A collection of amusing material from my teens. I was born in 1974 and the music from this tape comes from somewhere between January 1991 and April 1992 and dates from a time when I was a 16/17-year-old flamboyant "virtuoso" pianist (ie. lots of notes, little accuracy). Some shocking but interesting "interpretations" of Beethoven with full cadenzas improvised by me, plus a really regrettable attempt at Poulenc's "Les Soirees de Nazelles" which ends up turning into pure improvisation. Also a few brash compositions from the same time, influenced by Shostakovich, Satie, Bartok and jazz/pop techniques. Additionally in this collection you will find four GCSE paintings (GCSE is like O-level - not sure what the American equivalent is: 16 year old anyway) - I received a grade 'G', which is one up from unclassifiable, and in many ways more shameful! Finally the collection is completed by some restored ZX Spectrum programs I wrote at the same time - a role-playing game, a snail-racing game, a sample sequencer for the 128 and a general art-design package, oh plus an insult generator for the currah microspeech (quite hilarious) - the spectrum collection will run on emulators and there are screenshots, mp3 samples etc included. Overall a private/public insight into the mind of one very strange screwed up little swine!!
This is quite a "private" collection of music, as well as other creative materials from the same period. I'm making it public mainly for light-hearted fun but also so that interested parties can know what I was like back then (weird). Some people might even remember those times. I'd LOVE to hear from people in my GCSE Art class or who remember my "interpretations" of Beethoven, etc. WISH I had a tape of my truly pitiful Grieg Piano Concerto, but I don't, so far as I know.....
Beethoven: Fourth Piano Concerto, Second Movement, the famous "Orpheus and the Furies" movement - wildly interpreted, no adherence to Beethoven's original aesthetic, and a full cadenza by me, somewhat in the manner of the one Schnittke wrote for the Beethoven Violin Concerto, though at that time I hadn't heart that. (I think I'd heard a few Schnittke pieces, probably the 2nd Piano Sonata.)
Beethoven: Sonata for Piano, in B-flat (an early one, can't remember opus number) - this is very "interpreted" and wild and probably not actually ALL THAT FAR from what Beethoven/Liszt might have delivered, but I'll let you decide. Anyhow it's very slapstick. I played this once at an old folks' home and the final cadence took a plant pot off the top of the piano!! Great days...............
And some of my stuff:
The F-Minor dirge that I was so fond of at the time with its closing cadence which frankly sounds a lot like Andrew Lloyd-Webber, but if you'd said that to me at the time I'd almost certainly have killed you in cold blood.
A sketch for a string quartet, oddly, somewhat Elgarian but again that opinion would not have been especially welcome at the time!
A very catchy percussive type piano piece which sounds a lot like Shostakovich and Bartok, with odd shades of Satie and plenty of jazz/pop influences from the rubbish I'd been playing prior to that as an early-to-mid-teenager.
"Leprechaun Ernest Again, Anthony" - an "in joke" piece, very flamboyant performance, lots of big crashes. Typical of the times really. Particularly interesting here is the school bell which sounds towards the end!! I vaguely remember recording this tape and it was before school started in the morning on a lovely baby Steinway. Oh to be a child again!!!!!
Anyhow I hope you enjoy it. Please take the time to listen to some of my "grown up" music too if you like this, and reviews are most welcome of course!
Please note that I'm not in ANY WAY trying to make out that my Beethoven etc. are "good" performances. They're just "interesting".
Write a review Downloaded 11,081 timesReviews Average Rating:
Reviewer:coachmarko - - December 21, 2006 Subject: Worth listening to, in spite of the disclaimers This is delightful material. Yes, "cringeworthy" in more than a few places (moreso for the author than for the listener, as we are our own worst critics), but somehow, I sense that these are important documents, and the composer is very lucky to have these, and I'm thankful that he has shared these with us.
I actually liked the unusual Beethoven cadenza, and would wish that someone would have the courage to attempt this in the concert hall.
I think the title itself, "Confessions of a Teenage Sociopath" (which I love), would form the basis for a fascinating new piece of music (drawing back on old inspirations, combined with today's knowledge and interests). Interweaving old passages of music in the style of Charles Ives or Rzewski, creating a sense of time and place with each memory.
Reviewer:James Banks - - August 13, 2006 Subject: Not too shabby The Beethoven and Poulenc sound pretty legit to me. (Not that I've actually heard the real versions before). I liked them. I also especially liked the glissandos in the "Jazzy" number, somehow the tape recording made them sound explosive and dangerous in a way that hifi would miss. Now I want to hear the real Poulenc so that I can tell where Mr. Fox improvised.
![[4.0 out of 5 stars]](/images/star.png "[4.0 out of 5 stars]")
- December 21, 2006![[item image]](http://ia300228.us.archive.org/3/items/GregFoxConfessionsofaTeenageSociopath/GCSE-PAINTINGS-1-pollen.jpg?cnt=0 "[item image]")
![[help]](/images/question.gif "[help]")
![[Attribution-NonCommercial]](http://creativecommons.org/images/public/somerights20.gif "[Attribution-NonCommercial]")
