Blogosphere Report

.GeorgeCrumb BACH HughSung..Books FullerMusic
TheArtPost
RitesofSpring
CliburnSteinway...

As Chris at the Collaborative Piano Blog points out, it's been a wee slow in the blogosphere of late. But I sense the pulse of things is starting to quicken.

With the days getting warmer, it's nice to sit outside and do a little reading. Offline. At the top of my own list is Jessica's new book, "Rites of Spring", and you read about it here
and have a peek at it here.

And another fine recommendation for your reading enjoyment can be found at The Art Post. Margarita has written a very nice post on a collection of essays by Tim Paige, venerable critic of the WashingtonPost. She zeroes in on a wonderful bit about Van Cliburn. You'll find that post here. Speaking of the legendary Ciburn,he was recently celebrated in grand fashion in Texas. You can read about it here. The august guests are reported to have danced the night away to the sounds of big band music.

Speaking of dance and books. Be sure to drop by one of my favorite, if very infrequently updated, blogs: "FullerMusic". Cathy has a great post on the Sarabande from the Bach French Suite #5. Here's a small sample from her post: "On certain days it is unearthly -- a perfect, weightless dream. On other days, its shadows and crevices become essential. It gets weighty and human, and I bend it, perhaps, where it shouldn't be bent ..." Read therest here. I'm glad to see FullerMusic back in action!

And while FullerMusic is in action, it appears Jose at Punctus Contra Punctus has fallen into very deep thought. See for yourself here. If you yourself need something to think about, check out his Brokeback Mountain inspired bunny post. It's found here. BTW, I still haven't seen Brokeback Mountain, and it's becoming one of those things where you start to think you are the only person on the face of the earth who hasn't seen it. Another movie I want to see is Brick, there's fine post on this "teen noir" (is that a genre?) flick over at In Which Our Hero.

And, now, a word about Elliott Carter. Hands down the best piano concerto of the last century was composed by Carter. IMHO. So, or course, I was earger to read Steven Hicken's review of Carter's more recent Dialogues for Piano and Orchestra. You can read his review here on Sequenza21, and while surfing give his blog a visit.

Speaking of composers, I'm happy to see a fellow blogger has discovered the beautiful music of George Crumb. You can read about it here.

I've officially added pianist Hugh Sung's blog to the WTB "Blogs of Distinction" list. His corner of the blogosphere is a "must click" for anyone interested in the latest technologies for classical musicians. Music meets tech indeed. You can find it right here.

And speaking of technologies, I see that Steinway and Sons is staking a claim in the realm of pc-based music production. S&S has entered into t a partnership with Gary Garritan (mastermind behind the clever GPO, Garritan Personal Orchestra, that is already a hot commodity among many composers and students). According to the Garritan's site:

"Steinway & Sons, maker of the world's finest pianos, and Garritan, makers of the world's finest music soundware, announce a new venture to create a series of Authorized Steinway Piano sample-based software instruments."

What this means is hard to say. There are already many fine Steinway sample libraries on the market. But this one is sure to generate much interest. Read the details here.

More to follow...

Happy surfing!