Green Afternoon - solo piano

“I first met Roseline Koener and learned of her work in the “Asia Contemporary Art Show” in Hong Kong in March 2015. I was struck by the beauty, unreserved joy and abstract nature of her work. When she talked about her artwork, she spoke about the importance music plays in informing her work. She often works on her art while listening to music and lets the music guide its development. I found this concept intriguing as I told her "I often feel the same way when I write music, only the other way around, that I often find writing music can feel a little like painting." When considering and appreciating abstract visual art, there is a unique subjective meaning that can be found through creative thought and contemplation. There is no right or wrong story or concept that your mind applies to abstract art. It makes of it what meaning it can. The meaning and story in abstract visual art aren't immediately clear in the same way that the meaning of what music alone (without lyrics) represents or attempts to convey is subjective and unclear. This similarity regarding representation and meaning in our artistic endeavours and processes (conversely) provided what I felt was a unique opportunity for an artistic exchange or collaboration. I asked Roseline if I could write a piece of music based on the subjective meaning that her art conveyed to me and suggested that perhaps she may be interested in attempting to create a visual artwork based on what meaning my music conveyed to her, and so began what I have termed the Koener Collaboration.

Green Afternoon is my own subjective musical representation and interpretation of Roseline’s “green image” from her Cantatas for a divine garden. The music represents rain drops, water ripples, breeze, playful children, the melting of winter snow and the beginning of spring. The water flows, the flowers grow, and animals and children are playful and happy in the sun and by the water.”