JEREMY SISKIND - Perpetual Motion: Etudes for Piano
OUTSIDE IN MUSIC: OIM 2004
Jeremy Siskind (piano) Recorded NYC, 2020
Don’t be put off by the rather forbidding academic title. Whilst I’ve no doubt the pieces in this suite for solo piano are fiendishly difficult to play – and for those budding virtuosi who aspire to do so the score with performance guidelines is available to purchase separately – the music, though ambitious, is pleasingly accessible and will appeal to all who have enjoyed similar classically inclined jazz inflected performances by Brad Mehldau, Chick Corea, Fred Hersch and the like.
They are performed by California based pianist/composer, Jeremy Siskind who in course of nine pieces fulfils his didactic purpose by demonstrating various metric and harmonic devices whilst conveying impressions of imagined scenes and moods. Titles like “Enchanted Forest”, “Homesick”, “Floating” will give you an idea of what to expect. The most jazz oriented piece is entitled “Blues” which features a faux boogie woogie element and some phrases from Gershwin’s “Rhapsody in Blue”; Siskind describes this as the most difficult of the pieces to perform given a complicated triad structure and time signature but for those of us who don’t need to trouble ourselves with such intricacies it comes over simply as an impeccably performed three and a bit minutes of pianistic brilliance.
Another piece entitled `Piccadilly Circus` offers jazz like syncopated vitality but with its Brazilian type rhythms summons up visions of Rio de Janeiro rather than the West End. Elsewhere Siskind’s musical imagery is more apposite and the listener will have no difficulty in visualising the source of his inspiration which he conveys by way of a matchless and beautifully recorded performance that will delight those who love the sound of a piano virtuoso at work.
Reviewed by Euan Dixon
OUTSIDE IN MUSIC: OIM 2004
Jeremy Siskind (piano) Recorded NYC, 2020
Don’t be put off by the rather forbidding academic title. Whilst I’ve no doubt the pieces in this suite for solo piano are fiendishly difficult to play – and for those budding virtuosi who aspire to do so the score with performance guidelines is available to purchase separately – the music, though ambitious, is pleasingly accessible and will appeal to all who have enjoyed similar classically inclined jazz inflected performances by Brad Mehldau, Chick Corea, Fred Hersch and the like.
They are performed by California based pianist/composer, Jeremy Siskind who in course of nine pieces fulfils his didactic purpose by demonstrating various metric and harmonic devices whilst conveying impressions of imagined scenes and moods. Titles like “Enchanted Forest”, “Homesick”, “Floating” will give you an idea of what to expect. The most jazz oriented piece is entitled “Blues” which features a faux boogie woogie element and some phrases from Gershwin’s “Rhapsody in Blue”; Siskind describes this as the most difficult of the pieces to perform given a complicated triad structure and time signature but for those of us who don’t need to trouble ourselves with such intricacies it comes over simply as an impeccably performed three and a bit minutes of pianistic brilliance.
Another piece entitled `Piccadilly Circus` offers jazz like syncopated vitality but with its Brazilian type rhythms summons up visions of Rio de Janeiro rather than the West End. Elsewhere Siskind’s musical imagery is more apposite and the listener will have no difficulty in visualising the source of his inspiration which he conveys by way of a matchless and beautifully recorded performance that will delight those who love the sound of a piano virtuoso at work.
Reviewed by Euan Dixon
