Recording session at Artichoque Recording

It was about half a year ago that I really realized that the most recent audio recording I had of myself was from 2011; almost three years old.

At that time, I had already been toying around with the idea of having a website. However, if I were to get a website, I'd have to put some audio files on it, too, and three year old recordings would simply not suit that purpose.

So I set out to find a nice recording studio where I could record at least a few tracks but preferably a bit more, and via the recommendation of several close colleagues, I ended up at Artichoque Recording.

Of course, I put off calling for several months. After all, I needed to find the right repertoire. Two of the pieces I'd already decided on, Beethoven's 32 variations and Chopin's first Ballade, but the others needed to be selected, and the CD was supposed to showcase a great variety of styles.

Besides, there were too many things to do, most of them preferably this minute, so I really ought to prioritize.

It can now be officially established that I am a master of Procrastination-Through-Useful-Occupation. It's quite the fool-proof method too; after all, if one's working and being generally useful, how can one possibly be procrastinating?

I kept that up until late July. Then I decided that enough was enough. I Googled the studio, and before I could think about it, I sent an email requesting a recording day before the end of August.

Not two hours later I'd gotten a reply.

Thus I drove to Artichoque Recording Studio on the beautifully sunny Wednesday the 27th of August at far-too-early-o'clock (honestly, I'm a pianist, I don't do AM).

We recorded 54 minutes between 10:00 and 18:00, after which I drove one and a half hours back home. It's a miracle I didn't run into anything. We were back at it the next day, too - my tracks were mixed to my happy satisfaction on the 28th, and I left the premises at 18:15 with a freshly-burned CD in my handbag.

So here it is: the tracklist of Bits and Pieces, my very own Demo CD, available upon request:

J.S. Bach - Prelude and Fuga in C major from das Wohltemperierte Klavier Band II

L.v. Beethoven - 32 variations in c minor WoO 80

F. Chopin - Ballade in g minor, opus 23

G. Fauré - Nocturne no. 8 in D flat major, opus 84

S. Rachmaninoff - Etude-Tableau opus 33 no. 4

S. Prokofiev - "Mercutio" from 10 pieces from Romeo and Juliet, opus 75

F. Mendelssohn - "Wie die Zeit läuft!"

F. Chopin - Etude opus 25 no. 1

E. Grieg - "Det var Engang", Lyric Piece opus 71 no. 1

E. Grieg - "Gade", Lyric Piece opus 57 no. 2

F. Liszt/R. Wagner - "Isoldens Liebestod", aria transcribed from "Tristan und Isolde"