Laura Tindall, music teacher and Radio Tyneside host, waxes lyrical about Newcastle-based pianist and composer, Christopher Watson…
Take a contemporary composer and pianist, add a little 19th century Romantic inspiration, and you get something very rarely seen these days – a pianist performing his own compositions.
Newcastle-based pianist and composer Christopher Watson, 35, is all about the contemporary piano scene, but you won’t find him performing covers of pop songs. Instead, his latest piano recital series has been a mix of 19th century compositions by such composers as Grieg and Liszt alongside his own compositions. His own pieces range from his Fairytale Suite, inspired by recent trips to Germany, to a piece called Lakrima composed in memory of his late mother.
Christopher is passionate about telling his audiences about the role of 19th century musicians, and uses these ideas in a contemporary setting. There’s an interesting ethos behind the recitals. Christopher says:
“Being a classical pianist, I’ve always been aware of the fact that since the Second World War, pianists are rarely composers too, yet in the 19th century performing and composing worked hand in hand. That fascinated me. The likes of Liszt, Alkan, and Chopin’s recital programmes were mainly about stuff they had written themselves.”
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Christopher revels in these ideas, and produced a series of piano recitals to reinvigorate interest in the pianist-composer. He calls his style of music Romantic Minimalism, and the recent concerts in central Newcastle proved a hit with audiences.
In August he delivered Music for a Late Summer’s Evening, a recital which included the original set of compositions Postcards from Cornwall and other music loosely based on ‘summery’ impressionism, including some works by Debussy, Satie and the Grieg Lyric pieces. September saw his Fairy Tales and Fantasies recital, which was a programme of entirely original music, including Fairy Tale Suite, a collection of pieces which are emotional responses based on different fairy tales by The Brothers Grimm. They were also inspired by a recent trip along the Fairy Tale Route in Germany.
Christopher gets creative about most situations, whether it’s photographing it, writing about it, or composing music.
“For me, one of the draws of fairy tales is that they didn’t necessarily happen. I like the fact that they are folk responses to something that may or may not have happened, so it’s an interpretation of an event. There is something about the story of Hamelin, for example, that invokes a creative response. The pieces that I write aren’t meant to be programmatic, but they’re about feelings of the place or situation.”
Christopher is unashamedly romantic, and the idea of a subjective, emotional response is something to which he can relate. There is a scene for new compositions in popular music and jazz, but the same, it seems, can not be said of classical music.
“The unreserved acceptance of new classical music doesn’t seem to be as prominent as it is in other genres today, but this wasn’t the case in the 19th century. Back then, when the piano was perhaps enjoying its heyday, the instrument was a popular vehicle for fresh, new music, and especially improvisation. All the great composers I admire so much were famous improvisers”.
Christopher extemporises on themes and improvises a significant element of his piano recitals. As an audience member, it’s thrilling to watch and listen to. There’s no safety net as a solo performer, and certainly not one with music or lyrics in front of you.
But that’s what excites Christopher Watson, and while this modus operandi would send many a performer into a spin, he enjoys the thrill of this type of performance.
“Knowing many 19th century pianists were improvisers reminds me that a lot of great compositions started life as improvisations. The process of writing is that really no one sits down with a piece of paper. You have to experiment with musical ideas. The safety net is having no music and no bookends.
There are scores for all my compositions. They have been ‘written’. However, during the performance, it might go in a different direction. I want the freedom to allow the piece to take a different route. That’s the beauty of the piano recital.”
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Christopher also showcases his ‘fantasies’ in his recitals, and one of the most popular pieces at his recent concert was the Amy Winehouse Fantasy. Christopher explains that fantasy in the piano sense (in the 19th century) was a vehicle for popularising songs.
“Publishers would seek to hire a pianist because they were the pop stars of the day. So if someone was trying to promote a new opera, they would hire a pianist to play, promote and popularise the music from it. It went mad, especially in Paris. You could hardly turn a corner without a pianist of some renown playing a recital. They were the gigs of the 19th century. “
There is a market for this type of recital, as audience reaction can tell us this. Christopher’s recent recitals at St James’ United Reform Church and Royal Grammar School attracted a varied audience of novice students, seasoned performers, frequent concert-goers, and those who don’t normally go to recitals. It’s a brave move to play a concert of entirely original music, but Christopher is confident that the audiences are there.
“People thought the music was interesting and emotional. Some pieces made them cry or made them think about new things. Look at more ‘popular’ music, and people often relate to things with a dark, romantic feel to them. At my recitals everybody conjured up ideas. Young children thought of stories and characters in their heads while listening.”
So what’s next?
Christopher is planning a new recital for the end of the autumn. Long-term, he’s also working on a ballet based on the fairy tale Jorinda and Joringel.
Having been to the recitals, I feel I want to shout from the rooftops about how good and talented this performer is. Do something different this autumn, and go and hear him.
Keep up to date with Chris’ music at www.christopherwatsonmusic.com or follow Christopher Watson Music on Facebook.
