Re:mind is a composition for piano and electronics that explores a particular aspects of musical performance: the moment before a sound is played by the interpret. The work is concerned with anticipation—the moment in which the performer imagines, prepares, and mentally hears the sound before the fingers touch the keys. The piece seeks to make this invisible cognitive process audible.

At the core of the work is a pre-composed electronic layer constructed entirely from recordings of the piano itself. Every note performed live by the pianist is preceded by a corresponding reversed recording whose endpoint coincides precisely with the attack of the acoustic note. Each reversed sound grows organically out of silence, converging towards the exact instant in which the pianist strikes the key.

The consequence is a perceptual illusion. The transient—the characteristic percussive attack that defines the piano as a struck instrument—is gradually absorbed into the reversed resonance that precedes it. Instead of notes with clearly articulated beginnings, the audience experiences continuously morphing waves of sound, where crescendi and decrescendi flow seamlessly into one another. The piano begins to lose its familiar identity, revealing a different sonic body whose gestures are anticipated by an acoustic memory. 

The anticipatory resonances are not uniform. Their duration constantly changes throughout the composition. Some notes are preceded by only the shortest anticipatory sound, while others unfold over several seconds. This temporal elasticity reflects different degrees of attention, intention, hesitation, and awareness within the performer’s mental image. The electronic layer therefore functions not simply as accompaniment, but as a representation of the pianist’s constantly shifting focus while playing.

The audience hears what appears to be the future arriving before the present: every note seems to cast its own acoustic shadow backwards in time. For centuries the instrument has been defined by its instantaneous attack and subsequent decay. Re:mind inverts this physical logic. The familiar mechanic of the piano remain unchanged, yet our perception of it is fundamentally transformed. 

Re:mind is a dialogue between the instrument and the interpret. The piece transforms an internal, private process of musical thought into a listening experience, allowing the audience to hear not only what the pianist plays, but what the pianist thinks. The title Re:mind is a play between the words remembering and reversal (suggested by the prefix Re). 

Re:Mind (2026) For Piano, Electronics

Amplified piano, 4.2 channel electronics

Duration: 42 minutes