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I’ve not had a lesson in weeks. My teacher has been on holiday. But even without the lessons, I’ve been playing quite a lot. I can’t remember the last time that I have played every day, so it has been lovely. I said in my last post that I have been learning Le Pastour by Grovlez, which is coming along nicely. As well as learning how to play it I’m actually trying to memorize it (I need to increase my repertoire of music that I can play without sheets). But I have also been playing Yiruma’s A River Flows in You.

I first came across this tune on Myspace. Remember that site? Last I heard of it Rupert Murdoch paid a fortune for it and everyone abandoned it for Facebook. I actually used to prefer Myspace to Facebook, with its particular focus on music. But these things live or die on the number of people actively using them, and for some reason everyone preferred Facebook. One of the things I like about it was that you could upload/link to tunes that you liked. Someone in Asia had about 4 Yiruma pieces on their homepage, although I can only remember River Flows in You and Kiss the Rain.

If you have never heard of Yiruma, he is a South Korean pianist/composer who’s 2001 album First Love sold around the world. I guess he has never really become as well known in the UK, like many other contemporary classical pianist/composers, and certainly nowhere near as famous as he is in his homeland. He was educated in the UK, coming over to study at the Purcell School of Music. He moved back to Korea in 2006 to complete his national service. So far he has produced 8 studio albums, but First Love; his second, and the one that features A River Flows in You has been is most successful to date.

Are you a fan of Yiruma?