Erik-Peter Mortensen

This is my submission for the link KING OF BEATS GEMS EDITION beatmaking contest!

I chose the Czar midi loops from the Free Gems Pack, provided by Cymatics, which sounded amazing to me!

And to make it uniquely my own, I added some additional layers to the existing loops as the track progressed, and additional sounds from all over the world, including my own vocal phrases and harmonies! :-)

May be a little different but it's Hip-Hop at the core and I hope you enjoy it! A lot!

Follow the contest on instagram and please vote for me if you like what I did! :-)
Here's the link to vote for me at the contest!!

link

#kingofbeatsgems

EP

MY CHRISTMAS WISH - Listen on N1M

YouTube

My Submission for the awesome Spitfire Audio "Score a scene" competition for a chase sequence from season 3 of HBO's West World! Above or on the video link please watch the fully scored scene with my music! Quite exciting! :-)

Thank you Paul Thompson for facilitating such a fine clip for us composers around the world to lick our chops over! :-)

The tips you provided in your video on how to set up hitpoints for scoring were just so helpful, and finally clarified the process to me after years of frustration!

Looking forward to scoring many more scenes, and hopefully films, maybe as part of your team one day!!

Best regards!

EP

As news of the global pandemic and more drastic actions taken to prevent its spread permeated the news last week, I felt inspired (I believe by the Universal and Divine Holy Spirit within all of us) to voice this prayer for the world to come together with the grace of God's aid during this devastating health and economic crisis. I then set it to music for 4 voices in the style of an Elizabethan English Anthem, one of my favorite genres of all time.

I sent the scores to my talented friends and colleagues, Audrey Fernandez-Fraser and Benjamin Doyle and asked them to record first audio, then video for this virtual quartet. Truly virtual as this quartet could never exist in reality as Audrey sang both the soprano and alto parts-into her cellphone no less, but to satisfactory effect!

I hope it brings you some meditative reflection, inspiration, peace, comfort and hope for our leaders and all humanity to join forces in this isolating time, apart but together!

If you do, please share it freely with any friends, family, choirs, churches, music directors, people who are suffering and need consolation, etc. who may be looking for something inspirational and hopeful that this prayer and music offers!

Musically yours,

EP
_______________________________________________________

Oh Lord be merciful unto thy children,
For we have gone astray.

We have put our trust not in Thee,
But have scorned Thy commandements
And become proud in the imagination of our hearts.

Help us to help one another
And seek not the treasure of gold,
But the treasure of Thy Holy Spirit
That dwelleth in ourselves and in our brothers.

Let the nations all with one accord
Show forth to all the People
Thy tender and loving mercy
And give unto them their daily bread
And deliverance from the scourge.

Amen.

Please vote for my song "Caro Mea" for the "Voices of Opera" contest by East/West ending 5/19!

1st prize is some cash, but 2 runners up will get use of the Voices of Opera Library for one year!
For the contest, the song has to feature Voices of Opera prominently. I created a 4 part motet on the text "Caro Mea", but of course only on vowels, lol!

Right now the leader has 177 votes, but I only have 7, so I really need your help! Every vote counts and will keep me in the top 20 contention! :-)

Then I divided this into sections and created a downtempo R&B/Chillout Hybrid!
Please vote for me here!
link

You can also hear Caro Mea attached to this post!

Thanks for your vote! It should take you less than 30 seconds and would mean the world to me! 

:-)
EP

Please vote for my song "Caro Mea" for the "Voices of Opera" contest by East/West ending 5/19!

1st prize is some cash, but 2 runners up will get use of the Voices of Opera Library for one year!
For the contest, the song has to feature Voices of Opera prominently. I created a 4 part motet on the text "Caro Mea", but of course only on vowels, lol!

Then I divided this into sections and created a downtempo R&B/Chillout Hybrid!
Please vote for me here!
link…/voices-of-opera-demo-contest

You can also hear Caro Mea attached to this post!

Thanks for your vote! It should take you less than 30 seconds and would mean the world to me! 

:-)
EP

Please become a Patron of Erik-Peter Mortensen!
link

Dear friends, fans and supporters! I've just set up a new Patreon site and I’d like thank all of my patrons with this Special Offer, no matter how long you’ve been with me!

A New Year’s Day 2019 Public Shout Out for every Patron on my Facebook Fan and Twitter Pages!

Top 5 reason to become a Patron of Erik-Peter Mortensen:

1. Help me continue to freely share amazing new and increasingly better produced, compelling music with the world!
2. Help me pay collaborating musicians to create new recordings!
3. Help me pay collaborating musicians to create new live performances!
4. Enjoy exclusive music content of increasing volume, complexity, and exclusivity at each higher tier of support
5. Music is a universal language and has the power to calm the savage breast as the saying goes! Help promote world peace through the free distribution of non-violent, uplifting and emotional music that can deeply touch and unite the hearts of many different nations and cultures!

BONUS: The next 40 Patrons to subscribe at any level (starting at $3 monthly) will receive a FREE digital download of my 2018 Album “Venite Adoremus” featuring a cappella and instrumental songs for the seasons of Advent, Christmas, New Year’s and Epiphany in the style of Bach and the High Renaissance!

You can preview the album here: link

Here’s a copy of my electronic press kit: link

Bio

As a 4th generation musician Erik-Peter Mortensen (aka Erik or EP) started singing professionally since the age of 9, first at the Metropolitan & New York City Opera Children's Choruses, and then in many professional choirs through the present (most recently with the Schola of St. Agnes Church, in midtown Manhattan. Having naturally developed a passionate love for Early, Baroque, and Classical music, he wishes to make the beauty of these earlier styles appeal to much wider audiences, either through fusing it with other musical styles, creating new styles, or promulgating it through his own music scoring for films, video games, and other multimedia formats. EP holds a Music link. from Columbia University, NY and a Master Certificate for Orchestration for FIlm and TV from Berklee Music, MA.

While attending St. Hilda's and St. Hugh's High School in New York, he was a bass and founding member of its madrigal ensemble, The Not-Ready-for-Roylaty Singers (NRFRS), and performed in many concert programs and outside performances, developing a particular knowledge and passion for this style of singing. While subsequently enrolled at Columbia University, he founded the New York Madrigal Singers (NYMS) during his junior year. The ensemble performed dozens of times over the next 7 years, producing several CD's worth of recordings, and receiving two favorable reviews by Alan Kozin, music critic of The New York Times.

Also at Columbia, Erik-Peter studied "Renaissance Counterpoint" with David Rakowski, "Advanced Composition" with Jeff Nichols, and "Counterpoint in the style of link. Bach" with Severine Neff. Thus it's no coincidence that since his graduation in 1992 with a link. in music, Cum Laude, much of EP's orchestral and instrumental compositional styles have been greatly influenced by Bach, while his choral works remain greatly influenced by the High Renaissance masters. In 2015, he completed his "Master Certificate for Orchestration for Film & TV" at link, the online extension of Berklee College of Music with a 4.0 GPA.

Not only a performer, composer and conductor, Erik-Peter is also a professional audio engineer, and has created his own production company called "Papagena Productions" (in tribute to one of his favorite Mozart opera characters from "The Magic Flute"), of which "Cathedral Records" is its main independent label. The mission of Cathedral is to produce and release a broad range of old, new and hybrid works with a Classical Music influence.

Musical Style

Representing the experimental (he would call it 'multi-dimensional'!) end of the spectrum, Erik-Peter's masterful compositions, songs and recordings are typified by a hybrid writing style which combines Medieval and Renaissance modal synthesis with Baroque and Classical counterpoint and harmonic language, all suffused with Romantic passion, in order to create pieces of symphonic & sweeping orchestral impact.

If you imagine the epic film scores of composer John Williams, you're on the right track to imagining Erik-Peter's music-- however, to get all the way there, you also need to imagine all of the above becoming fused with bouncy pop, rock, folk, world and dance grooves and traditions.

Erik-Peter, or EP, is equally at home with each of these techniques and styles. His wide-ranging music shows us that he is just as capable of creating a strictly Baroque fugue on subjects as varied as the melodies of 'Mr. Softee' and 'Hey Jude', as he is in combining the varied stylistic elements of rock, Gregorian Chant, and classic Hollywood (with the occasional touch of flamenco guitar) as he has done in some of his more recent creations, such as his popular song 'Hero's Quest' and the film-score worthy 'Dragon Song'.

Hi everyone!

Sorry for the long delay since my last newsletter - this is my 5th newsletter but I'll keep it super brief!

I was trying to release a Christmas Album with my colleague Audrey Fernandez-Fraser but it will have to wait a few more weeks lol! I had hoped to have a newsletter on it, but I'll make the announcement later.

In the meantime, I'm so honored to be the featured artist this week on Reverbnation! If you haven't visited me there in a while (or even if you have) please check out some of my music both new and old and add to your playlist favorites! There are some duplicates there from NM1, but also many other tracks not here yet. :-)

Thanks and much love! :-)

EP

link

Dear friends and influencers!

This is my 4th newsletter, Thanksgiving edition, and in a fairly brief time on NM1 you have shown incredible support for my music!

Here are some highlights since the 3rd newsletter:

I’ve added 10 new songs since the last issue, and thanks your amazing support, 9 of them have moved up drastically in the charts to join my other primarily classically influenced tracks in the NY classical charts - and my songs have SWEPT NY classical chart positions 1-25! Three tracks have swept 1-3 for global classical charts and 18 tracks are in the top 30! Seventeen songs are in the top 50 in NY charts for all genres. :-)

Here are the track names and chart positions for NY Classical - if you haven’t heard one of these, I’d be honored if you gave it a listen!

1. Fugue in C#-O Say Can you See-Electric Guitar Ensemble *
2. Fugue in G#-My Country Tis of Thee-Harpsichord Mix *
3. The Cockroach Hunt *
4. Jupiter and Europa
5. Fugue in bm-Gilligan’s Island-Guitar Quartet
6. Blue Skies
7. Divertimento in E
8. Hero’s Quest
9. Verleih uns Frieden
10. Forged by Fire *
11. Fugue in cim-The Munsters-Harpsichord Mix *
12. A New Road *
13. Tancredi Mourning at the Tomb of Clorinda
14. Ingrediente Domino
15. Fughetta on a Theme by Harry Potter
16. Journey of the Spirit
17. Journey at Dawn *
18. Magnificat Octavi Toni
19. Techno’cally Baroq’en
20. Transformation Adagio
21. Dragon Song
22. Crusade of the Battledragons
23. Nico’s Waltz
24. A Stroll in the Garden with Amadeus
25. Concerto in C for Harpsichord-Allegro

Some of my non-classical music has also hit the charts in a big way!

We Sing for You *
(#1 in NY, US and Global Charts for A Capella)

Whispers in the Night *
(# 1 in NY, #10 in US and #19 in Global Charts for Singer/Songwriter)

Я вас любил-I Loved You Once-EDM from Russia
(#1 in NY, and #2 in US and Global Charts for World)

Ave Verum Corpus-EDM/Renaissance/World Mix
(# 1 in NY, #2 in US and #3 in Global Charts for Singer/Songwriter)

Here’s some info on my newly posted songs!

Three fugues from my “Bach to the Future” concept album

Fugue in C#-O Say Can you See-Electric Guitar Ensemble
Fugue in G#-My Country Tis of Thee-Harpsichord Mix
Fugue in cim-The Munsters-Harpsichord Mix

These 3 DEMO’s are a part of my evolving Bach to the Future Collection!

The Fugue subjects in this collection, as well as many countermelodies are based on very popular tunes from hymns, songs, nursery rhymes, and TV/Film themes. (I released the “O Say Can You See” and “My Country Tis of Thee”, both National Hymns specifically to coincide appropriately with Thanksgiving Weekend). As you can hear, these 4-5 part instrumentals completely transforms the melodies into a stylistically accurate Baroque fugue (hopefully) in the style of link. Bach!

There are three purposes of this collection:
1. To make you laugh, once you recognize the popular melody!
2. To illustrate to those less familiar with it what a fugue form is. By having a familiar melody as the fugue “subject”, it's much clearer to track how all the parts work together and you can hear each voice weaving in and out clearly.
3. Simply to be a great piece of music for the sake of its own beauty, a masterful fugue in the style of the inspiring Bach!

For any talented guitarists, instrumentalists or keyboardists who are reading this, I'd love to create the complete collection of my 24 fugues in many versions: as a guitar ensemble version, chamber ensemble, 2 organs and/or pianos, even electronica! I also see YouTube videos of these fugues split into 4 screens (one for each part being played) going viral!

If any musicians are interested in participating in this project please send me a direct message! I think we do can all the collaboration over the Internet and Dropbox these days!

We Sing for You
This a cappella crossover track was written for a short film I composed called “The Fall of Camelot”. It’s for the death scene of Queen Guenevier with Sir Lancelot weeping over her and carrying her body in a funeral procession.

Whispers in the Night
This track was written for my class at Berklee for Songwriting for Film and TV. We were given a scene from Grey’s Anatomy to score, where a drowning woman recalls all her memories and dreams, both fulfilled and unfulfilled.

The Cockroach Hunt
Also written for a Berklee class in Orchestration for Film and TV, the setting is a scene from “Raising Helen” where a group of friends begins a jolly gathering in Helen’s 1st NY apartment, only to be traumatized by a cockroach scurrying over her feet! Eventually the poor bug is chased and squashed by Helen’s 12 year old nephew - who used her Gucci Bag - a housewarming gift - as the murder weapon! You’ll notice this at the end of the track when the lively music comes to a crashing halt - and then a funeral like dirge is played to honor the deceased!

Forged by Fire
Also written at Berklee, this was an exercise in combining orchestral and electronic instruments to create a hybrid track. You may notice my lead is an electrified solo violin!

A New Road
Music and lyrics by me in the style of John Dowland for a girl I had a crush on! She had gone through a bad breakup and I was offering myself as a “New Road” lol!

Rise up, the morning breaks!
Our journey now prepare!
Haste, haste, the dark restores our vigor sweet.
Before us lie two paths that meet,
An ever-winding road of delight.
I entreat you lady fair!

All others bid farewell.
Bid them a kind adieu.
Each heart that longs for another heart divine,
To live a life far sweeter than wine,
Must travel with a soul most true,
And mine is one with you!

Our journey now begins,
The sun shines on our way,
The birds with their melodious voice now sing,
The flowers with their fragrant buds now spring,
Two hearts upon the course of love
Now swing in glorious sway!

Journey at Dawn
Written for Orchestration class at Berklee, this has the same vibe as my more meaty “Journey of the Spirit”. The opening melody was given to us as a requirement for inclusion. I started with tremolo strings and then developed the concept into a Baroque style Adagio and envisioned a group of Hobbits starting out on a long journey through the forest. :-)

My Garden of Joy
I must be a hopeless romantic as I wrote this for another girl I had a crush on, again in the style of Dowland! Didn’t get the girl so maybe I should have written a heavy metal track instead, lol. Maybe one day, someone will visit and stay in my garden! This song was just added so it’s too new to be on the charts. :-)

Fairest Larissa, yon beauteous light
Fills the dales and meadows with bliss and delight.
Each morn the birds do sing and chant 'mongst flow'ring trees,
No cares betide on Zephyr's gentle breeze.
Though for such beauty I have thirsted e'er,
'Tis lacking yet one precious treasure rare.
Wherefore art thou my cherished Muse?
Thou could'st yet my longing heart with hope infuse!

My heart prepareth a bastion for thee.
'Gainst the gale of life's rigor my care shall set thee free.
No grief shall prevail in my garden's sheltring love.
Joy's radiant rays will grace thee from above.
All other riches I but seek in vain.
'Tis life with thee my happiness shall gain.
Banish the clouds of lovelorn shade.
Pipe and dance within my sweet Ambrosian glade!

I plan to keep adding at least 1 or 2 tracks every week for your enjoyment and I'm always excited to receive feedback from you so I encourage you to send me a note on anything you'd like to talk about! I promise I'll do my best to respond to every message. :-). Expect to hear a lot more Christmas related music from me in the next issue or two!

God Bless and Happy Listening!

EP

Dear friends and influencers!

This is my 3rd newsletter, and in a fairly brief time on NM1 you have shown my music amazing love!

I’ve added 6 new songs since the last latter, and thanks your amazing support, all of them have moved up drastically in the charts to join my first 12 primarily classically influenced tracks in the NY classical charts - and they all SWEPT chart positions 1-18! 14 are in the top 18 for global classical charts and all are in the top 30! As icing on the cake, 10 songs are in the top 20 in NY charts for all genres. :-)

Here are the track names and chart positions for NY Classical - if you haven’t heard one of these, I’d be honored if you gave it a listen!

1. Journey of the Spirit
2. Dragon Song
3. Crusade of the Battledragons
4. Fugue in bm-Gilligan’s Island-Guitar Quartet
5. Techno’cally Baroq’en
6. Hero’s Quest
7. Magnificat Octavi Toni
8. Concerto in C for Harpsichord-Allegro
9. Jupiter and Europa
10. Nico’s Waltz
11. Divertimento in E
12. Tancredi Mourning at the Tomb of Clorinda *
13. Ingrediente Domino
14. A Stroll in the Garden with Amadeus *
15. Blue Skies *
16. Verleih uns Frieden *
17. Fughetta on a Theme by Harry Potter *
18. Transformation Adagio *

Journey of the Spirit reaches #1 locally to globally for the first time!

There’s a companion video which I created for this music to enhance it’s emotional intensity. You can see it here:
YouTube

Here’s the Description:

Erik-Peter developed Journey of the Spirit as one of his assignments for Orchestration I, part of several courses needed to complete his Master Certificate in Orchestration for Film and TV offered by Berklee College of Music's online extension. The 8 bar melody first heard in the oboe was given to the class by our instructor, Pinar Tobrak, and written by Berklee professor Ben Newhouse. it was up to Mr. Mortensen to arrange it in some combination of woodwinds and strings. He took the melody and transformed it into a full adagio in the Baroque and Classical style, using similar motifs in the woodwinds to create transitions between subsequent statements of the theme by full strings and then solo flute.

Starting small with harp ostinato and pizzicato bass, the music itself journeys through many transitions, key centers, and harmonic tensions while at the same time following all the principal rules of tonality. The hoped for effect is to represent the journey we each must take in life, where we are rarely at rest and constantly evolving, yet generally retain the same sense of self that we were born with. By the end of the journey, both spiritual, and in this case musical, we have hopefully attained a state of resolution and hope as the journey on earth comes to a conclusion, and more likely, a new beginning in the realm of the divine.

Adagios

"Adagio" was a tempo indication from Italian literally meaning "at ease" and thus Adagios have come to be performed in a leisurely manner. Many adagios range in expressivity from sorrowful to meditative to inspirational. Some famous adagio's that influenced Journey of the Spirit included Albinoni's Adagio, Bach's Air on a G String, and even Mozart's Laudate Dominum near the conclusion of the work.

Orchestration

1st and 2nd Flutes
Oboe
English Horn
Clarinet
Bassoon
Contrabassoon
Harp
Strings

Realized and produced by Mr. Mortensen with various Orchestral Sample Libraries and the Cubase Digital Audio Workstation.

The tracks with asterisks were newly added since my last newsletter:

Tancredi Mouring at the Tomb of Clorinda:
This is a tragic opera aria I wrote and hope to place in a feature film for a director friend of mine!

I selected a famous Italian poem by Giaches de Werte on the anguish of Tancredi, a knight who slays his beloved Clorinda (another knight) in battle without realizing it. In this poem, he laments at her tomb. Below is the text and a possible English Translation!

Giunto alla tomba (prima parte)
Giunto alla tomba, ov’’ al suo spirto vivo Dolorosa prigion il ciel prescrisse,
Di color, di calor, di moto privo,
Già freddo marmo al marmo il volto affisse.
Al fin sgorgando un lagrimoso rivo,
In un languido ohimè, proruppe e disse: ““O sasso amato tanto, amaro tanto,
Che dentr’’ hai le mie fiamm’’ e fuor il pianto””.

Tasso, Gerusalemme liberata, XII/9697
Arrived at the tomb, where heaven had prescribed
A grievous prison for his living spirit,
Bereft of color, warmth, and movement,
Like cold marble he set his visage on the marble tomb.
At last, disgorging a river of tears,
He have vent to a languid ““alas,”” and said: ““O stone so beloved, so bitter,
That has my passion within, my lamentation without.””

A Stroll in the Garden with Amadeus:
For Week 2 of my Film Scoring Class at link, we were given a deleted scene from "Sense and Sensibility" starring Hugh Grant to score with our own alternate versions. This is based on Jane Austin's novel and is set in 1790's England, so I came up with two versions for this scene.

This is the classical period romantic setting I came up with in the style of Mozart.
Here’s the deleted scene from “Sense and Sensibility” with this tune as the underscore :-)
link

Blue Skies:
Blue Skies is to be part of a larger collection called "Fantasy Realms".

As the name implies, the tracks for this collection embrace a wide variety of musical styles to evoke a collective consciousness (or subconsciousness) in the listener that is ageless, mythical, transcendent and heroic, and at the same time deeply personal, even divine.

With lyrics contributed by singer/songwriter Phil Robinson, this track is a mixture of Flamenco, Gregorian Chant, the Latin Rhumba, the Film Western, the Chamber Orchestra, Pop and a variety of other styles. The "blue skies" imagery throughout can be seen as a state of mind which the hero, and perhaps each of us, strives for in our journey through life for knowledge and self-realization. To reinforce this journey and longing, Erik-Peter also added the Latin text below to the chant-like background vocals to evoke the primal call each of us makes at one point or another to a cosmic, redeeming power.

Lyrics

I woke up this morning in the middle of a dream
Of how my life and how my love would be
I saw progress made, foundations laid, and goals and dreams achieved
And through it all, a voice was calling me

But I woke to a bitter world of pain and memory,
I'm hurt and lost and aching all the time
As I push forward everyday in my struggle to be free
It feels much better just to be outside...

(With) Blue skies all around me
Blue skies, on my own
Blue skies, come surround me
Blue skies, (come) take me home

So many times it saddens me, the differences between
Who I am and who I want to be
I search for something beautiful that's lost in memory
In the rays of light that stream out through the trees

I'm looking for the missing words to a promise I must keep
That I'll be the man I know that I can be
And someday, I pray, I'm gonna find that missing key
Someday, I'm gonna find the key

Blue skies all around me
Blue skies, on my own
Blue skies, come surround me
Blue skies, (come) take me home

(With my) Blue skies all around me
Blue skies, on my own
Blue skies, please surround me
Blue skies, (come) take me home

Latin Text (sung by chorus)

Rorate coeli (or Rorate Caeli), from the Book of Isaiah (Isaiah 45:8) in the Vulgate, are the opening words of a text used in Catholic and, less frequently, Protestant liturgy. It is also known as The Advent Prose or by the first words of its English translation, "Drop down ye heavens from above."

It is used frequently sung as a plainsong at Mass and in the Divine Office during Advent. where it gives expression to the longings of Patriarchs and Prophets, and symbolically of the Church, for the coming of the Messiah. Throughout Advent it occurs daily as the versicle and response after the hymn at Vespers.

℣ Rorate coeli desuper et nubes pluant justum
(Drop down dew, ye heavens, from above, and let the clouds rain the just)

Verleih uns Frieden:
An a cappella motet I wrote in a High Renaissance style on a famous prayer in German (“Grant us peace in our Day” - boy do we need it).

German text

Verleih uns Frieden gnädiglich,
Herr Gott, zu unsern Zeiten.
Es ist doch ja kein andrer nicht,
der für uns könnte streiten,
denn du, unser Gott, alleine.

English translation

In these our days so perilous,
Lord, peace in mercy send us;
No God but thee can fight for us,
No God but thee defend us;
Thou our only God and Saviour.
Close
Fughetta on a Theme by Harry Potter
As the name implies, this tune was given to us for a weekly assignment at link for Orchestration II. The goal was to take the tune and orchestrate it with simple instruments and then full orchestra.

I took it to the next level and created a complete fughetta on this famous and popular tune! :-)

Transformation Adagio
This is a score I wrote to support my friend Nena Tahil’s slide show based on transforming her own abstract paintings into circular evolving “mandala” images (a little like the kaleidoscope effect).

Just as her images morph and evolve, the theme I constructed also evolves from very simple to quite complex orchestration, a favorite technique used in the famous “Palchabel’s Canon”.

Here’s the video “Imagery Transformation” with the music I created:
link

I plan to keep adding at least 1 or 2 tracks every week for your enjoyment and I'm always excited to receive feedback from you so I encourage you to send me a note on anything you'd like to talk about! I promise I'll do my best to respond to every message. :-)

God Bless and Happy Listening!

EP

Dear friends and influencers!

I’m humbled once again by your amazing support and enthusiasm for the music I’ve posted to NM1 so far. :-). It encourages me to keep writing and producing music I feel is beautiful and inspiring to as many listeners as possible - one of my biggest life dreams!

Thanks to this support, all of my songs have moved up drastically in the charts, including 10 primarily classically influenced tracks in the NY classical charts - and they all SWEPT chart positions 1-10 there and are in the top 18 for global classical charts!

Here are the track names and chart positions - if you haven’t heard one of these, I’d be honored if you gave it a listen!

1. Dragon Song
2. Journey of the Spirit
3. Crusade of the Battledragons
4. Techno’cally Baroq’en
5. Fugue in bm-Gilligan’s Island-Guitar Quartet *
6. Magnificat Octavi Toni
7. Hero’s Quest
8. Concerto in C for Harpsichord-Allegro
9. Jupiter and Europa *
10. Nico’s Waltz

The tracks with asterisks were newly added since my last newsletter along with the following tracks:

Divertimento in E:
An orchestral track in the style of Mozart with a slight influence of Tchaikovsky as well

Ingrediente Domino:
A Latin Polyphonic track sung by my friend Audrey and me - the style is High Renaissance a cappella and the words are for Palm Sunday - this is very similar in feel to my “Magnificat Octavi Toni”.

Я вас любил-(I Loved You Once)-Russian EDM:
The lyrics are from a very famous poem by Russian poet Alexander Pushkin. The verses were written for me by a friend visiting from Russia. The style is Electronica but with a Euro EDM vibe. Please pardon my lousy Russian accent as I’m not a native speaker! I think you’ll have fun following this by clicking on the “lyrics” button while you listen. :-)

I’ve also made my “Gilligan’s Island Fugue” posted in this newsletter available as a free downloadable track for you as a thank you for your amazing support! It’s part of a collection I’ve worked on for years called “Bach to the Future”. This is a demo version only, but the track is still enjoyable - especially if you’re familiar with the “Gilligan’s Island” theme song! :-). On a side note, I also studied portrait oil painting from ages 9-25 so I’m attaching a self-portrait of myself as “Bach” (but with a hat instead of wig) which was one of the last paintings I had time to complete as a 25 year old lol!

I plan to keep adding at least 1 or 2 tracks every week for your enjoyment and I'm always excited to receive feedback from you so I encourage you to send me a note on anything you'd like to talk about! I promise I'll do my best to respond to every message. :-)

God Bless and Happy Listening!

EP

Dear influencers,

Thanks to your enthusiastic support, all of my songs have moved up drastically in the charts, including "Magnificat Octavi Toni" which topped the classical charts at number 1, followed by "Hero's Quest" at number 2!

Since I’ve upgraded my account, I’ve added several new songs for your enjoyment, "Dragon Song" which has a great story behind it (see the lyrics/description while listening) and "Nico's Waltz" last Monday. Dragon Song has hit number 1 in the charts today!

In addition, please enjoy the video "Journey of the Spirit" which I created to support the very uplifting orchestral track of the same name (also uploaded).

This week, “Crusade of the Battledragons” (also with a video) is climbing the charts both locally and nationally.

Finally, I’ve posted “Concerto in C for Harpsichord-Allegro” as a free downloadable track for you as a thank you for your amazing support! The second track called “Techno’cally Baroq’en” (A play on “technically broken”) takes the same material from the concerto and transforms it into an electronica/EDM fantasy! I encourage you to listen to both back to back so you can hear and recognize the pretty cool transformation! :-)

I plan to add at least 1 or 2 tracks every week for your enjoyment and I'm always excited to receive feedback from you so I encourage you to send me a note on anything you'd like to talk about! I promise I'll do my best to respond to every message. :-)

God Bless and Happy Listening!

EP

Erik-Peter developed Journey of the Spirit as one of his assignments for Orchestration I, part of several courses needed to complete his Master Certificate in Orchestration for Film and TV offered by Berklee College of Music's online extension. The 8 bar melody first heard in the oboe was given to the class by our instructor, Pinar Tobrak, and written by Berklee professor Ben Newhouse. it was up to Mr. Mortensen to arrange it in some combination of woodwinds and strings. He took the melody and transformed it into a full adagio in the Baroque and Classical style, using similar motifs in the woodwinds to create transitions between subsequent statements of the theme by full strings and then solo flute.

Starting small with harp ostinato and pizzicato bass, the music itself journeys through many transitions, key centers, and harmonic tensions while at the same time following all the principal rules of tonality. The hoped for effect is to represent the journey we each must take in life, where we are rarely at rest and constantly evolving, yet generally retain the same sense of self that we were born with. By the end of the journey, both spiritual, and in this case musical, we have hopefully attained a state of resolution and hope as the journey on earth comes to a conclusion, and more likely, a new beginning in the realm of the divine.

Adagios

"Adagio" was a tempo indication from Italian literally meaning "at ease" and thus Adagios have come to be performed in a leisurely manner. Many adagios range in expressivity from sorrowful to meditative to inspirational. Some famous adagio's that influenced Journey of the Spirit included Albinoni's Adagio, Bach's Air on a G String, and even Mozart's Laudate Dominum near the conclusion of the work.

Orchestration

1st and 2nd Flutes
Oboe
English Horn
Clarinet
Bassoon
Contrabassoon
Harp
Strings

Realized and produced by Mr. Mortensen with various Orchestral Sample Libraries and Digital Audio Workstations.

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