Album Notes

The album took two years to write and record and is a collection of nine totally original classical pieces composed by hand using pencils and manuscript, then recorded in a manner more befitting a modern pop band; by the employment of digital multitrack recording techniques.

All instruments used on this album are electronic (and no acoustic instruments were harmed in the making of this album!). The technology used to create the virtual orchestrations utilises the latest digital sampling technology to replicate the sound and texture of tradiitional acoustic orchestral groups such as the strings, percussion, horns, brass and woodwind sections.

The arrangements were a challenge, as writing and recording individual parts singularly means you don't actually appreciate the true ability of a part to compliment and enhance a composition until it is actually played against what you have already recorded. This would be relatively straight forward except during this process you cannot stop the music inside your head (that you have not yet written down), and you must be mindful of these whilst physically writing and then performing each preceeding part.

During the process of emergence, I very often played the early stage parts of a piece to family and friends who whilst enthusiastic would be baffled when I explained what the other instruments would be doing in the piece (Clearly these were still in my head) and I was often asked if I could actually hear the arrangements before I had actually recorded them. The answer was of course yes and that made the process of playing back the completed works all the more pleasurable as the listeners could then experience what I had been trying to explain at the start. In most cases the listeners would remark of the profound transformation of the piece from its early birth state.

No sequencing or computer generated performances were used in the making of this album; instead each part is a played and recorded as a seperate performance. I do not believe in letting a computer do the performance, It is fundamentally against my understanding of the term "performance"

The pieces on this album reflect different periods of my life and some have very great and special meaning to myself and my family; such as "Reflection" which was written to describe the intense emotion that I experienced upon the loss of my Grandmother some years past. I wanted the piece to reflect the devestation that I felt at the time whilst remembering to celbrating the stature of the person we all loved and cherished.

Similarly "Homecoming" was a piece that came to me after watching a number of news casts about Wooton Basset re-patriations and conversely troops returning to their families. There was something that gripped me about the dignified salute to the fallen that was paid not only by families but by total strangers who were prepared to line the streets in a small Wiltshire town. Being British is really something to behold at times.

"Anticipation" and "Optimism" are pieces that were written at very peacefull and happy times in my life (shortly after deciding to leave industry in order to follow the dream of writing this album). Both these pieces inspire me with hope and happiness and indeed the pieces were used as the processional pieces at my daughters wedding at St Cuthberts church in Wells, Somerset (Yes the one used for the movie "Hot Fuzz"). I actually did not know that this was going to happen so you can imagine my suprise when instead of hearing the sound of the church organ, suddenly its my own piece playing. I was slightly overwhelmed about this but "Fathers of the Bride" do have to maintain some semblance of composure (Although I'm very glad I had a hanky).

"Romance" is all about the way I feel about my wife and the love we have shared together. It is an intense outpouring of emotions capturing the roller coaster that has been our many years of marriage. I would not change her for one second and she has certainly had to put up with many, many, many hours/days/months of repeat performances, cussing, moods and strops associated with the creation of this album.

"Childhood" is an attempt to describe in music my life and experiences as a young child and is certainly the greatest musical challenge that I have undertaken up until know.

The album cover comments about the fact that Classic FM would not play this album. The reason for entitling the album "Pioneer" is due to the fact that trying something different in the classical world appears to be like banging ones head against a very hard and unyielding brick wall. I was told quite specifically that music utilising any form of synthesised sound could not be played on Classic FM, and that music that uses synthesised sound could not be described as classical music.

I do not understand how this can be an appropriate catagorisation, and I vehemently disagree with this approach, hence the promotion of an album that hopefully makes a good attempt at righting what I consider to be quite a stuffy and closetted approach to new and emerging methodologies.

I very much hope you will agree and equally that this album brings to you the pleasure it has given me whilst creating it.

Robert Stevenson