Rethinking Bach

I've got a new single out. It's called 'Rethinking Bach'.

That's partly an inside joke because I really didn't enjoy playing Bach as a teenager… I've definitely rethought that — I love him now!

But it also describes how I composed the piece.

A misty morning in Edinburgh

Earlier this year I wrote to tell you about a track I wrote one misty morning in Edinburgh, playing on my friend Jenny's gorgeous piano as the mist cleared. That track was called 'Outlines Through Mist' and it's performing really well on Spotify — thanks to everyone who has listened!

'Rethinking Bach' was written the same day. Jenny had left Bach's Well-Tempered Clavier on the music stand, open at the C minor Prelude. This is a wonderful piece — here's a great performance by Vikingur Ólafsson — and I wondered what Bach would do if he found himself in the same situation.

Bach was a famously incredible improviser, he could take a musical idea and change it freely, so I felt like it would be in keeping with his character if I played around with it a bit. There was no such thing as a piano in Bach's day, so how would he have changed the piece if he wrote it again for the piano? I decided he would definitely experiment with the sustain pedal. I picked out my favourite bars and experimented.

The piece that resulted definitely isn't Bach — it's me. But Bach's influence is there.