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Parallax for piano

Martin Galway's Parallax, by me, live, on a real piano, without any edits or overdubs. Please excuse the sound quality and the occasional fuckups.

Feedback, please!

P.S. You might also want to check out One man and his piano.

Added 8-Mar-2001:

Notes

First of all, I'm glad that so many people have downloaded and liked this piece. Even Galway himself has commented on it!

It has been rumoured that I was inspired by THC Flatline's remix. This is most probably wrong, since I hadn't heard his remix when I decided upon the score for my version. =) However, I like the THC Flatline remix a lot, and he adds a little twist to the plot. Coincidentally I add the same twist:

In the original, Parallax consists of two separate parts. First there is the intro, the wonderful blippy-bloppy part that probably scares away most potential listeners. Then comes the main part with four repeating chords (sorry for the oversimplification) that goes on all the way to the end effect. But as I sat playing around with this at the piano, I was flabbergasted: These two parts can be played together. This is what both THC Flatline and I do.

What are my influences then? Well, I stole a few bars from Jordan Rudess' solo in Crossing Over. (The CD is called Rudess Morgenstein Project.) I'm also a big fan of Franz Liszt. Galway mentioned that my piano version makes Parallax sound more like Philip Glass now. I agree, and the thought had actually crossed my mind before he mentioned it.

Well, to round off, Galway himself is of course the greatest influence of them all. He is the greatest SID composer so far. =)

Added 30-May-2001:

About the score

I thought it would be fun, so I made a transcript. This had three advantages:
  • I became more fluent in MusiXTeX (a TeX package that lets you typeset music).
  • I could finally settle for one version; Instead of having a bunch of random improvisations trying to fit together, I now have a standard way of playing the piece. I can then make improvisations upon that standard, but the standard is there.
  • And the third advantage is not for me, but of course for all other piano playing sidheads out there. Now, lack of ability to play by ear is no longer an excuse for not learning this party icebreaker... Spread the music, not the word!

Feel free to improvise! Parallax For Piano started as an improvisation, and it should kind of remain that way. I've tried to write down more or less exactly what I play (or aimed to play) in the mp3 recording. But don't feel obliged to follow that at all! Especially not the left hand part starting at bar 279 (marked "ad lib").

I place this data in the public domain. Do what thou wilt.

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Anonymous
Fri 4-Apr-2008 23:43
just heard your paralax for piano and entered your hp through www.remix64.com . anyway, I think you should release another piano-istic remix. I saw your last release is from 2001! I bet some ppl in the "scene" would appreciate another tune like that.
cheers,
cpt_chaos
www.cpt-chaos.de.vu
Anonymous
Fri 24-Oct-2008 16:11
Wow.... that was mind-blowing
Anonymous
Sat 20-Feb-2010 14:15
This is awesome, congrats.
Anonymous
Fri 29-Jul-2011 19:58
Although I'm very late for congratulations I also would like to congratulate you on this one !
Anonymous
Sat 6-Aug-2016 08:46
Hi Linus,

I found your adaptation of Parallax for piano a few years ago, quite by accident. A happy accident.

I still think Parallax by Martin Galway was one of the best pieces every composed for the SID chip and your adaptation for piano is excellent.

I was never much of a fan of the game, but would load it and listen to the main theme. 10 plus minutes of crazy wave forms on the TV.

That was 1986. It's now 2016. Still playing the tune, both from the SID archives and your piano piece.

Thank you for sharing.

- Tim T.
Anonymous
Sun 27-Dec-2020 09:54
end of 2020, almost 4am in the basement of a hospital. This just came on via Bitjam Radio. A+, would listen to again.
Anonymous
Thu 24-Feb-2022 13:12
Been listening to this for years and keep getting amazed how you captured the spirit and essence of this tune. All the bits I loved and remembered you somehow pulled off.
It does need a revisit in high def on youtube though!

Still listening in 2022.
Anonymous
Fri 10-Feb-2023 17:56
Could you post this in MusicXML?
Anonymous
Tue 21-Feb-2023 16:41
I loved this piece but wanted a good quality recording. I automatically transcribed the notes from the audio file with "basic pitch", then rendered with a quality analog piano soundfont. [1] https://github.com/spotify/basic-pitch [2] https://drive.google.com/file/d/1IyAYg882PNWYwDHzgorQWWLx1PaogZhW/view