Hauschka

A little more about the music maker behind the "burning piano video" posted a few days back.

"Wherever I play, people are surprised," Bertelman told Wired.com in an extensive interview. "When I'm playing in front of an indie audience, people are just discovering more classical music. And when I play in front of a classical audience, people are surprised by how experimental a piano concert can be. "

Read the rest and enjoy some sample audio clips here.

end of an era

I am sort of surprised it hadn't ended sooner... Sadly

The last new-issue piano roll that went off the assembly line Dec. 31 was the company’s 11,060th. The song was “Spring is Here,” by Rodgers and Hart, recorded by Buffalo-based pianist Michael T. Jones.

link

Somebody Needs a Chill Pill

Paging Henny Penny:

Composer Andrew Lloyd Webber is freaking the eff out about the rise of illegal downloading on the internet, declaring that there will never be a Beatles again and moral relativism will conquer the Earth.

Deets.

Musical Anatomy

Ugh!

Musical instruments are prosthetics for body parts we never had. They can extend and transform voice, gesture, and exhalation. The mystery of their forms is matched by the invisible oddity of their sounds. But what if the prosthetics were unnecessary? This series imagines bodies with musical anatomies, referencing musicians from a variety of genres and traditions.

I found it all just a little creepy.

Point, click, and have a look. Link

that other burning piano

Hauschka - Morgenrot from Jeff Desom on Vimeo.

doh !

What's Bart Been Listening to?

In no particular order (unless you're strictly Lacanian about such) over the past couple of months:

Schubert - Symphony no2
Schumann - Sonata no 1 for Piano
Chopin - Piano Concerto no 1
Elgar - The Black Knight
Carter - Figment for Solo Cello
Mendelssohn - Song Without Words (esp book 5)
Harrison - Suite for Symphonic Strings
Schubert - Sonata Op. Posth. D960 for Piano
Bach - French Suite no 1
Granados  - Goyescas Piano Suite
Lutoslawski  - Piano concerto
Beethoven - Piano Concerto in Eb, WoO4
Debussy - Etudes for Piano

Why Didn't I think of That

More for your inner fan(cy) of whacky musical musical scores.

Here's this gem:

 

Haunting. 

That and more can all be found at this interesting site dedicated to strange, er different, musical notation and scores. 

Link.

p.s. I welcome suggestions from readers for variations on the Ono piece.

Ugh.

Ok. That's it. 2 will get you 10 that I stop playing piano for singers.

Your Morning Must Click

It's worth at least a good 10 minutes of your morning coffee break.

What is it? It's a blog dedicated to odd and rare musical instruments.  Among the wonders to be found are the world's loudest musical instrument, an orchestra made of old gas tanks, and a 20 foot long playable horn.

You find it all here. Point. Click. Enjoy.

Deep Thought

American Idol. The "Lawrence Welk Show" of our generation. .... Only less filling.