Music is Feeling Audio Samples

There are seven pieces in this collection. These pieces were selected and put together because they are more about intense feelings and the inner life.

Invocation

This can be played as an opening for a concert or a special event. Or for a quiet moment at home.

Remembering You

I composed this piece many years ago on the tenth anniversary of my mother’s death, and have played it at a number of concerts. This piece is not a lament, but a Chopin-like reflection on my mother’s rich life of feeling, and also on the profound influence she had on my development, my interests, and my life.

A Moment Between Decades

I wrote this piece on the eve of my 30th birthday. It is a piece for experienced pianists, though you don’t have to be over 30 to play it. If the piano has a sostenuto pedal (middle pedal), the performer should use it to sustain the bass note D throughout the piece. This D is to be played very softly, so that is has a presence but never a rhythmic impact.

Brahms’ Lullaby

This is an arrangement for solo piano of Brahms’ famous Wiegenlied (Cradle Song) featuring contemporary harmonies.

For You

I composed this piece for a friend who is not a musician, so the harmonic language ended up being relatively simple, mostly triads in the key of D major.

A Letter to Chopin

I wrote this piece in my twenties, the decade of my life most heavily influenced by my favorite composer for the piano, Frederic Chopin. In this piece, I attempt to write a “musical letter” to Chopin about the transformation of suffering.

A Strange Passion

This is a recent composition, composed in February, 2014. It is in 5/4 time with a heavily syncopated, driving accompaniment, so it is for experienced pianists. It is in the key of E-flat Dorian.