" "I've been collecting Cuban music all my life and I love it," he [Andy Garcia] says, walking over to a piano at one end of the room where he proceeds to play a song from the soundtrack of the new film. Garcia is an accomplished musician and composed much of the music for the movie himself. The piece is emotional and dramatic. "I've always found Cuban music creatively stimulating," he tells me as he walks back to the sofa. "They called Havana the Paris of the Caribbean and that wasn't just a tourist slogan, it was a simple truth. " (emphasis mine).
Read the rest of it here. I look forward to the movie.
Saturday, July 30, 2005
Rose and the IKI and More
Jerome Rose on origins of the International Keyboard Institute and Festival at Mannes:
"It [Marlboro Festival] was an all-around exposure to the world of the arts; it was a dramatic crossroads in my life," says Rose, now a respected interpreter of Liszt and other great 19th-century composers. Rose is on the faculty at Mannes College of Music in Manhattan. "I wanted to do something similar in the piano world." .
and the seeming dysfunctionalism of today's piano competitions:
"I'm trying to regard them as young artists, not racehorses, where if you come in second you're not as good as the first,"says Rose, who finds the more typical competition track, which pits young pianists against each other in high-pressure circumstances, distastefully crass. "All of that is a very warped attitude. One problem with (competitions) is that, if you happen to be in your late 20s and still studying, there's this feeling that it's all over for you if you haven't won one and are not yet known."
We agree. Read the rest here
Visit the Marlboro Festival here
Visit the International Keyboard Institute and Festival here
And the fall-back for the competition burn-out: Grad School and the pretensions of academe?
"It [Marlboro Festival] was an all-around exposure to the world of the arts; it was a dramatic crossroads in my life," says Rose, now a respected interpreter of Liszt and other great 19th-century composers. Rose is on the faculty at Mannes College of Music in Manhattan. "I wanted to do something similar in the piano world." .
and the seeming dysfunctionalism of today's piano competitions:
"I'm trying to regard them as young artists, not racehorses, where if you come in second you're not as good as the first,"says Rose, who finds the more typical competition track, which pits young pianists against each other in high-pressure circumstances, distastefully crass. "All of that is a very warped attitude. One problem with (competitions) is that, if you happen to be in your late 20s and still studying, there's this feeling that it's all over for you if you haven't won one and are not yet known."
We agree. Read the rest here
Visit the Marlboro Festival here
Visit the International Keyboard Institute and Festival here
And the fall-back for the competition burn-out: Grad School and the pretensions of academe?
Getting Cross About Crossover Music
An Op-Ed piece I agree with:
"when singers who are not opera singers start singing opera arias and are identified by the media as "opera singers," I get really cross. A person who makes a living singing opera on a stage is a true opera singer. A pop idol singing opera arias, however well -- or badly, as is usually the case -- is merely a singer of opera arias. When the media refers to such singers as "opera singers," it lowers standards, expectations and diminishes the achievements of those who have studied and really know what they are doing." Read the rest here
"when singers who are not opera singers start singing opera arias and are identified by the media as "opera singers," I get really cross. A person who makes a living singing opera on a stage is a true opera singer. A pop idol singing opera arias, however well -- or badly, as is usually the case -- is merely a singer of opera arias. When the media refers to such singers as "opera singers," it lowers standards, expectations and diminishes the achievements of those who have studied and really know what they are doing." Read the rest here
China's Piano Craze
Interesting conversation with master piano teacher Yafen Zhu on the massive popularity of the piano in Asia:
"Douglas Humpherys, chairman of the Eastman piano department and artistic director of the piano competition, says that 70 percent to 80 percent of Eastman's piano majors are now Asian. The Juilliard School of Music in New York City reports a similar percentage, and top piano teachers around the country now joke that the American conservatory system would immediately collapse if you removed Asians from the classroom. Only it's no joke. "
and
""Two decades ago very few people in China studied piano because no one had any money," says Yafen [Zhu] . "But the opening up of China and the economic growth has changed everything. Now almost every family can have a piano. It's created a piano craze."
Read the rest here
"Douglas Humpherys, chairman of the Eastman piano department and artistic director of the piano competition, says that 70 percent to 80 percent of Eastman's piano majors are now Asian. The Juilliard School of Music in New York City reports a similar percentage, and top piano teachers around the country now joke that the American conservatory system would immediately collapse if you removed Asians from the classroom. Only it's no joke. "
and
""Two decades ago very few people in China studied piano because no one had any money," says Yafen [Zhu] . "But the opening up of China and the economic growth has changed everything. Now almost every family can have a piano. It's created a piano craze."
Read the rest here
Friday, July 29, 2005
Piano with Pedal Board: Today's Web Pick
This lovely thing is a piano with pedal board made in Italy by Borgato.
Their website is today's web pick. I would completely love to sit down and play at one of these things. I should think it sounds as beautiful as it appears. Visit their website here. It includes a brief history of the pedalboard and some of the composers who wrote for it:
"In the 19th and 20th centuries other composers also wrote for the piano with pedalboard, among these:
Alexandre Pierre François Boëly 1785 – 1858 Twelve pieces Op. 18
Robert Schumann 1810 – 1856 Studien op. 56; Skizzen Op. 58; Six Fugues on the name of "Bach"
Franz Liszt 1811 – 1886 Fantasie und Fuge über den Choral "Ad nos, ad salutarem undam" from Meyerbeer's "Prophet"
Charles Valentin Alkan 1813 – 1888 Twelve Ètudes pour les pieds seulement, Benedictus in D minor Op. 54, Thirteen Prières Op. 64 Eleven Grands Préludes et une transcription du "Messiah" de Händel Op. 66 Impromptu sur le choral de Luther Op. 69 "Ein Feste Burg ist unser Gott" Op. 69 for piano with pedalboard
Charles Gounod 1818 - 1893 Fantasie sur l'hymne national russe, Suite Concertante and Danse Roumaine for piano with pedalboard and orchestra, Larghetto for violin, viola, 'cello and piano with pedalboard, Marcia Solenne for organ or piano with pedalboard.
Camille Saint-Saëns 1835 – 1921 Concerto for piano with pedalboard and orchestra (First version of the 2nd Piano Concerto)
Léon Boëllmann 1862 – 1897 Twelve pieces Op. 16
Franco Oppo 1935 "Freu dich sehr o meine Seele" (2000)
Fabrizio Marchionni 1976 "S'Indàssa" (2000)
Jean Guillou 1930 "Epitases" (2002) "
American Folk Piano
This is definitely a great article on the piano's place in the history of American folk music. Chock full of some interesting tid bits.
Very nice to see the piano being recognized for it's central place in American musical and social history.
Read the rest here.
Check out the website for the Lowell Folk Festival here
''In the 19th century," he says, ''pretty much anyone who could afford a piano had one. They were very common rhythm instruments in early string bands." Bourne has become an avid scholar of the piano's rise and fall in American folk music, just as he has in the melodic style of Old West saloon music. He has complained to ''Deadwood" 's producers about their historically inaccurate use of guitar-driven, bluegrass-type string bands. Those kinds of bands did not exist in the 1870s, when the show is set; though larger saloons might have had a small ensemble featuring piano and fiddles.
The piano was also a mainstay in American homes -- and not just wealthy homes, Bourne says. ''In the 1860s, '70s, '80s everybody had a piano in their parlor. There were 4,000 piano manufacturers in this country alone. It was such an all-encompassing instrument; you could play anything on it."
So what happened?Very nice to see the piano being recognized for it's central place in American musical and social history.
Read the rest here.
Check out the website for the Lowell Folk Festival here
Thursday, July 28, 2005
Another Piano Competition: Take Note
"The International Piano Institute of Santa Fe has announced the third round of its first Competition Internationale. "
A new piano competition open to pianists of all ages.
Read the rest.
Visit the IPI website here.
At some point, entering a competition (like going to summer music camps and festivals) has just got to stop being fun. No?
A new piano competition open to pianists of all ages.
Read the rest.
Visit the IPI website here.
At some point, entering a competition (like going to summer music camps and festivals) has just got to stop being fun. No?
Actor determined to play piano
Well there's nothing like takin' the bull by the horns.
According to a news report, Charlie Sheen (born Carlos Irwin Estevez) "is determined to find time to learn to play the piano because he's sick of pretending to be a jingle writer on his hit US TV sitcom TWO + A HALF MEN."
Sheen says, "I have learned, positionally, where my fingers should be on the keyboard at certain times. That's a start." Read the rest.
According to a news report, Charlie Sheen (born Carlos Irwin Estevez) "is determined to find time to learn to play the piano because he's sick of pretending to be a jingle writer on his hit US TV sitcom TWO + A HALF MEN."
Sheen says, "I have learned, positionally, where my fingers should be on the keyboard at certain times. That's a start." Read the rest.
Wednesday, July 27, 2005
Today's Web Picks: LEMUR and AV Grandpa
League of Electronic Musical Urban Robots.
Mmmmm.. That's a name you can go to the bank on!
What it is: "Founded in 2000 by musician and engineer Eric Singer, LEMUR's philosophy is to build robotic instruments that "play themselves." In LEMUR designs, the robots are the instruments."
Listen to an mp3 of Lemur here . I like it. There's something...I dunno..."Kicky-Garage Band-Meets-Reich"
On the other hand, I must confess that the Lemurs have done nothing to efface my affection for "The Avant-Garde Grandpa". Who sounds a little like Brak. Listen to Avant-Garde Grandpa perform his "Tribute to Beethoven" (mp3 file. Check out the quotation in the L.H. from a Chopin polonaise. Happy music making).
Watch the Lemurs perform here
Mmmmm.. That's a name you can go to the bank on!
What it is: "Founded in 2000 by musician and engineer Eric Singer, LEMUR's philosophy is to build robotic instruments that "play themselves." In LEMUR designs, the robots are the instruments."
Listen to an mp3 of Lemur here . I like it. There's something...I dunno..."Kicky-Garage Band-Meets-Reich"
On the other hand, I must confess that the Lemurs have done nothing to efface my affection for "The Avant-Garde Grandpa". Who sounds a little like Brak. Listen to Avant-Garde Grandpa perform his "Tribute to Beethoven" (mp3 file. Check out the quotation in the L.H. from a Chopin polonaise. Happy music making).
Watch the Lemurs perform here
2 Pianos, 4 Hands: A Play
This play seems to be something worth checking out.
"Two actors, two pianos and many, many characters grace the stage as fifteen years of learning the art of piano playing unfolds in an hour and a half. "
Details here
Be sure to check out the Quicktime clip. It's pretty goofy.
"Two actors, two pianos and many, many characters grace the stage as fifteen years of learning the art of piano playing unfolds in an hour and a half. "
Details here
Be sure to check out the Quicktime clip. It's pretty goofy.