Marc BierensPiano
Album: Moll plays Bierens | Eleven Compositions for Piano
Scroll down for the Spotify tracks and notes on the compositions.
Grand piano played by Nico Moll. Arrangements by Nico Moll and Marc Bierens.
Notes on the compositions:
A Feather Floating On Air: Written in 2016. Close your eyes and imagine a feather carried away by the wind and slowly disappearing from view.
Kiwi’s At Whakatane: I wrote the basic theme of this piece in 1989 and somehow was reminded of it when I was in Whakatane, New Zealand in 2014. I walked over a beach crowded with kiwis. No matter how hard I tried, I did not manage to take a photograph of the birds up close. They refused to pose and walked away (though kiwis have wings, they can’t fly). There was no other solution then to eternalize the birds in a different way, so I did! When I returned to our beach house later that afternoon my son Scato had cut a kiwi out of wood. Father and son had accomplished the same mission.
Happiness (Is Just Around The Corner): Written in 2015. The title is a variation on a quote from my father; ’the solution is always close at hand’, which he often used. He was right of course, which doesn’t mean that you shouldn’t search across the border.
Fleur Céleste: Written on the Keizersgracht in 1988, back in the days of the Running Club with Frank, Peter, Klazinus and Mic & Fleur, who would have Max, their first son, a few years later. Originally this piece was named after a four-legged member of our household, but after the beast deliberately put one of her nails deep in my chin, that idea went into the trash bin.
Erto: Written in 2011, is a small village in northern Italy that was plagued by earthquakes for years. The population was told by the government to leave the village, but they flat out refused. Everyone ended up staying and they all survived, so goes the story. The name Erto is also composed of the last syllables of the names of my three sons and frankly… it all started with that.
Maart (March): The birth month of my mother, written in 2013, the year she turned 80. It was originally performed for her in a complete different version, for piano and percussion. However, when her guests started dancing I decided to change the piece thoroughly. It’s serious music, right? Haha!
Homeward (Part 1&2): was conceived in 2018 from a piece that I had been struggling with for months. At some point I switched from a four- to a three-quarter measure, which momentarily seemed to work out perfectly. Ultimately, I went back to the four-quarter measure. The title came to me at a train station on my way to a family reunion, hence.
Old Wars: From 2016, about old quarrels that, although formally ended, sometimes stay in our mind, or worse, continue to simmer. I think it is a beautiful expression and for that alone, enough reason to use it.
Requiem For My Father: This is a composition that I started a long time ago. My father once used it as background music to rap (yes, he did…). I finished it in the last months before his death in June 2011.
Weerzien (Reunion): It gets busy up there, and presumably quite cozy. This piece had been on my mind, titleless, since the summer of 2013. Only when making this album did it find its place and its name.
