I have been listening to Classic FM on my driving trips in England.
Yesterday, I heard Chad Lawson play one of his Chopin Variations.
One review of his recordings noted:
Lawson has drawn out a different side to the composer, stripping down and reducing the traditional Chopin, and re-constructing a wholly different narrative.
I think this is a great example of a “less is more” approach to sharing a story. The same review observes “Where Chopin embellished his core melody, Lawson has reduced it, stripping it down to its core”.
This is an example of a core script with Chad’s notation:
In an interview about his variations, Chad said:
I love space. That’s probably my favorite note – the time where you’re able to actually just listen to what just happened.
The Variations are recorded from within the piano to transform the form of the sound (an example).
On a very busy M25 motorway in heavy rain I thought this was a fascinating, bold approach to communication.
Photo Credits
Chad Lawson Chopin Variations (notesonnotes, Tania Halban)
And in this crazy life, you are my everything (alongfor the ride, CC BY-NC-ND 2.0)
Dear Keith
Daniel Barenboim’s book “Everything is Connected” Highly recommended. Also his Reith Lectures.
Barenboim’s approach to how we listen is fascinating: sometimes moving and alway based in reality. Apologies if you’ve read any of the above.
Don’t know how long more you are in UK. If we don’t meet have a safe journey home or slán abhaile as they say here in Ireland. Liz and I are here for my mum’s funeral on Thursday 16 Oct. We’re travelling back to North Devon on Sunday next.
Take care
Dave