IMPERFECT UNPLUGGED

 August 2018 This is my premier album. Completely unplugged as I recorded each song with my iPhone while I played it the first time on my piano – unplugged, and straight from the heart. Every song describes an important event in my life, and the associated feelings. They are a little bit imperfect as I sometimes need some extra time to find the next harmony, as the melodies unfold while I play them. And sometimes what I play leads me to new directions, new inspirations, as feelings get released and transform into melodies - yet the theme provides me with a structure to come back to, as a backbone. It is my hope that you enjoy the melodies and harmonies, and that they provide you with some special touches for special moments. In many cases the titles reflect the situation and emotions. For others, I would like to provide some additional information – actually, I could write a lot to each song, but that’s mostly very private… Some of the songs describe feelings of love, passion and pain, grief mixes with anger, despair with anxiety. But also of hope, new beginnings, new experiences, new discoveries. And some are just about fun; “Heavy Hands” or “Having Fun” are like a power start into the day, the ride with the Harley – listen to the big engine, feel the freedom of fast drives over free roads, or the tension of fast bends and overtaking cars. Stars in the Sky is a combination of relaxing after a motorbike ride, with stars as well as glowworms coming up as it got darker. The wedding song, created for a wedding, reflects the ups and downs in a marriage, with tensions and difficult times, but also fun and finding joint relief – ending with a “living happily after until death parts us”. The streams into my heart stem from love and friendship, providing me with the energy to master every day. And the hilly ride with the race bicycle reflects the experiences from positive energy getting uphill, as well as enjoying the free float downhill. The solar power piece was stimulated in a discussion about alternative energies, and the fight between solar and wind energy, and the impact it has on our landscape. And finally, concluding this collection, when family members or friends suffer, it leaves feelings of reflection on how to help – especially if it is not a “quick fix”. Of course, I apologize for the simplistic audio quality – and also if I sometimes have my own idea how a harmony shall unfold … I learned in the last months that music is an extremely wide field, and that the individual style of music is a very personal, very touching affair. The title “Imperfect” is a combination of being not really perfect (but passionate), and that this is already a reflection of an open past – there is a joyful life ahead, and I also learned that there are better ways than just using an iPhone for recording music…. Looking forward to share the next generation with you!

PRESENT

 October 2018 After the first there is time for the next one … This is my second album, this time with a proper sound: All songs are played on my piano, using the sound engine of a KAWAI SK Concert Grand Piano – sounds very different to the first CD. I like it a lot, and added a soft string pad using the same notes to create a more full, more appealing sound, yet still plain and without further orchestration. The concept of creation is the same as on the first album; each song is a composition based on a core theme, and developed into the full song when I am happy with the theme , and melodies unfold as I play them – so the result you will hear is a unique expression of emotions of that particular moment in time. Yet a subtle use of technology helps to enhance the pleasure; the MIDI files allow to cut out unwanted effects. But I left the songs as such still unchanged; no additional instrumentation, or added notes. So it continues to be authentic, unadapted originals. It is my hope that you enjoy the melodies and harmonies, and that they again, like the first CD, provide you with some special touches for special moments. The songs reflect situations of my life, and associated emotions as far as I can express them with the help of the piano. And it is, of course, a compilation of very different pieces; not everyone will like every piece. For me they are all favorites – but I like each in different ways, for different reasons, different situations, different moods. Quite a few did not survive to be in this selection over the course of the production process, and found their way into the archive of my unpublished songs … perhaps inspirations for the future, or just sometimes steps on the way to the “real” song. I continue to describe feelings of love, passion and pleasure, but this time also of excitement and celebrating positive moments. You will notice also a slight change of musical style while listening through the songs. They are arranged following their date of creation, so they also reflect a development in musical preferences and expressions. Many of them start slow and gentle while unfolding the theme, and get more expressive and varied during the course of the composition. Just a few notes on some of the songs as each has a special story to it. The first one, „Hey Little Princess“ came up in my mind when our oldest daughter started her internship in the „Princess Department“ of a large media company, and send me an E-Mail proudly having her new department signature on the bottom of the mail … having loved to celebrate „princess birthday parties“ with her friends when she was young. „Where shall I go“ reflects the search among many positive options for understanding where the calling is most resonating. „What a Joy to Be Here With You“ is the song with probably the most gentle beginning of all my songs so far – fingers touching keys like skin in very soft but still toned strikes. „Waking Up With Birds in the Trees“ features a wide range of stimuli from enjoying a varied concert of voices, yet also the feelings and associations these triggered. The next two songs deal with emotions from finalizing tough work situations; the first came to my mind just the evening when we send out the last and finalizing document to our client – it reflects exhaustion but also positive feelings of achievement by passing through the last weeks. The second one is more a reflection of the many tasks required to finalize a book publication; it needs a certain flow but also repetition, patience, and persistence. Not every day is straight forward; might start well with very positive feelings, and then meets the various challenges which need dealing with, some more bold and confident, others more with involving reflection and reluctance, needing almost psychodelic contemplations. Which contrasts with the nice thoughts when watching the morning waves in a Bay in the sunlight, with birds and boats on shimmering water. The „Loud Smile“ is joking while contemplating how an almost classical theme (with accurate timings) can be turned into something more lively changing style, rhythm, and harmonies. And for the last piece, imagine the right setting: Candles on the piano in a dark room, and playing just for one person with full dedication, passion, and new inspirations !

MOVING ON

 November 2018 The third album … time has gone by, and ideas, skills and style have developed further. The album‘s title reflects advancement; the „musical handwriting“ remains, but the music is different from the two previous albums, has become a bit more artistic and serious, still each piece reflecting a specific inspiration or idea. This album sticks with the concept of pure Grand Piano sound, filled up with a soft string pad using the same notes. Yet „moving on“ stands also for curiosity and discovery, experimenting with the possibilities of piano sounds in harmonies and reaching more across the keyboard. During the production process I realized that some songs I initially wanted to put on this CD did not keep up with the core selection, so „letting go – and moving on“ was sometimes tough (saying good- bye after having spend several hours on each of those songs…) but in the end delivered a coherent, harmonious result. Still it left me with so many songs I want to share with you that I went again for a double CD, like the first album. The music of „Moving on“ features again unique expressions of emotions, desires, and ideas of a particular moment in time, with widely unadapted originals, applying only minor, subtle improvements using MIDI technology. The editing software helps me to look more carefully and attentively at notes and melodies, and to tune timing and sometimes also intensity of individual notes – another aspect of „moving on“, towards a software supported enhancement of the compositions. Which is actually a quite time consuming affair, as with increasing perfection of the music the search to adjust remaining flaws gets almost addictive … yet sometimes I have deliberately left the music as I played it, for special expressions, and to reflect the personal style. It is my hope that you continue enjoying my melodies and harmonies, providing you with emotions and special touches for special moments, and special moods. The first song was created in pursuit of a request of my son whether I can write a sad, serious piece of music. Took a bit of time, attempts, and stages to get me into the right state of emotions, but later on I liked the result so much that I chose it as the introduction song, and its musical elements appear throughout the album. The second song was triggered by a good friend‘s meditation journey to Nepal, and my own faible for motorbike rides to the top of a mountain early in the morning for a breakfast in peaceful quietness, overlooking wide, beautiful landscapes – leading to the third song; seeing the sun rise from a summit is one of the most beautiful and inspiring experiences. And a valley, filled with fog looking like a big lake, and trees on little hills sticking out like islands, provides very touching moments. „Flying like an Eagle“ goes back to a bicycle ride in the high mountains, witnessing two eagles circling above me in high altitude – and realizing that what we think are majestic circles is just driven by hunger to the extend of pain if no prey is around. „Floating on the Pool“ captures the feelings wavering in absence of gravity yet feeling the motions of water around your body… just imagine yourself on a lake … Two songs are inspired by being with an equipe at a 24 hour motorbike race; one capturing the speed, team spirit, tension, excitement of 60 teams fighting with their 200 HP machines for position and arrival…. with the intro theme appearing again in a fast, long motorbike ride in the Taunus, but capturing more reflectful moments, in another piece. And the repetitive style of injection moulding of large recycling products gave me the idea for the „Die-Casting Symphony“. So in a way it is surprising, difficult to predict what leads to inspirations for a particular song, releasing unconscious emotions. Life continues to be a constant discovery!

NEXT LEVEL

 Oktober 2019 2019 – an eventful year, providing many stimuli shaping my music. Increasingly it has become for me, as a good friend framed it, an eminent way to provide wings to my soul. The title of the album, „NEXT LEVEL“, reflects both, developing skills, styles, and also picking up themes from the first CD to bring them to a next level. It increasingly feels these wings take me on a journey for which I do not know the destination yet, but each of my CDs stands for a certain stage on that journey – summarizing ideas, styles, and preferences of that period, and being quite different from each other. It‘s just over one year since I captured my favourite compositions on a debut CD; not really meant serious or ambitious, more a big smile, a lot of fun and filling a double CD set – the title IMPERFECT picked up the flaws in playing and audio quality, but contained quite a variety of styles and ideas. The journey of the last year, with the albums „PRESENT“ and „MOVING ON“ reflects maturing in style, expressions, effects, melodies, techniques, and arrangements. With this album, „NEXT LEVEL“, the style gets even more distinct; the „WAVEMAN-style“ is music appearing in a constant, pleasant flow, with ups and downs, like waves on the sea, on a lake, on a river. Forming different shapes and patterns, yet continuously with more or less energy, calm as well as strong, creating varying reflections of the light. It is an album with a lot of energy and enthusiasm, inspired by positive experiences, but also reflecting having to cope with painful and challenging situations. Yet the power of dreams prevails … and in the end delivers inspirations for melodies and harmonies. Some songs, like the first and last one, are more dramatic, others romantic, all of them somehow perfervid. And the music now reflects a more attentive look into details of the compositions, and many hours of practicing and repetition to deliver the ideas in playing, and finding the right expressions. „NEXT LEVEL“ is also brought to a few songs from the first album; picking up the theme, but then developing it to a new level of beauty and expressiveness, some with more impulsiveness, others more to the romantic side of the key tune. The pieces were created during November 2018 to April 2019, then had a rest for various reasons, matured in the finalization process, and finally 12 were chosen for this selection. The album starts with a strong tune, setting the stage … SOUL ON FIRE captures complex and varied emotions ranging from anger, aggravations, despair, finally finding peace in newly opening perspectives. It also stands for an new artistic level compared to my previous CDs. At different points in time I created two versions but couldn‘t decide which one to take for this CD, until I came up with the idea to use one for setting the scene, and the one with even more anger loaded passages and a strong ending to conclude this album. The second one is more playful, easy hearted, developing into a concerto with a lot of passion and energy, followed by a more relaxed, reflective piece with very different style. Next is one of my favourites from the first CD, now in new outfit and arrangement. Watching the movie „Bohemian Rhapsody“ a few times left a totally new, deepened and enriched admiration for Freddie (and also his three mates); „Love of my Life“ got a new meaning for me – it took me quite a while to find a way to express his energy he puts into every song, which in the end also is a homage to his legacy, and ascent into eternal admiration for his works. Which is also captured subtly in the next one; we all miss him, his energy, and strive for exceptional music. The following song picks up a CD1-theme, reflecting that also hearts suffer in challenging experiences, leaving a feeling of bleeding, of running empty … still having the energy to feel, and in the end coming to terms, and finding new perspectives. The next ones are more playful, vibrating about exciting experiences. Going out together is something to look really forward to, as is relaxing on a swing under big trees. Two favourites from the first CD; „Stars in the Sky“ played and arranged completely new: Imagine lying on your back, cushioned by a soft lawn, scent of grass, thyme and lavender, a black sky with blinking stars, and the scenery lit by the moon… then waking up the next morning with fresh energy, ready for the „Celebration Song“. To be prepared for another day having a „Soul on big Fire“…

IN THE MOODS

 November 2019 Life is a journey – it provides us with ups and downs, with pleasures, enjoyments, challenges, frustrations, and many other situations which impact our emotional wellbeing. Not every day is a sunny day in our hemisphere, so we are used to variety of conditions. And so is our life. „In the Moods“ is an emotion loaded collection of songs for various purposes, for times when you feel like listening to a certain type of music. Music which blends in with your own feelings, giving you comfort in your own state of mind and emotions. Music you want to listen to when you feel uncomfortable with challenges and conditions of your life. Music you want to listen to for encouragement, for reflection, for reinforcement. Music you want to be a part of your life for entertainment, or to enjoy pleasures and moments of joy. This album is created for all of these moments; every piece can have its special purpose, its special meaning for you. Some might be similar to mine when I created the piece, but most likely yours are very individual, very personal, very unique and intimate. As each has for me – this is probably my most personal album, a reflection of a part in my life which provided me with many challenges, many changes, and many surprising opportunities. Chances unfold often unexpectedly, and are not visible as such because we are hooked in old ways of thinking, and predetermined expectations. And it’s up to us to open our eyes in the right way, in the right moment, with the right perspective - and recognize them, understand their meaning, and their potential for our future life. Together the songs of this album form a journey of passion and discovery on which I would like to invite you to join me. It’s also a journey of a developing and maturing personal style of playing the piano, of creating special types of music. Full of emotions, dynamic, driven by harmonies forming the melodies of my life. Influenced by musicians I admire, but not in a way to copy how they do their music, but more to understand what I like in their style, and their music, and finding ways to incorporate this into my music. And please: Tune up the loudness level to fully enjoy sounds and energy of the music The romantic side comes out in many of the songs of this album, but also the desire to experiment with styles, sounds, and effects. The entry of “My Star is Born” is the result of looking for a way to develop an introduction, a short foreplay to this beautiful melody, in the production process. In the end I was stunned and amazed when I finally found an arrangement for the first seconds of the piece … setting the stage for an emotion-loaded story of love and passion by introducing only the core accords of the song played smoothly yet emphasized by a set of Cellos. Each of the songs was inspired by special moments, special experiences, but also sometimes by seemingly trivial events which left a lasting impact. Still some are spontaneous expressions related to these inspiring events. Most are based on harmonies and accords I found when looking for new ideas, writing down the notes to capture the idea, and waiting for the right moment when I finally understood the harmony, its potential, and what I can do with this tune, to bring it to life, to give it a purpose, to make it a complete piece. And also having found the time to practice these new ideas … In the second half of the songs you can also hear the influence of moving from the mountains to the water side, of enjoying to be on the water, and to discover the beauty of a city from the river. Water gives you protection and distance to the noise and turbulences of “big city life”, and provides you with the opportunity to focus on the result of the creative ideas of many different architects forming a city skyline – and to enjoy the reflections of all these lights on the river. And sometimes it is just the quiet beauty of candles on the balcony, and the reflection of their lights in the glass of the balustrade and windows after a hard working day. The pieces were created May 2019 to September 2019, and these 14 pieces were chosen out of a multitudes of creations, forming a portfolio of reflections of moods, inspirations, harmonies and melodies of Summer 2019. …

NEW HORIZONS

 2020 Romantic songs, touching heart and soul, unfold in orchestraded ballads. Starting with the subtle and gentle ballad „Touch me gently“, opening your heart with a sunrise for two. „Ballade du Coeur“, a cross-over between classical and ballad type of music, got its initial inspiration as well as a lot of its development in France, although receiving a lot of support from my German piano teacher, with her turning more into a coach on how to enrich the music to reach new, enhanced ways of creating as well as playing my music. „Take me to the skies“ is more a jazzy piece which could be extended endlessly in different types variations, all blending into the main theme, the chorus. The next one is the type of music for waking up, and jumping out of bed with energy and joy in your heart - easy, full of drive and passion, positive harmonies. This is still a project for the first half of 2020, so you will read more about the next pieces in the following months. Stay tuned!

My Albums

Each album tells a story - each stands for a certain phase, for a certain type of music. Within each album, the music is similar, but each album is different to the others