The protagonist of today: James Batty. For him, creativity is a process of listening for inspiration and channelling that into something tangible.

08.09.2021

Today our protagonist is the British composer James Batty. His latest album "Until I Set Him Free" has just been released.

What was harder was finding my own artistic "voice", but I think that is a never-ending journey that most creative people are on.

How and when was your passion for music born and who inspired you to become a musician?

At primary school I spent many hours playing around on electronic keyboards and other instruments. When I was eight, the one teacher who played the piano left and I volunteered to play for school assemblies. I played songs and hymns for everyone to sing along to and afterwards would improvise. My parents bought a piano and arranged lessons for me and I was incredibly excited and eager to learn. Although I always preferred experimenting and creating my own music to practising the pieces I was supposed to be working on! I went on to study at Chetham's School of Music and to read music at Cambridge University as an undergraduate. But I think the point at which I decided to focus on music for my career was while working on a singing course in Sweden as a piano accompanist-being around musicians who had professional music careers and were passionate about what they did was a huge motivation for me.

Was it easy to follow this passion for you, or did you have difficulty? If yes, what kind?

I was very lucky to have a supportive family who paid for me to have lessons on piano, oboe and violin and to go to music school, where I studied composition for the first time. I was also fortunate to be able to study on one of the best music programmes at university. What was harder was finding my own artistic "voice", but I think that is a never-ending journey that most creative people are on. I started out focusing on pop music, but gradually returned to my classical roots and discovered my passion for microtonality, which impacts most of what I write now.

Maybe the biggest and most exciting challenge is writing microtonal music that involves other musicians. Playing to their strengths while also teaching them new techniques or ways of thinking about intonation.

What is inspiration or inspirational to you? How do you live an inspired life?

I find other art forms outside of music very inspiring-for instance, I love spending time walking around art exhibitions, immersing myself in pieces that capture my attention and getting caught up in the theme or narrative that the curator has put together.

How could you describe your way of composing?

Initially quite messy! I like to brainstorm my ideas on manuscript paper, get everything out. When I am using alternative tunings, I have to spend time working out the tuning system on paper and spreadsheets, and trying sounds out using software instruments before I can start writing the notes themselves. Once I have my initial ideas though, I like to be structured, composing for a certain number of hours at a time and setting myself mini deadlines for sections of the piece.

What is most challenging about what you do?

Maybe the biggest and most exciting challenge is writing microtonal music that involves other musicians. Playing to their strengths while also teaching them new techniques or ways of thinking about intonation.

What are your reference musicians?

I love the music of Nils Frahm, Ólafur Arnalds, and other piano-led minimalist music from the past few years. I also really admire the French school of composition from the last century, from Debussy and Messiaen through to Gérard Grisey. The attention to musical colour and timbre in their music is something that fascinates me. In a lot of my own music, I am trying to find common ground between these aesthetics.

Recently your new work "Until I Set Him Free" came out, can you tell us a bit about it?

This is my first solo piano album, but I have been exploring microtonal music for a few years, and I wanted to create a soundworld that was both familiar and strange. With the help of piano technician Finlay Fraser, I devised my own system to retune the piano. Using this new soundworld, I wrote a set of pieces that tried to capture a range of different moods. I was fortunate to work with Haydn Bendall, former chief engineer of Abbey Road Studios, to record the album. As well as being an incredible producer, Haydn is a pianist himself and began his career as a Steinway piano tuner, so he had a very special understanding of the music.

For me, sometimes the musical ideas come about through improvisation and sometimes through playing around with the notes on paper.

What is creativity to you? And: what is your creative process?

I see creativity as a process of listening for inspiration and channelling that into something tangible. The title of my album is taken from Michelangelo's description of how he saw his famous "David" statue in the block of marble and carved until he "set him free", and this underpins my own philosophy of how I like to create-to discern and envisage the music and then do the crafting to create the composition. For me, sometimes the musical ideas come about through improvisation and sometimes through playing around with the notes on paper.

What are your thoughts about today's music scene?

The diversity of genres and access to the widest range of music from around the world that the internet gives us is a huge thrill for music lovers-both artists and audiences. I am particularly excited by the cross-pollination that is happening between classical music and the pop/electronica/jazz scenes, and the many hybrid forms of classical and electronic music that are emerging.

What are your goals/dreams for the future?

I would like to change Western musical culture in such a way that traditional 12-tone equal temperament is no longer a default norm, but rather just one possibility of many. In my own music, I want to continue exploring this vast landscape and open up new soundworlds that touch people in different ways.

Who is the artist?

James Batty is a composer, pianist and sound artist based in London. The soundworlds he constructs in his music combine the familiar and the unusual to evoke the full spectrum of human emotions and tell stories in fresh new ways. He has been exploring microtonality for several years and in his latest album "Until I Set Him Free" he channels this passion into a series of compositions for retuned solo piano. James's debut release "Sanctuary (Overtones and Deviations)" fused together piano pieces and spectral electronic soundscapes, and received critical acclaim and radio play worldwide. James has composed for a wide range of other musicians, including Huw Watkins, Mark Simpson, Zoë Martlew, the BBC Singers, CHROMA, the Riot Ensemble and Opera North (UK) and the E-MEX Ensemble (DE). His music has been performed in Belgium, Germany, Italy, Poland, Russia, Sweden and the UK and his multimedia projects have been shown at the Shanghai Biennale and BAFTA. James is currently studying at the Royal Academy of Music in London as a postgraduate.


"Until I Set Him Free" is the first solo piano album from London-based composer and pianist James Batty. In these emotionally charged pieces, James modified the conventional tuning of the piano's 88 notes to present an entirely new musical language. His sensitive performances of these 11 original compositions coax listeners into a surreal sonic landscape where familiar tones are refashioned to form something fresh and new.

The album was inspired by the great Renaissance artist Michelangelo, whose famous 'David' statue was the result of the sculptor glimpsing a vision of an angel in the marble and carving until he "set him free". In James's words: "For me, the creative process is a lot about listening and asking questions. Whether it's a wisp of a melody or the bare bones of a chord progression, I try to set the ideas free and allow them to morph into something whole. I don't like to force the music."

To develop the tuning system, James collaborated with piano technician Finlay Fraser. Following a creative retreat in Poznań, Poland, where he sketched out his ideas, James returned to London and worked with an upright piano to explore the intricacies of its resonance and craft the final pieces. The album was recorded and produced by Haydn Bendall, former chief engineer at Abbey Road Studios who also began his career as a Steinway piano tuner: "When I first met James, I became fascinated with his project. The music is so unusual, interesting and beautiful. I'm thrilled to have been involved in this great album."