Not What You’d Expect from an Alumni of the Cure: Roger O’Donnell Steps Out

Roger O’Donnell is best known for his keyboard work in The Cure. Proving that talent knows no bounds and can follow many paths, this is a beautiful example of that. His composition along with Julia Kent’s cello makes for some brilliant sounds.

On making the Love and Other Tragedies album:

When asked to write a new version of the story of Scheherazade for the Post Romantic Empire project of Italian, Giulio Di Mauro, Roger was first introduced to the cellist Julia Kent. They collaborated on the suite written in three movements by Roger for piano and four cellos and decided to explore this liaison further. After a solo performance by Julia in Spring 2011 the two met and in one of those moments of open thought and excitement decided to add two other stories to Scheherazade and complete an album together.

Roger suggested ‘Tristan and Isolde’ and Julia, ‘Orpheus and Eurydice’. The original idea was that they would write one story each but due to Julia’s extensive touring schedule Roger took over the composition. Each story was written in three movements in the same way Scheherazade was approached, and because each story had three crucial plot points, this made the process quite simple.

Each piece is written for piano and two to four cellos, all of which are played by Julia. Roger wrote the entire suite for Julia and at one stage contemplated recording with other cellists due to scheduling conflicts. This idea was quickly abandoned due to no other reason than that it simply wasn’t meant to be.

Go here to listen to a sample of the record.