Five in E
Released 6.5.2022 on 1631 Recordings
Art by Anna Salzmann
Five pieces for felt piano, full of spring warmth. Written at a time when I was struggling, I found that learning to play some pieces from JS Bach’s French Suite in E major helped lift my mood. E major is a lovely warm key and a joy to improvise in because it fits so nicely under the hands, so many hours of “piano practise” where actually spent messing around in that key (just like when I was a teenager!)
The resulting EP is a real pleasure to play. Recorded on my C. Bechstein 1988 Upright with a thick layer of felt and mastered by Wil Bolton, the music contains a few embedded references to Bach (in “Dawn” and “Dusk”). “Suspire” is a return to an old favourite, also in E major.
“Riverlight” sparkles gently like its namesake and has already proved popular on Spotify, with 300,000+ streams in the first few weeks. Lead single “Du bist mîn, ich bin dîn” is named after an anonymous German love poem that’s about 800 years old.
Du bist mîn, ich bin dîn.
des solt dû gewis sîn.
dû bist beslozzen
in mînem herzen,
verlorn ist das sluzzelîn:
dû muost ouch immêr darinne sîn.
You are mine, I am yours
of that you should be sure.
You're locked
within my heart,
the key is lost:
you'll stay in it forever.
“a sensitive and profound artist”
“Lovely... genuinely uplifting”
All five pieces from Five in E, in a lovingly created, perfectly engraved sheet music book. Printed on high quality paper with a thick card full-colour cover.
Limited edition of 50.
"This is an exceptional songbook and I highly recommend it!" Kathy Parsons (mainlypiano.com)
Featuring:
Dawn
Du bist mîn, ich bin dîn
Riverlight
Suspire
Dusk