Matthew Hindson: Sad Piano (CD)

From internationally acclaimed piano virtuosa Andrea Lam and award-winning Australian composer Matthew Hindson comes an album of intimate, tender music that comes from the heart and goes straight to the heart. Sweetness and sadness, memories and hopes, love and longing embrace one another in the gentle, uplifting resonances of the piano.

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‘I started this collection during the Covid-19 lockdown,’ says Hindson, ‘when music making was smashed and the connection between composer, performer and audience wasn’t possible any more. Suddenly, the large symphonic works I was writing seemed irrelevant. I wanted to write intimate music, music directly connecting to our emotions and to other people.’

Pianist Andrea Lam sensed an immediate connection with the pieces. ‘This is very introspective, very intimate music that is, I think, very particular to the piano; almost a confessional diary. Those deepest thoughts you have, when you’re by yourself and you can’t even articulate what you’re thinking. Matthew’s music has a really direct appeal, it’s a very visceral kind of music that has an immediate effect, an immediate impact, which I love.’ The transcendent simplicity of the writing allows Lam to caress each note, letting the piano’s delicate voice speak to our inmost emotions.

Premiered at the Sydney Opera House’s International Piano Day celebrations in 2022, with the film clip for that track (Love) winning the 2023 Australian Cinematographers Society’s Gold Tripod award, each live performance of Hindson’s Sad Piano pieces has been met with warmth and a sense of familiarity. ‘What’s so powerful,’ adds Hindson, ‘is the way that these pieces, while sad and melancholic in mood, are, paradoxically, able to make us feel comforted, supported, even uplifted.’

TRACK LIST
1. Longing
2. Luminescence
3. Resilience
4. Love
5. Attraction
6. Goodbye
7. Aftermath
8. Memories
9. Innocence
10. Lullaby
11. Nostalgia