(photo of the Gazebo that we erected so Adam can work safely during the recording sessions)
And so it begins...
'ANIMO two' is dedicated to our composers: Tara Guram, Joseph Howard, Edmund Jolliffe, Lukas Piel, and Helen Walker. Yiannis Maramathas composition will feature in 'ANIMO three' (2022).
My beautiful Bosendorfer had the most fantastic tuning which proved to me once again that a good tuner is a craftsman that can make a piano sing or sink! It is definitely singing at the moment which makes it so much easier to play and I hope you will get to hear its voice on the recording and future live-streams.
Tara's 'Requiem', Joe's 'Ex Arcadia', Edmund's 'Red Bird Suite', Lukas's 'The Journey of Alan Kurdi' and Helen's 'Two pieces for piccolo' and 'Suite for Alto flute' will all be included on our new album 'ANIMO two'. We feel proud and lucky to have found such wonderful composers to work with.
We hope to share some 'behind the scenes' shots during our 5 days of recording.
Sarah and I had long conversations about what we both want out of this duo. We were both trained to play to a style or follow rules and it is still very hard to play without the straightjacket on! But we are determined that 'ANIMO two' is going to be full of joy and soulfulness and, really, we don't care about the tempo markings or dynamics as much as we care about how we respond to each piece and how it resonates with us. It's not as easy as you think to achieve that!
We will also record a few of our core repertoire pieces including the Sonata 'Three Lakes' by Daniel Dorff (featured in this behind the scenes video of 2019) the Milhaud-Heifetz transcription of the 'Brazileira' from Scaramouche, two pieces which we know a lot of people loved on first hearing by William Lloyd Webber, 'The Gardens at Eastwell' and 'Mullberry Cottage' but also some new repertoire which we are really excited to introduce to you in due course.
Adam will be setting up tomorrow so that we can get on with the business of playing. It feels like a milestone. This is our first 'new music' album and we've worked really hard to get to this point so I think it's time for a small pat on the back.
We can't wait to share with you the result! We'll keep you posted.
Stay well, safe and remember to take time to listen to music; it's good for the soul.
