First ever piano solo recording. An hour of improvisation. SABC M1 Studio, Steinway Concert Grand. Recording sponsored by my late mother, Mariana le Roux. 1999.

My brother, Johan, and his wife, was present in the studio booth. His presence inspired me. I played as i used to at the time: giving performances on acoustic piano, starting with nothing, ending with silence. I refused having recordings made of my playing for some 6 years. I believed it was against the spirit of creating in the moment. I feared that listening back to them would hinder my development. The "recording" needs to take place inside, depositing whatever can stay in the subconscious, to be released in new dream-like forms with another moment of playing. Yet people wanted to have something to go back to in my physical absence. I could earn something from selling cds, on top of live performing (I only lived from a backpack at the time, my overheads were minimal). eventually recoding became an integral part of my overall creativity cycle. I left that "pure" state, along with the backpack. But still, there is something to be said for hat, something that is reflected in this recording, an almost existential thrust, demanding from the instrument to deliver a certain finality - the final word as to where the heart lies..