Dear Greg & Liz,
I'm curious about your upcoming debut album! Why did you guys choose Reimagine as your album title? What is its significance and what messages would you like your album to convey? I'm really excited about the album and can't wait to hear more information about it! :)
- Jennifer
Dear Jennifer,
We're really excited about the album too! We poured vast amounts of energy, time, expense, and love into the album and we are proud of the result.
The title, "Reimagine," was inevitable. We've reimagined virtually everything we do as a piano duo, and we wanted our album to convey our unique approach to classical music.
Most notably, we've reimagined the music we play: everything on the album is composed or arranged by us (other than our intense rendition of The Rite of Spring, which is itself a reimagining of the orchestral version). This reimagining of music occurs in a variety of ways. For example, consider our two versions of Danse macabre: the CD begins with our "Remix" of Danse macabre; it's a complete departure from the original and an entirely new work in our distinctive musical language, although it employs the familiar motives from Saint-Saëns's Danse macabre and Fossils. The CD concludes with a much more traditional approach to the piece; we honor the spirit of the original but recreate the music according to the strengths of our instrumentation.
Of course, we haven't just reimagined the music we play. We've reimagined the concept of four hands at one piano; we treat one piano/four-hands as not only something suited to domestic life, but as something with huge potential for the grand concert stage. We've reimagined our approach to the presentation of classical music (view our music videos for an example of this!). We've reimagined the nature of a piano duo relationship. Unlike most piano duos, our relationship is not defined by family or romance, but by friendship -- a friendship that shapes our collaborations as composers, performers, and creators -- a friendship that yields awesome adrenaline and joy. And finally, we reimagined our concept of a classical music album. We approached our album as independent producers (without the backing of a record label) so that we could retain complete artistic control over the album's content, design, and marketing. The album contains exciting repertoire that we love (and that we composed ourselves!), a bonus DVD featuring several of our YouTube videos, expansive and beautifully designed packaging, and short commentary written by us about our approach to music ("reimagine!"), about the nature of music listening, and about the beauty of collaboration. Heck, we've even prepared action-packed, movie-styled trailers to help publicize the album!
What is the significance of the album and what messages would we like it to convey? This album will defy your expectations on all levels; it is shocking, exciting, revolutionary, and sophisticated, and it will resonate with you in a personal and powerful way. What is the music about? It's about the human experience, it's about racing heartbeats and physical friction, it's about the passions that undulate beneath the restraint of daily life, about the timelessness of dreams, the manic states of being, the unrest of our current times...
The official release date is January 15, 2008. Subscribers to the mailing list will be able to purchase the CD earlier.