I love the life as a performer and a composer, and I sought to create a large-scale work that would highlight the intricacies of composition combined with the freedom of performance and improvisation. The resulting piece is the 12-part Insights which is carefully structured and composed while allowing flexibility in execution with certain ideas to inject spontaneity into each performance.

Written between May 20th and June 19th, 2023, it was recorded in its entirety by Edward Enman on June 19th, 2023 at Studio Pierre Marchand in Montréal, QC, Canada.

All music written and performed by Edward Enman.


1. Fly

From the first notes of this journey, the cores of Insights are front and centre. Ever-changing patterns with inflections of improvisation drive the energy in this opening track. The patterns and their changes throughout this opening movement are fully composed while the unfolding of them has been left to be judged by the performer. Each time this is performed it will be created slightly different, with variations in how long each section lasts.

Movement and space are the driving themes in these first notes. Lifting into the air [Fly], it prepares us for the more grounded musical moments to come.
​

2. Remember My Heart

While creating this track I was thinking a lot about all the people I have had in my life and how I carry with me so many memories and feelings of my time with them.

From teachers to old friends to one-time interactions and simple moments of connection. My heart was full at the time of writing this piece and there are so many people included in these few minutes of music.

How many people do we think of regularly who may have forgotten their time in our lives? And how many people think of us as being an important person who we may not think of ourselves?

We encounter thousands of people in our lives, and we carry so many of them in our memories and in our hearts. That's what this piece is about.
​

3. Shadow Light

Each movement of these 12 has a different balance between strictly composed ideas and freedom of performer. “Shadow Light” leans heavily on the performer. In this musical moment I offer the performer a set of notes, a consistent rhythmic idea, and a general shape. The rest is left up to the performer. Improvisation can take many forms, and in this case, the improvisation is gentle, assured, and grounded. It has a clear beginning and an end, with checkpoints along the way.

This movement is a captured moment from late nights by lamp light. Quiet exploration. Personal discovery at the piano. A personal moment which will become sound in a slightly different way each time it is played.
​

4. On and On and On

The complex living inside the simple. The framework of “On and On and On” is quite simple, with a rising melody and repeating chords. The rhythm within this framework is intricate and wound up within the temperament of the performer. As in “Fly”, the patterns of notes and their progression are specifically laid out in the musical score. The unfolding of these patterns and their rise and fall, however, depend upon the performer, with guidelines in the musical score to help with the experience.

In “On and On and On” I intended to capture the feeling that even when things change, they keep going. Growth can seem scary in its relentlessness, but it can be sweet too. The same pace and the same energy can manifest themselves in different ways and become a new lived experience.

​

5. If I Stay Silent Will I Disappear?

"If I Stay Silent Will I Disappear?" is a reflection on a sentiment which I've heard many musical colleagues and friends express. We're trained to go, go, go, and when we stop to rest, we feel like we are falling behind, or being left out.

The simple truth is that for most of us, rest and silence are integral parts of our creativity and sustainability as artists.

One unseen part of this song is that although this track is quite still and calm, it's a very active piece to play. Switching between playing keys in a very specific way to playing inside the piano and being balanced with pedals while standing presents a challenge to the performer to maintain the glassy, calm exterior.

It's a great representation of how I feel when I'm struggling sometimes - the outside seems at ease while the inside is working frantically.
​

6. Luminosity

Inspired by my many years of performing the music of Ann Southam and John Adams, “Luminosity” is full of brightness, energy, movement, and light. The two hands intertwine with their own patterns which create a larger structure.

Certain aspects of this movement are left to the performer including how long certain patterns last. This gives a flexibility and vitality to each performance. It taps into the living energy of live performance and the expressive mind of the performer.


7. Be Still Even When You Are Not

Cycles, building, and layering of melodies within a repeating line that just keeps going. That’s the structure of this track.

On a larger scale, this musical moment shines some light on the balance of inner reality and outer reality. How we feel in any moment may be different than how we present ourselves, and certainly how others interpret our outward presentation. “Be Still Even When You Are Not” has a certain stasis to it – it moves but doesn’t go anywhere. It cycles again and again, grows, diminishes, and finishes close to where it began, but slightly changed.
​

8. Cloudburst

This entire movement is 4 carefully balanced chords - some of the first chords to be written down for the whole of “Insights”. These 4 chords in this order can be played a seemingly infinite number of ways, and in the written music, I have provided performance instructions for many ways. Still, each performance of this movement will be fresh, spontaneous, and full of life.

It is a theme and variations of sorts, with emphasis on the “variation”. The possibilities within the written chords are only limited by the imagination of the performer.

The final roaring chords are a moment of artistic catharsis – played as freely and as huge as possible.


9. Scratch

The act of scratching implies discomfort, and here it brings the unpleasantries of daily life to the fore. At some point in our lives, we all hold on, cling, scratch to any number of things in our lives. We can also be uncomfortable and unsatisfied with where we stand in our life situation, and the scratching begins.

This piece is a snapshot into a moment of longing, but not knowing how to deal with it, therefore, we scratch.

I wanted the sound of the strum to be an integral part of the sound and to become a voice along with the strummed notes and played notes. The choreography of playing this track is intricate: silently playing keys, lining up pedals, balancing the played notes and the strummed notes. It’s a movement of balance both in idea and in execution.


10. Questions vs. Answers

Cascade upon cascade, “Questions vs. Answers” is mostly an unanswered question. The collections of notes which rush down the piano are framed by a simple bassline and rhythmic guidelines within a given framework. It is intended to feel unsettling, and to end with no more clarity than it begins.
​

11. Takk

"Takk" means "Thanks" in Icelandic (and several other languages). It is also the name of an album by Sigur Rós, the most influential group on my own musical life. This is probably the most pop-inspired track I've ever recorded, and is an ode of thanks not just to Sigur Rós directly, but to all of the musical influences I've taken in over my lifetime. I describe this as "structured improvisation" - the only notes I wrote down for this piece are 4 chords, which repeat throughout.

The rest of the variation and changes in dynamics and note orders are all what I was feeling the moment we captured this. That's really in the spirit of connecting personally with the music as a performer, and to play an idea which can change on any given day. Remaining the same, yet different.

This music is what goes through me at the piano when I'm sad, when I'm tired, when I'm delighted, when I'm struggling, ecstatic, energized, overwhelmed, confused, content. It's my core, and if you were to capture my music in a bottle, this is what might shine out


12. Looking Out the Window at the Sky

For my daughter. When she must go to bed, but has no desire to do so, she will pull back the curtains and watch the sky, watch the trees, watch the birds, and say hi to the moon. As darkness settles, so does she.

This reflects the timing and passing of our lives and our experience in them. Sometimes needing a new sight to take us to an old destination.