New year, but my theme from last year goes on and we move on to the Brazilian piano artist Angel Ruediger!
What’s your real name?
Angela Ruediger
How did you come up with your artist name?
“Angel” is one of my nicknames.
Where are you from? And where do you live?
I’m from Brazil, and at the moment I’m based in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil.
How long have you been playing the piano, and do you play other instruments as well?
I started to have classical piano lessons at the age of nine and never stopped playing since then. Piano is the only instrument I play.
Tell us about how you started playing music.
I asked my parents to have piano lessons. I was an unquiet child, and liked to make many things at the same time (which isn’t necessarily a good thing)
How long have you been making piano music?
I started to compose my own tunes since the second year I was taking my classical piano lessons, it was a kind of relaxing moment since I really took the piano lessons seriously and studied it about two/three hours per day, almost everyday.
Tell us something about that moment you realised you could make songs yourself!
It came spontaneously after I started to learn classical piano. No effort, no tension. I got two passions from playing the piano at that time: learning pieces from Liszt and Chopin (in time) and composing.
What are your favorite artists in this “piano genre”?
Classical Music: Chopin, Liszt, Grieg, Bach, Mozart, Mahler, Satie, Barber and Debussy
Modern Classical music: Jóhann Jóhannsson, Max Richter, Peter Cavallo, Gavin Luke , Joep Beving, Ólafur Arnalds, Carol Comune, and the wonderful Sophie Hutgins.
Is there one song which you play over and over again as soon as you sit down by a piano? Your own or someone else’s?
Not really. I usually start my “piano routine” with a lot of practice (scales and arpeggios) and then composing. If a new composition is finished, I play it until I feel its “fluency” is good enough so it can be recorded.
What rules (in making music) needs to be broken?
I don’t follow any rules and I don’t see them, have I’ve missed anything? In fact, this streaming era is so democratic. The action of “making music” couldn’t be more free of rules. Of course there are a lot of not good stuff, but there are really great new composers rising, too.
How do you record your music? Yourself? In a big studio? etc.
I record my tracks by myself at home
What’s your take on sampled instruments?
I’m totally open to every kind of instrument if it means to make music with quality. I’ve got some ambient/piano tracks I made all by myself, and already got on my 2021 schedule some collabs with artists who use sampled instruments…but definitely acoustic piano is my thing.
Anything else you want to share?
Yes, many thanks for inviting me to this interview, Johan. I really feel honoured. I also have to say that I love your music. And I would like to finish this interview mentioning a quote from Oscar Wilde I’m really fond of:
“…This is why music is the perfect type of art. Music can never reveal its ultimate secret.”
The last question is asked by my 6 year old son:
Where do all your songs come from?
Depends on the day. Mainly it comes from my soul, but sometimes from my guts.
Thank you very much for this Angel!