COMPLETE LUDOVICO EINAUDI RECORDINGS

Una Mattina Book

2012-02-28T21:23:00.002Z

I've just purchased the Una Mattina piano book and I must say what a great book it is.

You can see a change in style from the previous albums; I giorni, Le onde and Eden roc. The pieces on this album focus on things like trills and a couple of the pieces are pretty long (I think Ancora lasts for over 10 minutes). I also like that it contains an addition staff for pieces that contain cello.

I'll certainly be recording some pieces from this album very soon...

Una mattina
Ora
Resta con me
Leo
A fuoco
Dolce droga
Dietro casa
Come un fiore
DNA
Nuvole nere
Questa volta
Nuvole bianche
Ancora

My voice was heard!

2012-02-06T23:01:00.002Z

First of all I still think YouTube takes things too far. However somebody has listened to me and has made me feel very happy, thank you Mel Bush.

For those of you who don't know, Mel Bush is Maksim Mrvica's manager, and me? I'm just a normal guy that 6 years ago decided to open a YouTube account and upload some Maksim videos. These videos have now gained over 12 million views, which makes my account the most viewed for Maksim. Some of my videos were directly linked from Maksims official website.

After dealing with copyright claims from numerous recording companies on the Maksim videos, and them not replying to emails (except for the Orchard but thats to do with something else), I decided I'd try my luck at emailing Mel Bush directly.

You may be wondering why seeing as i'm not the content owner? Correct, but I've got 2500+ subscribers and I don't really want to risk having my account closed because of copyright infringement.

So anyway, I expressed my concerns and warned that I may have to remove the videos to protect my account. A few days later I checked my email and to my amazement, a reply from Mel Bush.

He was very understanding and said he would like me to continue with the Maksim videos. What could I say? Well I told him that out of respect for Maksim, his music and his team I'll re-enable the videos.

Sometimes all it takes is a pair of ears to listen (or in this case a pair of eyes to read). Now that I have Mel's approval I have good grounds to fight against any strikes which I may get in the future.

Thanks YouTube... ****ers

2012-02-03T00:59:00.001Z

What the f**k has happened to YouTube? Everyday I have to deal with copyright claims because they're soooo scared of being shagged by a record company.

Seriously what has happened to the internet????

I can't even record myself play Chopin because Warner or EMI think they own it all...and what happens when you try and email these snobs? They don't wanna know.

Today I had to remove 200+ videos to prevent YouTube taking action against my account.

YouTube use to be a place where you could upload videos of yourself playing music and share it with the world. Not anymore. Even if you upload a video with no music suddenly YouTubes content ID system finds a match. Really, are there developers that wank at there job?

All YouTube is now (since the wankers at google bought it) is a place for google to make money. It's not about the videos or the viewers. They love sticking ads all over the videos (another reason for the numerous false copyright claims) as they get a cut of the money advertisers pay per click.

They try pushing everyone to sign up for AdSense claiming it's so "you" can make money but all it's really about is them making money.

Well Fuck YouTube. I hope someone sues them. I'll be laughing...

Inizio

2012-01-28T12:59:00.003Z

I was fascinated by the rythm of this piece so gave it a go. It's a lot of fun to learn and play.

This piece is in A minor and keeps to a basic harmony. It gets tricky to play around the middle though, when your index and pinky play 4ths, 5ths and 6ths, and your thumb alternates between C and D, as it's pretty fast.

Apart from that part needing a little practise I managed to finish learning and recording it.

Melodia Africana II

2012-01-26T00:43:00.002Z

Hey! Sorry I've not posted in a while. Been busy doing other things but I'm going to be creating a new blog about that.

Anyway here's Melodia Africana II from the Album I Giorni. I really like the Africana's. As you may know it was Melodia Africana I which got me hooked on Einaudi's music.

There are 4 Africana pieces. The first 3 are unique and differ quite a lot from each other. But the 4th one is basically a combination of the first 3.

This piece isn't too hard but some of the streches in the left hand were a pain.

Enjoy!

EMI - WTF?

2012-01-13T09:49:00.001Z

So now it appears EMI own the rights to one of my videos:

Funny because this is ME playing Chopin. Chopin's music is in the public domain, I'm not an artist for EMI either!! WTF!!! I'm Angry!

First Orchard and now EMI. Who's next? Warner?

YOUTUBE Copyrights

2012-01-11T19:57:00.000Z

Why, when I upload videos to YouTube, of me playing piano, do recording companies claim copyrights?

Every video I upload!!!

I never rip Ludovico recordings and upload them, I just spend many hours practising and record myself. But what's the problem? My videos are still available, right??

Yes they are, however, they will put adverts on my videos and make money and sometimes block them in other countries. Again, shouldn't be a problem, right??

Wrong! I've spent 6 years building up subscribers on my channel, uploaded 400+ videos and built on my skills of piano playing, video editing etc.

The thing is, Google contacted me not so long ago and said I qualify for an Adsense account. This means that I can choose if I want adverts next to my videos and I will make money.
This was great. I'm now being rewarded for my efforts over the years and I can now purchase more materials, better software etc. But how can I do this if every record company claims copyrights on my videos?

I've purchase all of Ludovico Einaudi's books and it says nothing in them about the record company own the rights to any recordings made.

Here's an email from The Orchard claiming copyrights on a recording of me playing Chopin:

At least they removed the copyright and I was able to monetise my video. But what success will I have with companies like EMI or Warner etc? Well here's the email sent to Warner (because of my latest video) and we'll see if they reply. My money's on them not replying.

Leave a comment and let me know what you think.

Dietro Casa

2012-01-11T14:38:00.000Z

Some of you may know this piece from the film "This is England" but I first heard it from the Una Mattina album.

This piece has the same harmony as Nuvole Bianche (F minor, D Flat, A Flat, E Flat). The whole piece consists of this in the left hand and the right playing thirds the whole time.

It's easy to hit the correct notes in this piece due to its simplistic harmony however making it sound nice on a real piano takes some practise. It's easy to muffle the sounds if you don't pay attention and also its not easy to play the thirds accurately (pressing both keys exactly the same time).

Anyway please enjoy the piece and feel free to comment.

The Complete List

2012-01-05T01:04:00.000Z

I've come up with a list of all the pieces I'm learning. I've highlight the ones i've already learned or recorded. There's 81 pieces in total. I'm currently at 41 so just over half way!

I've also linked the titles to the books on Amazon so if you're interested in learning any then I'd seriously recommend buying the books. Email me if you would like some info on any.

Le Onde (9/13)

Canzone Poplare
Dietro L'incant
La Linea Scura
La Profondita Del Buio
Le Onde
Lontano
L'ultima Volta
Ombre
Onde Corte
Passaggio
Questa Notte
Sotto Vento
Tracce

Eden Roc (7/9)

Due Tramonti
Exit
Fuori Dal Mondo
Fuori Dalla Notte
Giorni Dispari
Julia
Nefeli
Password
Un Mondo A Parte

I Giorni (12/14)

Bella Notte
I Due Fiumi
I Giorni
In Un'altra Vita
Inizio
La Nascita Delle Cose Segrete
Limbo
Melodica Africana I
Melodica Africana II
Melodica Africana III
Melodica Africana IV
Quel Che Resta
Samba
Stella Del Mattino

Una Mattina (4/13)

A Fuoco
Ancora
Come Un Fiore
Dietro Casa
Dna
Dolce Droga
Leo
Nuvole Bianche
Nuvole Nere
Ora
Questa Volta
Resta Con Me
Una Mattina

Divenire (3/12)

Uno
Divenire
Monday
Andare
Rose
Primavera
Oltremare
L'Origine Nascosta
Fly
Ascolta
Ritornare
Luce

Nightbook (5/15)

Berlin Song
Bye Bye Mon Amour
Eros
In Principio
Indaco
Lady Labyrinth
Nightbook
Reverie
Snow Prelude No.15
Snow Prelude No.2
Solo
The Crane Dance
The Planets
The Tower
Tu Sei

Islands - Essential Einaudi (1/4)

Fairytale
High Heels
Love Is A Mystery
The Earth Prelude

Other (0/1)

White night

Check out my review on this great book. Link at the top of the blog.

Primavera

2012-01-05T00:31:00.000Z

I feel in love with this piece the first time I heard it. It's in my favourite key (C minor), in has a great harmony, great melody and the orchestral version has strings which sounds like Vivaldi. But it makes sense as Primavera translates to something like Spring.

It wasn't too difficult to learn, I'd say the only bit I had to work on was the dreamy section. You'll know what I mean when you listen to it.

Anyway I hope you enjoy it as much as I enjoyed learning it.

Also...If you're interested in buying the sheet music then you can purchase it here

Nightbook

2011-12-23T11:21:00.000Z

Here's me playing Nightbook. This is quite a tricky piece as there's some 3's against 4's and also trying to keep in time is tough.

Also I noticed that in the dreamy section the harmony sounds almost exactly like the Halloween movie theme.

Berlin Song

2011-12-19T14:40:00.001Z

Everything about this piece is great. It's in C Major (nice and easy to read), The beginning chords sound amazing, the harmony is nice and simple, the melody is great, and basically I had a lot of fun learning a playing the piece.

This score for this piece is in the Nightbook Sheet music book however the track is only featured on his album Islands.

Both can be purchase from my store, link at the top of the page.

Fairytale

2011-12-11T15:30:00.001Z

This piece, i believe, was written for the film Dr Zhivago and I think this is one of the most romantic pieces ever written.

I will be writting a review on this book so check back very soon. Until then I hope you'll enjoy my interpretation of this beautiful piece.

Stella Del Mattino

2011-12-10T00:30:00.001Z

This is the second time I've recorded this piece. This time I've added strings similar to the performance Ludovico did at the Royal Albert Hall not long ago which you can watch here.

The Essential Einaudi (Jeremy Limb)

2011-12-06T00:24:00.001Z

As you all might know I'm a huge Ludovico Einaudi fan and I listen to his music every day. A few days ago, whilst browsing Amazon for some Einaudi books I came across a CD called "The Essential Einaudi". Taking a closer look at the cover I noticed it was not Einaudi himself playing but a guy called Jeremy Limb. Intrigued by this I decided to purchase the CD an take a listen...

Firstly I give credit to Jeremy for recording a piece by a composer still alive today. It makes performing the pieces much more difficult because the composer has already defined how they would like the piece to be played. E.g. when someone performs a Liszt or Chopin piece no one can really say "That's not how they wanted it to be played" simply because we'd never know. And believe me there are people, especially on YouTube, that say this all the time.

Another good thing about this album is it contains 2 CD's, 11 pieces on each, so you get your money's worth. It contains pieces from the Le Onde album all the way up to the Divenire album.

When I put the CD on it was obvious to me that Jeremy is an exceptional pianist. He adds a lot of rubato to all the pieces, his dynamic range is high and he plays every note written on the scores. However the one thing I was not entirely happy with was the speed he played some of the pieces, more noticable on Ora and Andare (amongst others).

Ora started of great, a little fast but still sounded good. About 2 minutes in it was almost at presto, even though the piece ranges between:

Consiquently you can hear a tiny mistake in the left hand.

Andare also had Jeremy playing at presto when the triplets kicked in half way through the piece. I don't see a problem not completely sticking to the tempo strickly but I don't agree with adjusting it too much.

Divenire sounds fantastic. I love this piece so much and Jeremy certainly does it justice. There's 2 tiny mistakes but this piece is pretty demanding so it's not a problem. It does prove that no editing is involved and what you are hearing is just a guy and a piano.

I was pleasantly suprised to hear "Resta con me" having a cello playing as well.

I would score this album an 8/10. If you're a fan of Ludovico's music then this is a must.

You can purchase the CD here

Un mondo a parte

2011-12-02T01:18:00.001Z

I learned this piece a few years ago as it's one of my favourites from the Eden Roc album. When I recorded this I thought why not add some strings to it? So I did, and I'm very happy with the results. Hope you are too!

Turning Point

2011-11-29T00:34:00.001Z

My first attempt at composing...how did I do?

Lontano

2011-11-29T00:17:00.001Z

Here's a video of me playing Lontano.

It didn't take long to learn this piece however it's difficult getting the dynamics right.

This is the first video of me playing the piano (Rock Band 3 keyboard don't count!) and if it gets a good reception i'll start recording some more. I'll record them in the day time so the quality is better.

Divenire!

2011-11-25T09:40:00.001Z

This is an all time favourite of mine. It's quite a demanding piece so lots of practise is required however it's worth it. I will say the original version containing the full orchestra is simply amazing and his live performance in the UK was outstanding! You can watch it here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=X1DRDcGlSsE

It's Monday!

2011-11-22T11:41:00.001Z

I really like the Divenire album and I like this piece - Monday.

I recorded this and uploaded it on my other YouTube channel however it doesn't get as many hits there so I thought I'd put it on my main channel.

Onde Corte

2011-11-21T19:38:00.001Z

I've just recorded and uploaded Onde Corte from the Album Le Onde.

When I first saw the score for this piece I had doubts about being able to play this at a good standard. However after a couple of hours practise it sinks in and is not as hard as it looks.

I especially love the key change in the middle, from D major to E major. It's pulled off by a simple silence. It's so blunt it's almost genius, and it suits the piece just perfect. The dynamics are quite astonding as well. It sounds as if it goes from pp to ff in quick succession.

Hope you like it! :)

Finished recording Snow Prelude No. 2

2011-11-17T23:01:00.001Z

I've just finished record "Snow Prelude No. 2". This is another great piece from the Nightbook album.

It was very fun to learn despite the difficult parts. It has fast thirds on the white keys and some 3's against 4's at a slow'ish pace. But i was well worth the effort practising and hopefully it's payed off and people will enjoy it.

I used a different program when recording this time. Usually I use Cubase along with Garritan Personal Orchestra but this time I opted for PianoTeq. PianoTeq is much more flexible with the piano sounds however it doesn't quite sound as real as GPO.

Enjoy! :)

Indaco

2011-11-17T17:52:00.001Z

This is me playing Indaco by Ludovico Einaudi. It is the 4th track from the album Nightbook. The Nightbook album contains 12 tracks and in some releases have a hidden 13th track called "Solo". The Nightbook music book contains 2 extra pieces; "Berlin Song" and "Tu Sei".

This piece has 3 distinct parts to it. The first part is in 3/4 time which is slow and soft, very easy to listen to and take in. It then changes to 4/4 time and and is very similar to "Lady Labyrinth", also from the Nightbook album. The rythmn's quite tricky to play! After this it stays in 4/4 time and becomes more lively. It then goes back to part 1 before coming to an end.

Ora

2011-11-16T16:17:00.000Z

This is me playing Ora from the album "Una Mattina".

It's written in my favourite key (C Minor) and was very fun to learn.
It's quite a tricky piece due to its length and also the 3's against 4's later on. But it was worth the hours of practise to get it sounding ok.

Beginning my Ludovico Einaudi complete recordings

2011-11-16T16:06:00.000Z

Hello and welcome to my blog! On this blog i'll be posting videos/recordings of me playing the piano. My aim is to record every piano piece written by Ludovico Einaudi.

Ever since hearing "Melodia Africana I" on the album "Classic FM for babies" I became a huge fan. Since then I start listening to, and learning all his other pieces. I must have learned over 30 pieces by now but I doubt i'm even a quarter of the way.