dinsdag 26 maart 2013

Princepiration discussion

I just had a discussion with a friend/colleague about the reason I made Princepiration.

I got several good reviews and one really bad one. Well, bad... They say it's a sign of creativity to have polarized reviews.

True or not: I made the album to see if I could make an album for my friends with music that written today. Music that connects with the world as it is now. I often play contemporary music, but I have noticed that my friends (or people of my generation) have troubles 'understanding' this music. And that's fine, of course. I do what I do. With Princepration though, I wanted to make something that has an entrance for people of my generation. I asked several composers to write a new piece which s inspired by an element from a Prince tune. The result was original music with a hook: Prince. And I think the result is very interesting. And it seemed to have created a connection to 'classical music' for many people.Which was what I wanted. Play well written 'new' 'classical music' without doing concessions for a broader audience.

There was a misunderstanding that I wanted to do concessions to broaden my audience. But I didn't. And I surely didn't want to say that 'normal' contemporary music is out of touch with its audience. I play and recorded that kind of music often and I do not want to limit myself. I needed to make an album like this. I play all kinds of music, actually, I make a point of this. And I wanted to involve my friends and other like minded people in my music. Just for this album.

And of course, musically it gave an interesting result: new original music inspired by Prince. I am very happy with the outcome.

I could also play Bach, which is the best music ever, and people love it. And I do play it. But I wanted to play 'new' music.

My playing cello Suite by Bach