Wednesday, April 24, 2013

Luis Fernando Perez: "Galante" by Granados



This a wonderful performance of Granados Op5 no. 1 "Galante"... The piece is a real gem and one difficult to pull off well. The score can be found in the March/April issue of International Piano and online here at the  IMSL Archive

Tuesday, April 16, 2013

Welt-piano Konzertist

"A 1920s-vintage Hugo Popper 'Happy Jazzband' Orchestrion Welt-Piano Konzertist, made in Leipzig, Germany.
They were created by adding a 'jazz band percussion effect' top cabinet to a Welt coin piano model. The instrument plays music from 88 note or 88 hole rolls, of an identical size to Arburo rolls, and in addition to the piano, has percussion and trap effects such as muted cymbal, snare drum, triangle and wood block."

Check it out:


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=453dO6axjp8&sns




Monday, April 15, 2013

Fazil Say: Suspended Sentence

One hardly knows where to start with news of this sort:

"Acclaimed Turkish concert pianist Fazil Say was given a suspended jail sentence in Istanbul on Monday for insulting Islam on social-media website Twitter, in a court decision that supporters say protects Islamic values but critics maintain curbs free speech."

Read the rest here:

Link


- Posted using BlogPress from my iPhone

Sunday, April 14, 2013

Colin Davis - RIP

Sad news today. The passing of the great British conductor Sir Colin Davis.

News Link

Sunday, March 24, 2013

Spring Fever




- Posted using BlogPress from my iPhone

Wednesday, January 02, 2013

Clara Schumann and Google

Thanks Google for making me smile




- Posted using BlogPress from my iPhone

Saturday, December 29, 2012

Sunday, March 25, 2012

Tuesday, March 20, 2012

Steinway and Saturdays




A brilliant opportunity for amateur pianists in London: Saturday Piano Salon.

Details from the website: "The Saturday Piano Salon was founded by Melanie Spanswick and Lorraine Liyanage for all those who love to play the piano. We are a friendly group who meet at Steinway Hall to enjoy piano playing and good conversation over a glass of wine. You will be able to listen to your fellow pianists too and enlarge your circle of musical friends."

This is a very exciting opportunity. Are you on the program? Drop us a note and let us know who it goes.

Hopefully, I will be able to soon have a visit and give a first hand report.

Check them out online or, even better, sign up to join them:

LINK

The Wrong Piano Concerto!

Ouch! Can you imagine showing up for rehearsal only to realize at the last minute that you've prepared the wrong concerto! That's what happened with Maria Joao Pires. At about the 43 seconds into the video clip, the look on her face tells the story -- and, more, what's truly remarkable is that after some encouragement from Maestro Chailly she is able to soldier on and pull call up from memory the correct concerto. Brava!