Pink Floyd Classical Concept

"Over the years, there have been (at the very least) thousands of cover versions of Pink Floyd songs. However, recently, a new approach to three of the band's tracks has captured the imagination of the classical world. A young Turkish pianist and graduate of the Royal Academy of Music, AyseDeniz Gokcin has interpreted Floyd's music in a ‘Lisztian’ way."
- *Pink Floyd Official Facebook Page, January 18. 2013

This album initially started with my arrangements of three Pink Floyd songs, written in the form of a fantasia (Pink Floyd 'Lisztified': Fantasia Quasi Sonata) to celebrate Franz Liszt’s 200th anniversary. They were inspired by his legacy, his showmanship, his philosophical ideas as well as art and literature that influenced his works. Unlike other 'covers', my arrangements evolved out of the original songs and took their own shape, making the project an 'osmosis' of Pink Floyd’s and Franz Liszt’s music.

While these three songs (Hey You, Wish You Were Here, and Another Brick in the Wall) were the seeds of this concept album, the new arrangements have developed quite differently. They are a further departure from the “Pink Floyd 'Lisztified': Fantasia Quasi Sonata” in the sense that they are more daring and experimental.

The main driving force behind these arrangements was Liszt’s vision of viewing the piano as an orchestra, which tempted me to explore different sounds, to imitate rock instruments and to create new harmonies by manipulating the existing ones. I also was inspired by other composers including Chopin, Bach, Debussy and Corigliano while working on these.

The tracks are to be listened to from the beginning to the end without a break, just like Pink Floyd’s concept albums and Liszt’s symphonic poems. They are about the journey of the protagonist, represented by the piano, who goes through different stages in life facing a range of internal struggles (nostalgia, love, alienation, identity search) and witnessing world problems (war, politics, consumerism, faulty education system).

The sound designs play a great role in portraying these stages and creating a parallel world where the juxtaposition of these effects with the acoustic piano sound is to serve as the symbol of interaction between polar opposites in life that balance each other: reality vs. fiction, natural vs. industrial, past vs. future. The sounds are made by tweaking, stretching and playing the recorded piano tracks backwards, and then adding layers of digital instruments on top of them.

All of the new songs were chosen by Pink Floyd fans around the world who contacted me on my Facebook Page after hearing about my Pink Floyd 'Lisztified': Fantasia Quasi Sonata. It was an interactive project, and having so much support from so many people was definitely my biggest encouragement. Thank you!
- AyseDeniz Gokcin
Tracks:
I - WELCOME TO THE MACHINE (WATERS)

II - SET THE CONTROLS FOR THE HEART OF THE SUN (WATERS)

III - HEY YOU 'LISZTIFIED' (WATERS)

IV - WISH YOU WERE HERE 'LISZTIFIED' (GILMOUR, WATERS)

V - ANOTHER BRICK IN THE WALL 'LISZTIFIED' (WATERS)

VI - US AND THEM (WRIGHT, WATERS)

VII - COMFORTABLY NUMB (GILMOUR, WATERS)

VIII - ON THE TURNING AWAY/CHOPIN (GILMOUR, MOORE, CHOPIN)

IX - SHINE ON YOU CRAZY DIAMOND (GILMOUR, WATERS, WRIGHT)

X - HIGH HOPES (GILMOUR)