Untitled page

PETE CERVENEC

Next Event

Concert

Congruences and contrasts

A small beginning. After long travels and a year of reorientation, it was time to return to the stage. Without daring to experiment too much, I devoted myself entirely to my beginnings as a singer. In the picture-perfect Isaba, I presented a concert with classical and modern arias, songs, as well as my own interpretations and compositions. This aspect was not only very well received by the Spanish audience, it also surprised my listeners from Germany, whom I involved in the preparation via social media. The young organist Rodrigo Hernández accompanied me partly on a historical organ and partly on the piano, enriching the program with classical compositions for organ. The project was intended as a learning experience to introduce him to a concert format that would enable him to appeal to a wider audience in the future. For me, the concert was a "return to the roots" in order to start something new on this "re-examination" and first test in Spain.

Despite the great enthusiasm, there won't be a follow-up with this line-up, as this concert was not the beginning, but the end of a journey. However, I can very well imagine further concerts in Isaba.

Laredo

Inspiration from history

In 2023, I set out on the journey of my life. I left everything behind, except my friends, and headed for France... only to end up in Spain.

Through further coincidences, I landed in Laredo on the north coast of the Iberian Peninsula. An exciting place full of contradictions, reflected in my then-still very small world. After a walk with my dog Áki, I felt an urgent need to use the studio in the back of my camper van to improvise on my impressions. A melody, a pattern, quickly emerged... Laredo had given me a melody.

First ideas and teaser:

Laredo (Fullversion)

Laredo was created by drawing on all my resources. It is meant to convey the mood that gripped me in this beautiful yet strange place. A place of failed revolutions and great political ideas. A melting pot of disappointed expectations and unfulfilled desires, both small and large. Dictatorship, revolution, war, reconstruction, giving up... everything has left its mark here.

At the end of the piece is the line "...y una y otra vez viene una nueva mañana...", which means "...and again and again a new morning comes."

It is meant to express that every failed idea will always be followed by a new one.

Laredo (Pianoversion)

Laredo (Remix)

A version with an electronic focus should not be missing either.

Project Mittere

My personal evulotion

The word "mittere" is almost impossible to translate. It only acquires meaning through its prefixes. Shortly before the COVID crisis began, all my plans seemed to have worked out. I was in the position of leaving the "slave ship" onto which my family's debts had forced me. I was free. But my motivation was burned. My musical creativity seemed to have been lost to the fears of the past. And suddenly, something sparked in my head again. Inspired by electronic sounds, I felt the urge to explore music with new toys.

My ideas from the early 2000s had now reached other composers like Yann Tiersen and Ludovivo Einaudi. And they had developed them further than I ever could have. My train had been missed because I was forced to repair the damage my previous generation had left on the tracks.

A student said to me: "But if you could invent this music, then you can also develop it further."

This is how "Mittere," my personal evolution, was born. These three works, so far, demonstrate my transformation into new elements in my music.

Se mittere

Actually the second piece in the series, but I'm putting it first here because it's completely free of electronic elements. This makes the "evolution" easier to understand.

Se mittere means to throw oneself onto or into something, or to attack.

After letting go (mittere), the first offensive step follows. Tackling things and letting enthusiasm guide one. Having firmly resolved to document my path but not to subsequently alter completed works, "Se mittere" remains, even though, from today's perspective, I don't think it's particularly good, nor did I play it well on the recording.

Mittere

Quietly, in a moment of silence in the world, a hidden emotion, a secret desire, slowly emerges, one that has long been afraid to express. But gradually, old fears are overcome, and the pursuit of liberated thoughts leads to something fragilely beautiful and long-desired.

Emittere

I'm taking a leap into the unknown, taking my ideas and thoughts and expanding my possibilities for implementation. Evolution...

Emittere is the last piece in the "Mittere" series for now.

It stands for radiance... and openness to a new chapter.

Emittere (Pianoversion)

I would like to continue to have the opportunity to give concerts in a variety of venues, with greater or lesser effort. I also don't want to give the impression that I leave composing to computer experiments. The basis always remains the piano. That's why there is always a piano version.

Meaning

Just a bit Psychodelic

Flowerbox is mainly inspired by my garden and by many new and old influences that could work in my head when suddenly there were hardly any events. Everything became smaller and more intimate and suddenly I was back where I feel most comfortable: in Jazz. In my summer house I live like in the 70s. Musically it was an exciting time between virtuoso craftsmanship and the joy of electronic experimentation and I'm not talking about the mainstream here. Jazz was getting on in years, but its achievements left their mark on harmony and sound. Not least because of this, I opted for a sound that is very close to the Wurlitzer instead of using the classic sound of a piano. I am curious where this journey will lead.

Flowerbox

PART I

The morning. The air is cool. The dew glistens on the meadow and the light of the sun gently breaks through the high fog. A warm play of light fills nature and slowly life awakens.

PART II

The afternoon. It has gotten hot in the garden and the world in all its movement just passes me by. It doesn't matter what moves people. No matter what the news says. In the garden there is an all-encompassing calm. There is calm in me. I am calm.

PART III

The night. As the life of the day dies down, the lights of the night awaken. All creatures of darkness in their own rhythm and yet connected to each other in a special way. In the distance the city sparkles through the trees. The air gets cooler. The sky clearer and everything seems right the way it is.

After ability comes being. As long as you want to prove your ability, you cannot reach the depths of the soul. It takes the commitment of one's own being in its most vulnerable form. This is the only way to create a deep connection and create inspiration from inspiration.