Uploaded May 2026 | Updated September 2026, 4 days ago
Premiered 3 May 2026, Salurinn concert hall, Kópavogur, Iceland
Liam Kaplan, solo piano
Caput Ensemble conducted by Guðni Franzson
Due to limited rehearsal time, there are a few small differences between the score and the recording.
"if you seek…" arose from my interests in improvisation, inside-the-piano techniques, raw sounds, and natural processes. The title derives from the words, translated from Latin, on the tombstone of Christopher Wren, the architect and astronomer who oversaw the rebuilding of much of London after the Great Fire in 1666: “if you seek his monument – look around you.”
In the piece, I reinterpret the words “if you seek...look around you” through several different lenses; the uses of objects found in nature and everyday life (coins, stone shakers, ping-pong rackets and balls, and paper bags), “non-specialized” techniques for all instruments in the ensemble (playing tuning pins, air sounds, overpressure, tapping, snap pizzicato, crinkling, col legno), and working with ambient elements of natural landscapes to create a structure based around silences, subtleties, and airy textures.
Premiered 3 May 2026, Salurinn concert hall, Kópavogur, Iceland
Liam Kaplan, solo piano
Caput Ensemble conducted by Guðni Franzson
Due to limited rehearsal time, there are a few small differences between the score and the recording.
"if you seek…" arose from my interests in improvisation, inside-the-piano techniques, raw sounds, and natural processes. The title derives from the words, translated from Latin, on the tombstone of Christopher Wren, the architect and astronomer who oversaw the rebuilding of much of London after the Great Fire in 1666: “if you seek his monument – look around you.”
In the piece, I reinterpret the words “if you seek...look around you” through several different lenses; the uses of objects found in nature and everyday life (coins, stone shakers, ping-pong rackets and balls, and paper bags), “non-specialized” techniques for all instruments in the ensemble (playing tuning pins, air sounds, overpressure, tapping, snap pizzicato, crinkling, col legno), and working with ambient elements of natural landscapes to create a structure based around silences, subtleties, and airy textures.
