of me.

By the way, as it's that time of year when gift-giving is all the rage, you may consider purchasing one of the copies of Volume 2 that I have left.  I'm offering the discs at a price of $15 (CDN) this month, and should likely be able to get you yours in time for Christmas. Please get in touch through my facebook page, or by my email address found on my website, or by commenting on this post.

Oh, and also, if you would just like to hear some Grieg yourself as a break from all the Christmas music, you can hear tracks (for free!) on the "listen and buy" page at https://www.facebook.com/mogenpianist or at bandcamp. Of course you can also download said tracks for a modest fee...