Parallax for piano

Martin Galway's Parallax, by me, live, on a real piano, without any edits or overdubs. Please excuse the sound quality and the occasional fuckups.

• Linus Akesson - Parallax For Piano (MP3, 11.6 MB)

• Parallax for piano, score (PDF, 2.2 MB)

• Parallax for piano, score (PostScript, 615 KB)

• Parallax for piano, score (MusiXTeX source code, 7 KB)

Feedback, please!

P.S. You might also want to check out One man and his piano.

Added 8-Mar-2001:

Notes

First of all, I'm glad that so many people have downloaded and liked this piece. Even Galway himself has commented on it!

It has been rumoured that I was inspired by THC Flatline's remix. This is most probably wrong, since I hadn't heard his remix when I decided upon the score for my version. =) However, I like the THC Flatline remix a lot, and he adds a little twist to the plot. Coincidentally I add the same twist:

In the original, Parallax consists of two separate parts. First there is the intro, the wonderful blippy-bloppy part that probably scares away most potential listeners. Then comes the main part with four repeating chords (sorry for the oversimplification) that goes on all the way to the end effect. But as I sat playing around with this at the piano, I was flabbergasted: These two parts can be played together. This is what both THC Flatline and I do.

What are my influences then? Well, I stole a few bars from Jordan Rudess' solo in Crossing Over. (The CD is called Rudess Morgenstein Project.) I'm also a big fan of Franz Liszt. Galway mentioned that my piano version makes Parallax sound more like Philip Glass now. I agree, and the thought had actually crossed my mind before he mentioned it.

Well, to round off, Galway himself is of course the greatest influence of them all. He is the greatest SID composer so far. =)

About the score

• I became more fluent in MusiXTeX (a TeX package that lets you typeset music).
• I could finally settle for one version; Instead of having a bunch of random improvisations trying to fit together, I now have a standard way of playing the piece. I can then make improvisations upon that standard, but the standard is there.
• And the third advantage is not for me, but of course for all other piano playing sidheads out there. Now, lack of ability to play by ear is no longer an excuse for not learning this party icebreaker... Spread the music, not the word!

Feel free to improvise! Parallax For Piano started as an improvisation, and it should kind of remain that way. I've tried to write down more or less exactly what I play (or aimed to play) in the mp3 recording. But don't feel obliged to follow that at all! Especially not the left hand part starting at bar 279 (marked "ad lib").

I place this data in the public domain. Do what thou wilt.