Here are ten traditional, classical and original songs played on the piano – all instrumental - by Peter Neuendorffer, a prominent performer in the Boston folk circuit. He is happiest at the piano - for over fifty years. This album has everything from Bach to Wayfaring Stranger to his own original material. It was recorded by noted local producer Steve Rapson.
Peter Neuendorffer plays with a spontaneity that reveals his years at the piano. He likes nothing better than to make it up as he goes along. Few players are as adept at this as he.
That was the plan of this his fourth CD that I have produced. Peter wanted to play with the freedom of the improviser, and capture never to be repeated moments with the recorder running, one take, no editing.
My favorite piece is the last: General Improvisation. It is in this piece that Peter just puts his hands on the keys and lets them go where they will, informed by his finely honed sense of form & composition.
I hope you enjoy this recording of Themes & Variations by a master improviser.
Steve Rapson
soloperformer.com
Peter is always rewarded with the rapt attention of his audience – most of whom are musicians themselves. His songs challenge the senses. The various styles he plays in are not so far apart as one would think. Today’s classical music was yesterday’s popular music. Hymns and anthems proclaim true patriotism and a love of the common folk. Peter has also recorded two albums with the Indie producer Steve Rapson.
Peter Neuendorffer’s music captivates all who listen to him. He is perhaps Boston music’s best kept secret. As far back as he can remember, he was given the gift of music. He isn’t famous, but that’s another story. He plays the piano like no other.
Peter’s been hooked on Open Mikes for ten years. He can be heard often at Passim, The Center for the Arts in Natick, Amazing Things, and King Hooper open mikes. He has done feature sets at those and other venues.
"Peter Neuendorffer represents the living, breathing folk tradition. His original material is often funny, sometimes poignant and always infused with a lonesome kind of honesty." - Club Passim Harvard Square, Mass.
"King Solomon said, 'There is nothing new under the sun.' May I say, without directly contradicting Ecclesiastes, that Peter Neuendorffer's songs are as close as they come. He is that one thing that is so hard to be: Original. He is also funny, engaging, and a fine piano player. - Steve Rapson, soloperformer.com
“I used to think I should have been a star. But then I realized that I would have to travel around the country three-hundred nights a year in a bus.” – Peter Neuendorffer
Peter’s piano and songwriting style fuses folk, classical, jazz, film music, musical comedy and pop with bizarre lyrics. His songs are on many topics: isolation, credit card blues, television news. Peter is first and foremost a piano player. He is not afraid to make classical quotes in his songs. Many of his songs can be “whistled down the aisle.”
So how did Peter get started? At seven, Peter picked out tunes on a church piano. At eight he sang the lead in the Christmas opera Ahmahl and the Night Visitors. While kids his age played baseball, young Peter Neuendorffer trekked to Boston for piano lessons at the New England Conservatory.
He would sneak into the pipe organ rooms and play. He would roam the corridors looking for unlocked rooms with good pianos to practice on. He would savor the cacophony of combined practice sounds in the hallways, like the orchestra practicing just before they tuned up.
At sixteen, he was in the cast of a "seat-of-your-pants" summer stock theater in Maine, where they put on a different musical every week. There he was in the chorus, played piano for shows, and worked on scenery and special effects. Two of the shows were broadcast on network educational television.
When he was in his teens, Peter and his best friend would bicycle over to the local mall to do two piano jams.
At seventeen, as the villain "Jud" in Oklahoma, he sang “Lonely Room” and stopped the show. Before he was eighteen, Peter played two concertos with an orchestra. He has played piano for many musicals, and has written his own musical. He auditioned at Symphony hall. When he graduated from high school, Peter received a letter from the president of The New England Conservatory of Music inviting him to apply. Unfortunately, he went to Harvard instead.
Later, he was part of The Mark Harvey Octet (a trumpet, two saxophones, piano, drums, conga, lead guitar, and electric bass.) This fusion jazz group performed at many Boston churches and colleges. With them and solo, Peter played live on the legendary jazz host Oscar Jackson’s radio show on Boston University radio, Boston. He has also appeared live on Northeastern University radio.
He spent many years “collecting” pianos, asking to play them, from the bandstand at Niagara Falls to the Weston Vermont Playhouse, to upper-class houses at Harvard, to the coffee shop at M.I.T. to music stores. Incidentally, Peter went to London to compete as a finalist in an artificial intelligence contest. He wrote software for the Mass. Boston Transit Agency.
As part of the Tunefoolery concert ensemble he did gigs at many nursing homes and senior centers. Currently, beside his Open Mikes, he plays every Friday afternoon at the “Social Hour” at a Boston rest home that features crackers, cheese and ginger ale.
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