Classic Cat is a directory with links to over 1500 free to download classical performances on the internet, sorted by composer and work. To find the classical music you select a composer, a work and a performing musician. Then you are transported to the page of the musician(s) where the music is hosted and you can download it.
Check it out.
LINK
Friday, February 18, 2005
Pianist glad she wasn't "trained too much"
A refreshing article on pianist MacGregor. If only more pianists (musicians) were this open to new ideas and music.
"I didn't have that thing about, 'Oh, you're talented. That means you must practice four hours a day,"' she said from her home in Brighton, Eng-
land. "I just grew up and I played. I played for my friends, and I mucked around, basically."
And, as far as she is concerned, "mucking around" was the ideal approach.
"One of my great fortunes was not being trained too much," she said.
Such thinking is sacrilege in many classical circles. But MacGregor, 44, is not your ordinary classical pianist. In fact, she is not even completely comfortable with the label "classical pianist."
One critic has described her as "exhilaratingly, recklessly democratic" in her musical tastes,
because the London-born pianist has no qualms about mixing musical genres in unconventional and sometimes unlikely ways."
Get the low down right
"I didn't have that thing about, 'Oh, you're talented. That means you must practice four hours a day,"' she said from her home in Brighton, Eng-
land. "I just grew up and I played. I played for my friends, and I mucked around, basically."
And, as far as she is concerned, "mucking around" was the ideal approach.
"One of my great fortunes was not being trained too much," she said.
Such thinking is sacrilege in many classical circles. But MacGregor, 44, is not your ordinary classical pianist. In fact, she is not even completely comfortable with the label "classical pianist."
One critic has described her as "exhilaratingly, recklessly democratic" in her musical tastes,
because the London-born pianist has no qualms about mixing musical genres in unconventional and sometimes unlikely ways."
Get the low down right
Thursday, February 17, 2005
Man Plays Piano With No Arms
this is really an amazing story:
"The man from Plummer, Idaho is a piano player who tickles the ivory with the softest touch. But, he'll be the first to tell you he plays like he has hands of steel."In '71 in Great Falls, I lost my hands. I was electrocuted, of course," Bill says. That's right. Bill lost his hands and his arms in an accident nearly 34 years ago."
Read the Rest
"The man from Plummer, Idaho is a piano player who tickles the ivory with the softest touch. But, he'll be the first to tell you he plays like he has hands of steel."In '71 in Great Falls, I lost my hands. I was electrocuted, of course," Bill says. That's right. Bill lost his hands and his arms in an accident nearly 34 years ago."
Read the Rest
Chopin in jazz : Noteworthy Idea
Now this is the kind of creativity I can hardly wait to wrap my ears around.
"Jagodziński is an innovator of sorts, being the first person to adapt Chopin's music to jazz. For his efforts, Jagodziński and his group have earned a distinct place on the local music scene. His fellow band members also have a long history of achievement in jazz, earning prestigious distinctions and having performed with some the world's top artists. "
Very Cool!
"Jagodziński is an innovator of sorts, being the first person to adapt Chopin's music to jazz. For his efforts, Jagodziński and his group have earned a distinct place on the local music scene. His fellow band members also have a long history of achievement in jazz, earning prestigious distinctions and having performed with some the world's top artists. "
Very Cool!
Boston Symphony Orchestra Gives World Premiere of Yehudi Wyner Piano Concerto
Good to hear BSO is playing and support (with commissions) the works of new composers.
"Chiavi in mano, a BSO commission, marks the first time that Wyner’s work has been performed by the full orchestra, although other works have been premiered by the Boston Symphony Chamber Players. His recent works include Trapunto Junction, a chamber work for brass and percussion; Commedia, a piece for clarinet and piano written for Richard Stolzman and Emanuel Ax; and Horntrio, which was a finalist for the Pulitzer Prize in music in 1997."
Check it out!
"Chiavi in mano, a BSO commission, marks the first time that Wyner’s work has been performed by the full orchestra, although other works have been premiered by the Boston Symphony Chamber Players. His recent works include Trapunto Junction, a chamber work for brass and percussion; Commedia, a piece for clarinet and piano written for Richard Stolzman and Emanuel Ax; and Horntrio, which was a finalist for the Pulitzer Prize in music in 1997."
Check it out!
Just the right room: Pianos and Living Spaces
A timely topic given my own musings of late on "where to put a new piano" and so on. The article strangely doesn't spill much ink on mention of upright pianos. This is strange as uprights (along with the other variety of familial piano hand-me-downs the spinet and console) is what's most likely to be found in a piano-owning home. But may it's just all about the demographics.
Still there food for thought and more on the feng-shui of piano owning. Here's a tasy tid-bit:
"A century ago, the piano room — or parlor — was the original home entertainment center. That's where guests were received and the family gathered to share what we now call "live" music. Then there was no other kind. Television and honking home stereos would render the parlor obsolete long before computer games and iPods.
Piano sales are a fraction of what they were when Teddy Roosevelt was president. In 1909, 364,500 were sold, but by 1999, fewer than 102,000 new pianos were brought home. Still, there are people for whom music is the defining characteristic of their house, and its rooms must serve their musical needs."
Enjoy the rest
Still there food for thought and more on the feng-shui of piano owning. Here's a tasy tid-bit:
"A century ago, the piano room — or parlor — was the original home entertainment center. That's where guests were received and the family gathered to share what we now call "live" music. Then there was no other kind. Television and honking home stereos would render the parlor obsolete long before computer games and iPods.
Piano sales are a fraction of what they were when Teddy Roosevelt was president. In 1909, 364,500 were sold, but by 1999, fewer than 102,000 new pianos were brought home. Still, there are people for whom music is the defining characteristic of their house, and its rooms must serve their musical needs."
Enjoy the rest
Wednesday, February 16, 2005
Manilow plays Vegas
Unlike Ms. Keys, Mr. Manilow actually can lay some claim to having "classical chops" --remember his dreadful abuse of the Chopin c minor prelude. Songs like "Mandy" and "copacabana" are the kinds of dreck that get stuck in one's head at the supermarket... SO vegas seems a natural.
But shouldn't Barry get at least a little respect.. I think the article makes a compelling case for the affirmative.
"It's his reputation as a master entertainer that's kept Manilow viable ever since the hits dropped off in the '80s and he started making noncommercial jazz albums. Last year his supposed farewell tour sold out stadiums across the country. "It must have been another generation that discovered me," Man-ilow says. "Or maybe they were brainwashed by their parents and wanted to see me before I died. 'Look, he's still breathing. Buy the ticket!' "
Manilow has been performing ever since he was a kid himself. He was raised in Brooklyn by his mother, the daughter of Russian immigrants—his father, a truck-driver for a beer company, left shortly after Barry was born—and "a billion" cousins. Music figured prominently in the household. "If it had been another time and place, my mom could have been Ethel Merman," says Manilow, in his still-strong Brooklyn accent. "But she couldn't, so I did it." He went to Juilliard out of high school, got a job in the CBS mailroom and was married by 22. Four years later he'd left the day job—and the marriage—to jam in Manhattan's jazz clubs and cabarets."
It's actuall a good read.
Check it out
But shouldn't Barry get at least a little respect.. I think the article makes a compelling case for the affirmative.
"It's his reputation as a master entertainer that's kept Manilow viable ever since the hits dropped off in the '80s and he started making noncommercial jazz albums. Last year his supposed farewell tour sold out stadiums across the country. "It must have been another generation that discovered me," Man-ilow says. "Or maybe they were brainwashed by their parents and wanted to see me before I died. 'Look, he's still breathing. Buy the ticket!' "
Manilow has been performing ever since he was a kid himself. He was raised in Brooklyn by his mother, the daughter of Russian immigrants—his father, a truck-driver for a beer company, left shortly after Barry was born—and "a billion" cousins. Music figured prominently in the household. "If it had been another time and place, my mom could have been Ethel Merman," says Manilow, in his still-strong Brooklyn accent. "But she couldn't, so I did it." He went to Juilliard out of high school, got a job in the CBS mailroom and was married by 22. Four years later he'd left the day job—and the marriage—to jam in Manhattan's jazz clubs and cabarets."
It's actuall a good read.
Check it out
Jerry Lee Lews to Give Kid Rock Piano Lessons?
Oh please...
"rap-rocker has decided it's time he learned to tinkle the ivories and he's called in his rock 'n' roll pal to teach him the basics - and while they're having impromptu lessons, the pair plan to record an album together."
Link
Somebody's PR wetdream? Next up: Kid-Rock plays duets with the single most over-rated mediocre pianist on the planet -Alicia Keys.
And, speaking of Keys, it is ever so amusing to find rock folks swooning because she can sit down and plunk her way thru "Fur Elise". Her penchant for name dropping classical composers (always in some clumsy and amusing way) and gross over-statement of having so-called "classical training" (i.e., she had piano lessons) is amusing. But aside from this obvious exaggeration (so overwhelmingly demonstrated by her remarkably mediocre piano play ability) is the curious way in which classical music is used to create an exotic patina, as if it bestows merely by being invoked a profundity and virtuosity that so plainly exeeds her grap. On the other hand, her target audience is wowed by anyone able to set down and pluck-out the Moonlight sonata or Mozart minuet, even if they wouldn't be caught dead listening to
classical music
Laugh or cry... ??
"rap-rocker has decided it's time he learned to tinkle the ivories and he's called in his rock 'n' roll pal to teach him the basics - and while they're having impromptu lessons, the pair plan to record an album together."
Link
Somebody's PR wetdream? Next up: Kid-Rock plays duets with the single most over-rated mediocre pianist on the planet -Alicia Keys.
And, speaking of Keys, it is ever so amusing to find rock folks swooning because she can sit down and plunk her way thru "Fur Elise". Her penchant for name dropping classical composers (always in some clumsy and amusing way) and gross over-statement of having so-called "classical training" (i.e., she had piano lessons) is amusing. But aside from this obvious exaggeration (so overwhelmingly demonstrated by her remarkably mediocre piano play ability) is the curious way in which classical music is used to create an exotic patina, as if it bestows merely by being invoked a profundity and virtuosity that so plainly exeeds her grap. On the other hand, her target audience is wowed by anyone able to set down and pluck-out the Moonlight sonata or Mozart minuet, even if they wouldn't be caught dead listening to
classical music
Laugh or cry... ??
Burglar Charged for Moonlight Sonata
This had me almost choking on my coffee this morning...Definitely "Fark" worthy news:
"The police chief in New Riegel, Ohio, woke up in the middle of the night to sounds of someone playing Beethoven on his piano. Chief Steve Swartzmiller grabbed his gun and went to investigate. He found 19-year-old Shawn Chadwell drunk and playing the keyboard. "
Read all about it here
"The police chief in New Riegel, Ohio, woke up in the middle of the night to sounds of someone playing Beethoven on his piano. Chief Steve Swartzmiller grabbed his gun and went to investigate. He found 19-year-old Shawn Chadwell drunk and playing the keyboard. "
Read all about it here
Tuesday, February 15, 2005
New Beethoven Movie in Production
Ed Harris..? Really??
"Ed Harris is set to play Ludwig van Beethoven in "Copying Beethoven" for director Agnieszka Holland." More about it here But what's the plot? Anyone know?
"Ed Harris is set to play Ludwig van Beethoven in "Copying Beethoven" for director Agnieszka Holland." More about it here But what's the plot? Anyone know?