the well tempered blog

What a June it was

2011-07-04T12:37:00.001-04:00

I had a great time in the UK. Enjoyed meeting up with friends and much good music making. Spent much of the next month exploring upstate New York -- Fingerlakes (great wineries to visit and the dazzling gorges of Ithaca) and the beautiful adirondacks. If you have not had the chance to visit upstate, you should it is a wonderful place.

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Horowitz - The Star-Spangled Banner

2011-07-04T12:01:00.000-04:00

Happy Birthday America!

Garden Party

2011-05-21T05:35:00.001-04:00

Beautiful day in London, a day perfect for visiting the Royal Botanic Gardens!!

Check it out

-Posted from my iPhone

Donizetti Classical Music Awards

2011-05-21T05:25:00.000-04:00

Top honors for pianists Idil Biret and Gülsin Onay. "İdil Biret was honored with a lifetime achievement award in Monday’s ceremony, a joint effort between Andante and the Beyoğlu Municipality"Read more http://www.todayszaman.com/news-244219-donizetti-classical-music-awards-honor-idil-biret-gulsin-onay.html

RAM Museum's keyboards

2011-05-19T14:54:00.001-04:00

Give 'em a visit sometime.

Link

Posted from my iPhone

Gummy

2011-05-17T20:58:00.001-04:00

I knew my walk thru Hyde Park would not be a waste. Gummi bears, ahoy!

- Posted from my iPhone

London bound

2011-05-15T09:36:00.001-04:00

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Rites of spring

2011-05-02T20:37:00.001-04:00

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Heinrich Neuhaus: today's web pick

2011-04-12T09:25:00.000-04:00

Well worth your time visiting is the "Heinrich Neuhaus Home Page". A web site exploring the talent and achievement of the great Russian pianist and teacher.

Of additional interest is the site's page dedicated to some of Neuhaus' famous pupils.

Point. Click. Go!

One piano.. Two Keyboards

2011-04-12T00:21:00.005-04:00

This I like. This I need. A piano with two keyboards.

Interesting bit of news, acclaimed pianist Christopher Taylor is seeking a patent for a digital version of the 2 keyboard piano. "“With luck, in a couple of months it will be patent pending and I can pitch the idea to a couple of (manufacturers),” Taylor said of the instrument, which will have two keyboards and make use of modern digital technology “so that some of the mechanical problems that exist in the purely mechanical device that exists in my office can be bypassed.”“With luck, in a couple of months it will be patent pending and I can pitch the idea to a couple of (manufacturers),” Taylor said of the instrument, which will have two keyboards and make use of modern digital technology “so that some of the mechanical problems that exist in the purely mechanical device that exists in my office can be bypassed.”More about it here.

Quotable Quotes

2011-04-12T00:02:00.000-04:00

"If there's anyone here I have not offended I beg his pardon."

- Johannes Brahms

One Man Plays Two Grand Pianos At Once

2011-04-11T23:29:00.002-04:00

Most of us mere mortals find playing one piano challenging enough, but pianist Josh Wright pulls off a real feat: playing a Liszt Etude (La Campanella) on two pianos at the same time....

For music and information about the pianist, you can check on his web page here. There are also a number of excellent performances and solid practice tips to be found on his "YouTube" channel - PianoTV.

Piano Circus

2011-03-31T10:00:00.000-04:00

Something lovely for elvenses...

Steinway. There's an app for that!

2011-03-23T09:26:00.001-04:00

Check out the free iPhone app from Steinway. It's a very clever metronome for your smart phone. And it's skinable - from Bubinga to Ebony. Added plus, you can tap out a tricky bit of rhythm on your phone and it'll play it back for you. Brilliant!

Check it out!

Ebony and Ivory: Steve Wonder's Piano Up for Auction

2011-03-23T09:21:00.000-04:00

You'll find all the details about this charity auction of the piano right here.

Jean-Efflam Bavouzet

2011-03-21T01:49:00.002-04:00

And speaking of Paris... Here's something really lovely to start your week out right. Bavouzet does Debussy like nobody else. Enjoy.

Cliburn Gets Another Medal

2011-03-21T01:41:00.002-04:00

Long overdue. Pianist Van Cliburn is among those selected to receive the National Arts Medal.

Details here:

snapshot from Paris

2011-03-21T01:35:00.000-04:00

Love the "Hipstamatic" app for the iPhone.. Does it ever take a bad picture? This photo was actually "accidentally" taken while fumbling about with the phone.. But, hey, I'm not complaining .

Q & A: Awadagin Pratt

2011-03-21T01:28:00.001-04:00

Interesting bit with Pratt.. And extra bonus for anyone attending the concert: he'll be playing surprise treasure Schumann's "“Variations and Etudes on a theme of Beethoven”, a work first published in 1976! Read it all here.

chopin's death photo?

2011-03-21T01:18:00.004-04:00

anticipation

2010-11-25T23:31:00.002-05:00

Liberace Plays Turkey in the Straw

2010-11-25T14:46:00.002-05:00

Happy thanksgiving!

At the movies with Rubinstein

2010-11-21T11:58:00.002-05:00

chopin competition

2010-10-06T09:05:00.000-04:00

Eighty-one pianists from 23 countries are competing for honours from Thursday at the International Frederic Chopin Piano Competition marking the bicentennial of the composer's birth.

The Reuters lead article is: "Asians flock to Poland for Chopin piano festival"

Deets.

Play Piano, Go to Jail

2010-10-06T08:51:00.000-04:00

That's the news from Grand Rapids Michigan. A man being sought by police was found: seated at a piano in front of the police station reportedly playing the same note over and over for hours (in other accounts its reported he was playing "chopsticks") -- apparently the piano had been setup there as part of the "ArtPrize" week's installation of those "piano-about-town-play-me" horrors that have been popping up like a pox across America. Link

Rocky III - Leif Ove Andsnes in the Ring

2010-10-05T08:49:00.000-04:00

Leif Ove Andsnes' recording of the Rachmaninoff 3rd piano concerto garners well-deserved praise. Along with it, and more interesting in some respects, is the 4th piano concerto.

This is a fantastic recording in both technical and musical respects. In a world choked with so many recordings of it - and it's a work frankly that I've grown weary listening to-- Andsnes still finds way to breath a bit of new life into this tired mainstay of piano competitions:

He is a judicious pianist and a sensitive one. He knows that there is no need to exaggerate Rachmaninov’s music, and indeed that there is every reason not to.

Read more here.

Another, and one that gives Horowitz' famed recordings a good run, was made by Santiago Rodriguez for the Elan label. It's well worth adding to your collection.

The Sherlock On Tour

2010-10-05T08:34:00.000-04:00

Fans of A.C. Doyle's master sleuth Sherlock Holmes will appreciate this tidbit from the news:

Called the Sherlock, it was carved from the wood of a diseased tree from the garden of a cottage in Edinburgh where the writer spent part of his childhood...The instrument was made as a tribute to Conan Doyle's creation, Sherlock Holmes, who played the violin while solving cases.

Those unable to make on the concerts can still heard in a BBC Radio Scotland's Music Cafe broadcast.

Details here.

Glenn Gould on Bach

2010-09-28T23:29:00.000-04:00

Kudos to "cultural offering" for pointing the way to this clip of Glenn Gould discussing the merits of Bach performed on the modern piano.

John Cale "do not go gentle into that good night"

2010-09-25T22:13:00.000-04:00

Blogcation Ends

2010-09-25T12:23:00.003-04:00

Summer ends. The Blogging starts.
Stay tuned.

España !! Go Spain!!!

2010-07-11T11:00:00.001-04:00

Happy Fourth of July

2010-07-04T09:56:00.000-04:00

On The Road

2010-05-30T07:17:00.002-04:00

Travel time. Barcelona was a fantastic break. Off to Paris tomorrow. Photos and all that to follow.

Out and Around Blogsville

2010-05-03T20:52:00.002-04:00

Recent addition to the WTB list of "Blogs of Distinction" and all around click-worthy bloggy goodness: Tales of a Tenor. Point. Click. Bookmark.

The Lady Loves Opera

2010-05-02T22:53:00.001-04:00

and you know... after weeks of jury recitals I can really relate

Today's Web Destination

2010-03-22T10:12:00.001-04:00

Today's "must click" web destination is "Music et Memoria" which explores many of the lesser known highways and by-ways of music history -- especially interesting are the sections of the prix de rome, the masterclass gallery, and more. Give it a visit.

Music et Memoria

Hot Wheels

2010-03-20T19:27:00.003-04:00

Need a ride to your next gig?

Happy Birthday Sondheim

2010-03-20T19:22:00.000-04:00

Composer Sondheim turns 80 on the 22nd of this month and the parties are a foot:

"Sondheim’s birthday isn’t until March 22, but no matter. Bernadette Peters, Patti LuPone, Donna Murphy, Marin Mazzie, Audra McDonald and especially Elaine Stritch — the youngest 85-year-old performer in town — started the festivities early.

bronze fingers

2010-03-20T19:15:00.001-04:00

A monument for a monumental talent.

"The Oscar Peterson statue will be unveiled June 30 just outside the National Arts Centre, steps from Parliament Hill and the Canadian War Memorial, as part of Canada Day celebration"

Read the rest

Happy Organ

2010-03-20T19:07:00.001-04:00

Give it a listen. It'll keep you smiling for days. (Watch closely for the poodly sitting on the bench with Cherry).

Piano at the Mayo

2010-03-05T10:52:00.000-05:00

check out this clip from YouTube. It's bound to put a smile on your face. While the performers are old-school lo-tech sort of folks, they are a big hit on the Tube.

"Told that it means that a video of them playing a piano duet in the atrium of the Mayo Clinic has been watched more than 6.6 million times, Marlow Cowan replied: "Wow! People must not have much to do." It all started when Marlow, 91, went to the Mayo Clinic for a physical. He and Frances, 85, spotted a piano in the atrium with a sign inviting people to play it. So the did."

Listen to Her Piano: Pop matter

2010-03-05T10:37:00.000-05:00

I disagree. If she were listening, she'd hear it telling she needs to practice. I am mystified by the "Alicia Keys-is-a-great-pianist" thing. She's not so much a pianist as she is a piano player, and not a great one at that.

"Midway through her 100-minute performance Wednesday night at the Allstate Arena, the side of Keys’ piano illuminated to display an electronic scrolling message that read, “Play me.” Keys looked at the text and said, “This is a very demanding piano. It tells me what to do.

”

Oh the irony! LInk

Chopin, The Mazurka, and Greatness

2010-03-02T10:19:00.000-05:00

A fine write-up with pianist/composer Rob Kapilow on the magic that is Chopin's music over on the NPR website and an audio clip of the Mazurka in A minor, Op. 17, No. 4.

"His work forever changed what we even imagine as possible on the instrument, both technically and emotionally. It's one thing to say Chopin's great, but what makes him great?"

Read the rest here.

Most Unwanted Song. Ever.

2010-03-02T10:11:00.000-05:00

This is a curious project: to create the most aesthetically unpleasing song. I am sort of surprised by earnestness they applied to the task. But as they say, the proof is in the pudding (or in this case in the hearing).

The song is twenty-two minutes and features instruments like bagpipes, tubas and the banjo, with political slogans, advertising jingles and cowboy lyrics. They manage to translate into orchestral rock-band church-music punctuated with high pitched sounds and abrupt changes in pace and mood

You can read more about it here and download a copy of the most unwanted song here.

Musical Staircase

2010-03-02T09:54:00.002-05:00

Now this is my kind of staircase.... I imagine all kinds of fun with it.

In Sweden musical pads colored to look like piano keys were installed on a staircase. The point? To see if it would intice more people into actually taking the stairs than the escalator.

Gould at Work

2010-02-26T21:09:00.001-05:00

A little music to kick start things around here

Rested and Ready

2010-02-26T21:04:00.002-05:00

WTB returns from the beyond...

I appreciate the emails whle we were on hiatus and look forward to another year of blogging!

happy new year's

2009-12-31T20:35:00.001-05:00

2009-12-27T20:20:00.000-05:00

Happy Holiday!

Happy Holidays and New Year's

Remember Summer

2009-12-12T21:51:00.001-05:00

He does...

Nibelungen

2009-12-08T23:42:00.002-05:00

Marcel Duchamp and John Cage

2009-12-08T23:18:00.000-05:00

New gould Film

2009-12-08T01:17:00.001-05:00

I've not seen it yet, but this does look interesting.

Genius Within finds many witnesses to Gould's offbeat personality -- his inner life -- and illustrates them with intriguing footage of the man himself. The result is a portrait both well-trod and new of a visionary musician whose torments were both real and manufactured. As Kingwell says, he was only at home when he was playing music.

link

Equally of interest is an interview with Christopher Foss:

Mr. Foss, now 52, was 9 at the time his mother left his father, the famous pianist and composer Lukas Foss. Ms. Foss moved to Toronto with her two children in 1968 and stayed for almost five years to be with Mr. Gould before returning to her husband.

Read the rest here.

The Fluid Piano

2009-12-08T01:10:00.004-05:00

Now this I want...

Geoff Smith believes he has come up with the first multicultural acoustic piano – what he has trademarked as a fluid piano – which allows players to alter the tuning of notes either before or during a performance. Instead of a pianist having a fixed sound, 88 notes from 88 keys, Smith's piano has sliders allowing them access to the different scales that you get in, for example, Indian and Iranian music. For good measure, Smith has included a horizontal harp.

Brilliant1

Check out it out -- video and details all found here. Or check out the video below the jump.

David Brubek

2009-12-08T01:07:00.002-05:00

Break out the birthday cake for Dave Brubeck.

Link

Born in Concord, California, on December 6, 1920, David Warren Brubeck seems to have entered the

world with music in his blood. The Brubeck family also produced two more professional musicians, Brubeck’s two elder brothers. Young Dave took to the keys at an early age, taught by his mother who had studied classical piano in England.

20 questions with Pianist David Fray

2009-12-08T01:01:00.000-05:00

Check out Playbill's game of 20 questions with pianist David Fray.

Most intriguing.. for my money is no 5

" 5. Definitely underrated work(s) or composer (s): A: Ernst Krenek...

Regalado José

2009-12-08T00:52:00.001-05:00

RIP. Noted pianist and pedagogue Regalado José passed away.

link

2009-12-08T00:44:00.005-05:00

The AT&T piano....

Sad really...

Old School

2009-11-16T01:19:00.002-05:00

Tuesday Tubes

2009-09-16T10:03:00.003-04:00

From Albeniz's opera "Merlin"

Surf's Up

2009-09-16T10:02:00.001-04:00

Some recent additions to WTB's list of favorites. Each of them offers music lovers loads of good things:

Svensk Musik / Swedish Music Information Centre

A special shout out for ICSM's "World New Muisc Day". Three Swedish cities 2009's World Music Days "an international festival focusing on contemporary music and sound art." The theme for this year is “Listen to the world”. Extra points for having a visually appealing splash page with a boxer on it. Point your peepers here: Link

And living up to it's motto of "A Life with music would be a mistake" is the Red Iberoamericana de Músicos / Iberoamerican Musicians Network. Noteworthy are the various piano-four hands arrangements found on the site here. The site also features a lively forum. Monolinguals take note: the site is in Spanish only.

Need to know what's "buzzing" in the classical blogosphere? Check out "Classical Music Buzz".

Happy surfing!

Test

2009-09-15T23:24:00.002-04:00

test

Update: testing a new blogging tool (a java based client). You can try it for yourself, if that sort of thing suits your inner geek, via Google's "Summer of Code ". Link

And Back Again

2009-09-15T09:31:00.001-04:00

Another summer holiday comes to an end. Regular blogging to resume.

stay tuned.

2009-08-23T02:23:00.000-04:00

Richard Wagner’s Siegfried opera gets a jaw-dropping modern makeover with over 5 hours of video played through 14 simultaneous projectors; it debuted June 2008 in Valencia, Spain

forget counting sheep on Orchard Road.

SIEGFRIED from Martin Inda on Vimeo.

Meet the Dog

2009-08-23T01:22:00.000-04:00

This is Albert. He's adorable. And he knows it.

adverse camber

2009-08-23T01:17:00.003-04:00

Still cracks me up.

Leo Sayer

2009-08-23T01:15:00.002-04:00

Oh yea!

Look. Up.

2009-08-22T11:46:00.002-04:00

who killed mozart

2009-08-18T07:36:00.000-04:00

Or rather what?

Now a group of Dutch researchers has suggested that he died from a bacterial infection spread by soldiers which was rife in Vienna at the time.

Given his symptoms this sounds very likely to be the case.

link

Our Man In the Ballpark

2009-08-12T07:59:00.000-04:00

Now here's something you don't read on the sports page everyday:

"In the coda of the Passacaglia and Fugue in C minor, composer Johann Sebastian Bach repeats the same chord sequence over and over again, leading the listener to anticipate one resolution, only to provide a tone completely different.

The only tones emanating from Nationals Park in the top of the first inning Sunday afternoon were the faded drones of an audience that had heard this composition too many times this season — game begins, visiting team assumes a lead, game ends in dreadful fashion. Arizona leadoff batter Trent Oeltjen looped a home run into the Washington bullpen in right field on the day’s third pitch, and the familiar chord sequence began."

via the Columbia Journalism Review.

musical cartography

2009-08-12T07:56:00.000-04:00

Q: Which U.S. state is most like a piano? A: Ohio.

Or so says one mapmaker --and it's not just because it has 88 counties.

I do like this:

A new form of paranoia arises, in which you think that all songs are actually maps. Even that burst of bird song that you hear in the alley behind your house at 3am is, you conclude, an unacknowledged spy's cartography, full of secrets to those who can decode it.

Link

Move over Da Vinci Code and make room for the Ohio Code.

Check it out folks

Music Map of Ohio

Too Much, Too Litte, Too Late

2009-08-12T07:35:00.000-04:00

re: the NYT op-ed on piano competition

I didn't find the read as "explosive" as Jessica, but it is a starting point for further reflection/conversation. More about it later. But for now check it out. More importantly, what do you think?

link

it's raining men ... at the mostly mozart fest

2009-08-12T07:27:00.003-04:00

so says the ArtsJournal blog. link.

the other mozart

2009-08-12T07:24:00.002-04:00

Meet the Mozart Media player. Maybe not as perfect as the composer himself, but i want one... cheese factor alone scores big points (and, yo, what' up with the hair on those dudes in the ad).

point, click, enjoy

mozart and perfection and everything you never wanted to know

2009-08-12T07:22:00.000-04:00

Please. Please don't feed the trolls.

Is Mozart perfect?

and then there's this

2009-08-12T07:17:00.002-04:00

A 77-year-old piano that survived the atomic bombing of Hiroshima and has become a symbol for peace is heading to New York next year as the city marks the ninth anniversary of the September 11, 2001 attacks.
When the United States dropped the bomb on the Japanese city on August 6, 1945, the Yamaha upright piano was in the blast radius. It still retains very low levels of radiation and shards of glass are forever embedded in the black lacquer.

link

e la nave va

2009-08-12T07:12:00.001-04:00

Not what Beethoven Had in Mind

2009-08-12T07:00:00.000-04:00

So not helping

The continuous wars between Arabs and Jews has moved from the battlefield to the symphony hall, as Jews in the Galilee, fed up with boisterous street parties after Arab weddings, counterattacked by turning up the volume of Beethoven and Mozart. Injuries have been limited to headaches.

link

The Morning Tube

2009-08-07T09:41:00.001-04:00

Van Cliburn YouTube Competition

2009-08-07T09:38:00.001-04:00

Here's something that might be of interesting to quite few folks. The always enterprising folks at the Cliburn foundation have launched the 2nd YouTube Contest for Amateur Pianists.

The YouTube Contest is open to any classical pianist who does not derive a significant portion of his/her income from performance, composition, and/or piano instruction and is at least thirty-five years old. The winner may not have won any previous Cliburn competitions.

Sounds like great fun!

Rules and Details here.

Here's the Cliburn YouTube Page.

There is plenty on both sites to keep you busy thru your midmorning coffee break :)

So you want to work in a piano store

2009-08-06T09:47:00.000-04:00

I did enjoy this quote from a novel published in 1887

"He had no particular aptitude for trade, and that by which he lived (he had entered upon it thirty years ago rather by accident than choice) was thoroughly distasteful to him. As a dealer in pianofortes, he came into contact with a class of people who inspired him with a savage contempt, and of late years his business had suffered considerably from the competition of tradesmen who knew nothing of such conflicts between sentiment and interest. A majority of his customers obtained their pianos on the "hire-purchase system," and oftener than not, they were persons of very small or very precarious income, who, rabid in the pursuit of gentility signed agreements they had little chance of fulfilling; when in pecuniary straits, they either raised money upon the instruments, or allowed them to fall into the hands of distraining creditors. Inquiry into the cirumstances of a would-be customer sometimes had ludicrous results; a newly-married couple, for instance, would be found tenanting two top-floor rooms, the furnishing whereof seemd to them imcomplete without the piano of which their friends and relatives boasted. Not a few professional swindlers came to the office; confederate rogues, vouching for each other's respectability, got possession of pianos merely to pawn or sell them, having paid no more than the first month's charge. It was Mr. Lord's experience that year by year the recklessness of the vulgar became more glaring, and deliberate fraud more artful."

via "Iron Tongue of Midnight".

One for the Hippy in All of Us

2009-08-06T09:38:00.000-04:00

This pretty much cracks me up:

On Sunday, classical music lovers and Deadheads will unite when conductor Marin Alsop leads the Cabrillo Festival Orchestra in the fourth live performance of Dead Symphony no. 6, the cornerstone of a concert commemorating the 14th anniversary of Garcia's death. The 12-movement work, which features improvisation and in-jokes such as a reference to the Dead's favorite warm-up song, the Italian ditty "Funiculì, Funiculà," will be performed alongside Australian composer Matthew Hindson's techno music-inspired Rave-Elation (Schindowski Mix). The concert will be followed by a discussion with Johnson, longtime Dead publicist and biographer Dennis McNally and David Gans, host of the nationally syndicated "Grateful Dead Hour" radio show

I really want to hear the Dead Symphony.

Piano Lesson via Skype

2009-08-06T09:32:00.000-04:00

Jeffrey Biegel has discovered distance learning with the help of skype.

My own take is that at best this is an excellent tool that can be used within certain limits -technical and musical. My sense is that the art of teaching (and learning) one-on-one in the studio is still best. The communication (spoken and unspoken), immediacy, and the entire practicable field of perception is much greater. What say you? Still it has a place -and can be an important tool.

link

Curious

2009-08-06T09:18:00.000-04:00

Jack Wright points the way to an interesting angle to the recent story of the fake bomber who turned up at La Guardia airport. He reportedly is a talent classical pianist. Check it out here.

Cleveland International Piano Competition - Updates

2009-08-05T09:59:00.001-04:00

I hear loads of of good things -and I'm not surprised- about pianist Dmitri Levkovich, and by all accounts he is doing rather nicely at the Cleveland competition. Details and more on him and the others can be found here.

Lekovich won the Iturbi earlier and you should check out his facebook page. Deets.

Gould in Love

2009-08-05T09:55:00.000-04:00

Gould fans can look forward to Genius Within: The Inner Life of Glenn Gould a new a new film by Peter Raymont and Michele Hoze that's showing at the Toronto film festival. I hope to see this one. It sounds like an interesting flick.

"People think of him as this weird, reclusive, paranoid person. In part, he was that, but he was also a very normal person and a very loving person ... he had a healthy sex life," Raymont said at yesterday's packed TIFF announcement at the Fairmont Royal York Hotel, which drew dozens of Canadian filmmakers.

Deets

More on the recently discovered piano works

2009-08-05T09:48:00.000-04:00

Last sunday a performance of the 2 new works by a very young Mozart was given. You can now hear them for yourself online -- a short composition and what is believed to be a 1st movement of a harpsichord concerto.

Details and audio clips found here.

scroll to the bottom for the clips.

Interstices: Christopher O'Riley Interview

2009-08-01T11:34:00.000-04:00

This is definitely worth having a listen to: an interview (including performances) with pianist Christopher O'Riley exploring his "transcriptions" of rock and pop music.

O'Riley is certainly one of the most interesting and enterprising of pianists about. He hosts the enormously popular "From the Top" classical showcase for young talen on Public Radio and is one of the few classical musicians you might legitimately describe as having "cross-over" appeal to pop music lovers (his transcriptions of Radiohead, Nirvana, and Nick Drake are phenom).

Link to Interview.

His website (including blog and loads of rich media) is found here. Chris and noir... That sounds about right :)

New Piano Competition in the Works

2009-08-01T11:23:00.001-04:00

The Oberlin Conservatory and the Cleveland Orchestra are joining forces to launch a competition for young performers. This is looks promising and gets underway next year with a competition piano performer. 2011 it will follow with a violin competition.

"The top three competitors will also be awarded full four-year scholarships to the Oberlin Conservatory of Music, pending admission, valued at more than $100,000 each. In addition to prize money, the first-prize winner will receive concert engagements with orchestras in Beijing and Shanghai, China."

Nice! Details are more are found here.

Kitten on the Keys? Not.

2009-07-29T22:10:00.001-04:00

Does Fanny Waterman know about this? I wonder...The playing's got something going for it in that Galina Ustvolskaya kind of way :)

and speaking of Mozart

2009-07-29T22:01:00.000-04:00

Check out this article on the Keyed Glockenspiel --photos and audio clips included. Link

And The Hits Keeping on Coming: New Works by Mozart Discovered

2009-07-29T21:59:00.001-04:00

Precious little is known about them. The details will be announced next month on August 2nd when they receive a"premiere" on Mozart's own pianoforte courtesy of the International Mozarteum Foundation.

More here.

Close Encounters of the BBC Kind

2009-07-29T21:41:00.003-04:00

The Proms poster does remind me of a scene straight out of "Close Encounters of the Third Kind". Classical music lovers, the mother ship awaits you.

update: now that I think about it, the must from the film isn't too shabby at all. Link.

Back from Holiday

2009-07-29T13:56:00.003-04:00

I had a fantastic time in the UK.. .Sites, sounds, and ales. Enjoyed a proms concert. Encamped just a stone throw or two from Wigmore Hall, Steinway Hall, and some great pubs. I do look forward to the next trip, but it's good to be home again.

Punctum: Brahms Sunny Side Up

2009-07-10T09:47:00.000-04:00

I was captivated by a post at the AllMusic blog on the "The Semiotics of Classical LP Cover Art (ca. 1970), or, When Things Started to Get Fun". Don't worry you won't need to dust off your Roland Barthes to enjoy this one.. The album covers alone merit a visit. It's your must click mission for the day.

Link

Pianos and Automobiles

2009-07-09T09:12:00.000-04:00

So if you're an auto maker and your company has reach it's 100th year, how to celebrate? By making a piano. That's what the folks at Audi are apparently up to. And I like it! Check it out. Deets.

Gilmore Festial

2009-07-09T09:09:00.000-04:00

Jazzy Jams?

Sounds like good fun. Link.

Speaking of Beautiful Pianos

2009-07-09T09:06:00.002-04:00

Check out Tinkertunes. You'll find some beautiful pianos enjoying their retirement from the concert hall/practice room as elegant furniture. I especially like the opera house desk.

Link.

Ravel Writes a Letter

2009-07-09T09:01:00.001-04:00

This post over at Rogerbourland.com gave me a good chuckle. It's a bit of imagined advice from Ravel to Rufus Wainwright (who really isn't my cup of tea -in fact just hearing him sends me fleeing from a room. It's that voice and wall of sameness does me in. Your own mileage may vary).

"Might I remind you to please not be overly influenced by Philip Glass, and his habit of getting “stuck” in one register when composing for the keyboard. Look at the piano music I have written and especially Claude’s brilliant Preludes. In fact, I encourage you to set aside some time to compose your own set of preludes, much like Billy Joel did."

Read the rest here

Thursday Morning Bloggy Goodness

2009-07-09T08:55:00.000-04:00

Check out Linda's Pianoblog for beautiful photos of some beautiful pianos.

It's your "must click" mission for the morning coffee break.