It is with pride and joy that I here like to offer to you my new album called Maison Melody, an instrumental music-project performed on piano and strings and indie-released on a non-profit basis.
For centuries now a music-composer prefers to work in solitude on his creations and often the only 'companion' in this process is the direct environment, his/her house. The composer develops a special relationship with the house through his creations and this way finds his desire for quietude, the peace of mind so essential to the mental work of composition. Historically music-composers always have distanced themselves from busy communal places in order to be able to better hear their own inner voice that can lead to a more thorough artistic self-expression. In this hyper-focus mode the relationship of yourself with your direct environment, your house, becomes your partner in crime. This way you create at home by travelling in your own mind and tapping in to your own imagination without external distractions.
And this is exactly how I, about a year ago, composed my most personal and introspective melodies so far in the confinements of my own house and therefore this album project is called Maison Melody.
After finishing composing and arranging in my own house, later in 2019 I re-recorded the piano and string-quartet outside of the house with some other musicians next to myself such as Marcel Worms, Dimitri Leivici and the West Side Trio in a professional studio and the album got mixed by Francesco Donadello who has previously worked a.o. with Hildur Guonadottir, Johann Johannson & Einaudi. Mastering took place in Berlin early 2020. It contains 10 compositions and they are lyrical and meditative piano - miniatures characterised by impressionist elegance with simple and direct melody with me trying to compose calm and soothing music for people who have an unspoken voice deep inside of them.
Stephen Emmer - May 2020
Composer
Stephen Emmer
Producers
Stephen Emmer & Francesco Donadello
Musicians
Stephen Emmer - piano & keyboards
Marcel Worms - piano
Dimitrie Leivici - first violin
Vera van der Bie - violin
Isabella Petersen - viola
Annie Tangberg - cello
Orchestration
Willem Friede
Recording engineers
Lau Kagenaar, Fieke van den Hurk & Joris Wolff
Mixing engineer
Francesco Donadello
Mastering engineer
Bo Kondren
Project management
Connie Kemp
Label & Digital management
Maarten Bousie
Video Directors
Marco Mocking & Maarten Bousie
Video Editor
Marco Mocking
Recorded @ Wisseloord Studios, Hilversum & @home
Mixed @ Electric Monkey Studios, Amsterdam
Mastered @ Calyx Mastering, Berlin
Inspired by the music of silence by Federico Mompou
Dedicated to Fred, Roekie, Julia, Inez & Daphne
(p) 2020 Stephen Emmer B.V. & © 2020 Electric Fairytale Recordings
All rights reserved. Unauthorized copying, reproduction, hiring, lending, public performance and broadcasting prohibited.
For further information, licensing inquiries and other requests, please contact: office@stephenemmer.com
