Gimmick

Virtuoso may be pushing it a just a little. But "gimmick" is spot on. But, hey, it's still great fun.

Details.

"They're from Utah, they're Mormon, they're all Juilliard-trained. I thought they might be a tad gimmicky -- the Osmonds meets the Cliburn auditions."

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!

Putting Beethoven on the Sports Page

I ache already.

"In Saturday's Beat Beethoven 5K, the great composer was supposed to finish the run around the University of Alaska Fairbanks campus on the exact beat that his famous 5th Symphony ended." Details.

Condi and Friends

A nice write up of Condi Rice's love of music and playing the piano recently appeared in the Washington Post. Whatever you make of her politics, there's little doubt of her love of music. Read all about it here.

Takin' Names

Interesing. A man who once tuned pianos for the Grateful Dead has been keeping a list or sorts. For years now he has has been having visiting artists autograph a concert grand. Talk about storied pianos !

Dave Brubeck, George Benson, Dr. John, Chick Corea, Marvin Hamlisch, Diana Krall, Peter Schickele, Roberta Flack, Rita Moreno, Wayne Shorter, Nancy Wilson and Victor Borge are among the 75 or more artists who, while playing engagements at bergenPAC, have taken time to sign the "harp" -- the metal inner chassis of the piano where the strings are strung.

Read the rest.

In the Beginning was Sound & Other Trivia

T he BBC's Radio 4 has posted up the 2006 Reith Lectures. They are available as direct download in mp3, video, and print ready copy. There are forums open on the lecture series website to provide ample room for hearty debate and conversation. Good job, BBC!! This year's lecture series is deliverd by Maestro Daniel Barenboim, and the series, titled "In the Beginning was Sound", has lots of food for thought.

For example, here's something striking that Barenboim said that caught my attention:

"You know, when you play music, you get this peaceful quality I believe also because you are in control of something, or at least you are attempting to control something that you cannot do in the real world. You can control life and death of the sound, and if you imbue every note with a human quality, when that note dies it is exactly that, it is a feeling of death. And therefore through that experience you transcend any emotions that you can have in their life, and in a way you control time.."

The more I think about that, the more I disagree and feel even a bit irked by it. It seems to trivialize both the work of an artist and the work of art itself. The artist is simply a neurotic in this account. In fact, it seems like a simple paraphrase of Freud's view: the artist sublimates his frustrations and fantasies, unrealizable in the "real" world, into a realm of phantasy that he or she controls. Art is simply a symptom, a brilliant disappointment, a substitution for something more. But I doubt it.

The boundary between the "real world" and this other world, of creativity, isn't so strict and clean. This isn't to say that there aren't boundaries or distinctions. But another account, one more perceptive, might reckon those boundaries as intersections and pivot points. That art is not about control, but about drifting, becoming, feeding and being fed by the "real world", that the work of art is not about a transcendental unity, but a transcendence, since Barenboim invokes that idea, that is a loss, a something more, more like religious experience than neurosis. More akin to the Buddha's smile than the neurotic's self-deceptions.

2006 Reith Lecture Series

Good for Goode

pianist
Richard Goode
Gimbel Lane Prize in Piano Performance

Good for Richard Goode:

"The prize recognizes "pianists who have achieved the highest levels of national and international recognition." It carries a cash award of $50,000; the winner spends two to three weeks at Northwestern teaching, leading master classes, and performing."

Solid, reliable, and workmanlike. That's how I think of Goode. Not a Ferrari, but more of a comfy Buick. Professorial is another word that comes to mind. The Beethoven cycle of his is very nice, but I wouldn't take it over Kempf or Gilels.

A Different Kind of Deadhead

A truly dedicated fan.

Gary Grossman, 64, traveled from Long Island to Lancaster to perform with the Lancaster Symphony Chorus this weekend, just as he’s traveled to Kansas, Iowa and Wisconsin to sing Beethoven’s Ninth Symphony.

He’s not a professional musician, just a retired certified public accountant with a 40-year love affair with this grand piece of music that has captivated audiences around the globe with its well-known “Ode to Joy,” which Grossman will sing in German with the chorus in the fourth movement. Read the rest here.

I'm suitably impressed !

Old and New

A very nice write up of and chat with pianist Pierre-Laurent Aimard is found here.. and, for the record, I really, really, like his playing. (OT, that unflattering photo of Ivan Hewett has got to go).

iPope

File this one under: "iPods in unlikely hands". According to reliable sources, Pope Benedict XVI owns an iPod nano. And, because you'll ask, he has the music of Chopin, Tschaikovsky, Beethoven, and the rest of the gang. Read more about here. (in Spanish).

His Holiness probably has no interest in these items.