Organist – Pianist – Composer – Improviser
On November 10, 2022, I recorded this piano improvisation, on the big Steinway grand piano, in Stockesalen on Frösön. Since I grew up on Frösön in Sweden, I feel at home there. Anyway, this is an improvisation that is a bit inspired by Rachmaninov. It is just a short glimpse on the video.
To get more on fire, it is not a bad idea to sing a little while I play. As long as I don’t sing too loud. The music must be felt inside. I hope you enjoy the video.
Together with my singer Torbjörn Edlund, I did a new mixed concert program, with evergreens and classical piano solos. We played this program in Gamla kyrkan – Östersund / Sweden, on October 18, 2023. The title of this program was ”Allsköns Musik”. That means All Kinds of Music.
I had chosen to play solo music by Chopin and Mozart, and one of my own compositions. Torbjörn sang classical music and evergreens.
Here are two videos from the concert. One video with piano solos, and on the other video Torbjörn is singing O Sole Mio.
This video was recorded in 2016 at my home organ. I play different organ works by Bach, and I explain how I think, when I play theese works. I don’t try to make Bach’s music sound like it it did, when Bach himself played it. I am more like an entertainer. Hopefully with great taste. The organ is from 2014, and far away from the instruments Bach used.
The works I play are well known. Bach’s Chorale Partita on Sei gegrüsset, Jesu gütig, BWV 768, is a work that I used to play live, years ago. The Prelude in e minor, BWV 548, has the potential to sound like complex Rock ‘n’ Roll, if you play it rythmically. I have played it live, many times. The Fantasia in c minor, BWV 537, sounds lovely, if you play it in a Frensh romantic way. This is my approach. I play Bach’s organ music in the style that best suits the specific piece of music.
The video is in Swedish.
This organ recital took place in Gåxsjö church, on July 1, 2023.
The weather was lovely, and it was beautiful outside the church. I was surprised to see so many people coming to this solo recital. Gåxsjö is a small village. The organ was a small powerful baroque style organ.
I mostly focused on improvisation on this concert. Improvising on well known music, and some short Heavy Metal themes by Iron Maiden, and other metal bands. I also played my own organ works . I played four of my most difficult organ compositions, so I was pretty exhausted at the end. The audience was stunned. At the end of the concert I played my own piano composition Variations in A Major, Opus 13. That is the perfect encore.
Here is a video from this recital. There is no heavy metal solo on this short video. Well – the song song ”Whiskey in the Jar”, has actually been played by Metallica. Enjoy the video!
In Mars 26, 2023, I took this photo. I am sitting at the Steinway grand piano in the EFS Church, in Östersund/Sweden. I was playing Mozart’s piano works this night. This is my new pianist promotion photo for this year. I will use this photo simply because I am smiling so much. It will be used for YouTube videos, etc. I am not dressed up for a concert, I am just practicing the piano and having some fun.
Mars 16, 2023. Solo piano recital in Stockesalen.
This concert was really fun to do. Look at this lovely concert hall. The people in the audience are all sitting close to the Steinway grand piano. It was warm in the hall, and it smelled of coffee. It felt very inspiring.
I played a mixed program with Beethoven, Mozart, and my own works. I also played my own arrangements of well known songs.
Since many facebook friends can’t hear me play live, and since the short piano clips I post are not full concerts, I made a compromise, and turned on the video camera and recorded a mini concert. Every note is here, including the few wrong ones. Now I also post this recording on YouTube.
No retakes was made for this video. I simply recorded four piano works, and turned off the camera. I am not dressed up for a concert, it is just a rehearsal for my upcoming live concert. I play Chopin and Schumann and two of my own piano compositions. Schumann’s Träumerei is very well known. Chopins Prelude in E major sounds a bit like pop music in my ears. My own Figaro Fantasy is a show piece from my younger days. My own Ballad No. 1 was my first serious concert composition with an Opus number.
The recording was made on February 22, 2023. The piano is a large Steinway grand piano, in Stockesalen on Frösön -Sweden.
Program:
This video is recorded during a live concert I did in December 2022. I have never posted this composition on YouTube before. I think it was in 2001, I composed theese Variations (on the melody My Hat, It Has Three Corners). It is a composition in A major, and I was thinking of Mozarts Piano sonata in A major when I wrote it. It is not a series of strict variations, but a composition written in a more free form.
It is not even a strictly classical work, but more like an encore in humour style. I have never claimed to be a strictly classical pianist. I am just a pianist.
As always, I prefere to make live videos. The video is recorded in the church in Ytterhogdal, and the piano is a Feurich. A pretty nice piano, by the way.
It was lovely to do two Xmas concerts with a trio, in the churches in Sveg and Ytterhogdal. On December 17, we did theese concerts. I played with the two singers Torbjörn Edlund and Johnny Wiktorsson.
I got the chance to play the well known Xmas songs. I also got the chance to play my own piano compositions.
This was one of the most fun concerts I have ever done. Together with the singer Torbjörn I played a mixed program with Evergreens, and classical piano music. ”Från Evergreens till klassiska mästare”.
When I meet a big audience like this, that is filled with warm feelings, I feel very grateful to be a musician. Torbjörn’s powerful voice, and my natural talent for improvising the accompaniment proved to be a very successful concept. I also played my own solo compositions and Schumann and Chopin. The concert took place in Gamla kyrkan, Östersund, on November 30, 2022.
I hope to see you out there, and that you get the chance to listen to our duo.
Swedish Organist Jonas Karlsson 