Best known for his role onstage as a keyboardist in one of the two touring extravaganzas known as the Trans-Siberian Orchestra, Derek Wieland began to play piano at 5 and entered Juilliard Pre-College at 11. He earned his bachelor’s and master’s at Juilliard, and as a concert pianist performed at Alice Tully Hall and with the Cleveland Orchestra. In 1987, he was the first pianist to win the Seventeen magazine/General Motors Concerto Competition.
He credits running his own studio with broadening his musical horizons, leading to meeting Robert Kinkel – one of the Trans-Siberian Orchestra’s co-creators and co-producers. As the group’s musical director, Derek Wieland is responsible for arrangements and other musical matters concerning the instrumentalists and singers. He also collaborates with the show’s sound engineers, where he finds himself drawing on skills from his recording background.
Derek Wieland joined us to discuss the albums that shaped his career:
YES – THE YES ALBUM (1971): After the Beatles and George Martin began experimenting with fusing rock, classical, blues, Indian and many other styles of music into their albums, multi-track rock recordings began to be comparable to the big scores of the great masters such as Bach, Mozart and Beethoven. On The Yes Album, the tracks “Yours is No Disgrace,” “Starship Trooper,” and “I’ve Seen All Good People” represented a musical breakthrough in that the songs are able to maintain both a pop and classical sensibility at the same time. Organic, relevant, and yet drawn out in a longer complex structure.
EMERSON LAKE AND PALMER – BRAIN SALAD SURGERY (1973): Brain Salad Surgery goes a step further in complexity and virtuosity, while keeping the recording organic and alive, drawing from well-chosen classical works. The record opens with an English hymn, then interprets a piano concerto by the composer Ginastera, leading into an acoustic ballad and a piano episode before turning into a science-fiction epic. “Karn Evil 9” is the most important prog track ever recorded. Emerson Lake and Palmer display complete mastery in their use of both traditional and contemporary harmony, exploring both past and future musical worlds with limitless creativity.
[SOMETHING ELSE! INTERVIEWS: Fred Phillips returned to a series of conversations with Paul O’Neill after the Trans-Siberian Orchestra founder succumbed to a battle with a chronic illness at the too-young age of 61.]
PINK FLOYD – DARK SIDE OF THE MOON (1973): Dark Side of the Moon was tremendously influential. Being a more vocal-based band, even when adding complexity such as the 7/4 bass line in “Money,” Pink Floyd always maintained a pop accessibility. Along with Yes and ELP, Pink Floyd delved into a kind of rock that allows for instrumentals, well-developed episodes and transitions that magnify the experience of music that is approached from an album perspective.
These three revolutionary recordings took place at a crossroads in music history.
WHAT I’M LISTENING TO NOW: Looking toward more contemporary artists, records like Porcupine Tree’s Fear of a Blank Planet and Steven Wilson’s recent songs like “The Raven Who Refused to Sing” keep the roots of prog while exploring songwriting in the modern era.
The Trans-Siberian Orchestra and Paul O’Neill’s rock operas such as Christmas Eve and Other Stories stem from the history and legacy of all these artists. In a modern era, where all styles can merge and all occupy a more even space in the popular mindset, progressive rock remains one of the most limitless art forms. It opens the doors to the old and the new.
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