We all hit a point in our playing where it feels we’ve reached a plateau. Sometimes we hit a wall with technical ability, but that shouldn’t stop us from creating music, because some of the best music sprouts from simple concepts.
“Experience” by Ludovico Einaudi is just such an example.
The piece was first released on his 2013 album, “In a Time Lapse,” featuring the composer at the piano with a small string orchestra and percussion. It sits squarely within his minimalist, Neoclassical language by using repeating patterns and an emotional crescendo. He eschews dense harmony and virtuosic passagework for an accessible yet powerful experience.
Watch him perform the piece during a December 2023 concert at the Teatro dal Verme in Milano, Italy.
The magic of “Experience” lies in its layers, not in its singular lines, but he does take some cues from the ornate compositions of Baroque composers. Einaudi explained the crux of the piece in a YouTube video.
“You hear multiple solo violins moving around the main theme,” he said. “The idea is that all of these violins interact and move together in a way that recalls Baroque-era writing – particularly Italian Baroque composers like Vivaldi or Corelli. There’s a sense of motion that feels almost minimalistic: the theme remains consistent, while rhythmic variations continually evolve around it.”
He goes on to explain that the harmony remains steady throughout the piece. “Experience” is written in the key of F# minor, which has three sharps: F#, C#, and G#. It has a four-chord chord progression that repeats throughout the song: F#min, A, C#min, D.
This series of chords, which can be represented numerically as I-III-v-VI, creates a pensive atmosphere by avoiding any standard cadences. Without a solid V-to-I resolution, the harmony becomes like a gently flowing river. As Piano Blog points out, “This usage of harmony is significant as it prevents the piece from settling into a stable harmonic progression, instead forcing the listener to focus on the nuances of the melody, thus creating an atmosphere of tension and anticipation.”
Einaudi builds on that attention and anticipation with the dynamics.
“The development comes primarily through dynamics rather than harmonic complexity. The crescendos unfold in clear dynamic steps, starting from piano and gradually moving through mezzo-forte to forte. This stepped dynamic growth is central to how the piece develops over time,” Einaud says. “Toward the end, when all the instruments come together – strings, percussion, and solo violins – the piece becomes extremely powerful. Then there is a sudden stop, and the music returns to pianissimo.”
The power of the composition is proven once again in a solo piano format. Even reduced to a series of simple patterns, Einaudi shows that you don’t need flashy chops to make deep music.
“Experience” is a gateway work that turns modest, repetitive materials into a cinematic study piece for real-world pianists. It has an emotional arc that intermediate players can use to express themselves, which is what we play for.
Get the sheet music for “Experience” and break through your plateau:
