Kudos to State University College at Oneonta! They will be producing a CD for Mexican pianist Fernando Landeros. According to the news report:
"His recording program is Sonata in E-flat Major by Franz Joseph Haydn; Robert Schumann’s Abegg Variations, Opus 1; Scherzo in B-flat minor by Frederic Chopin; "Estampes" by Claude Debussy; and Sonata No. 1 by Alberto Ginastera."
Read the rest.
You can read more about Fernando Landeros in a profile appearing here. (Spanish)
Thursday, June 30, 2005
Thanks for the Memories
Actually this made feel a bit sad even though I've never been a real fan of player pianos.
"With their paper music scrolls and distinctive sound, player pianos survived the Great Depression, the "talkies" and even television. But the increasingly cheap cost of home entertainment systems and a decreasing interest in the instruments of yesteryear have meant the business is no longer viable."
Read the Rest.
"With their paper music scrolls and distinctive sound, player pianos survived the Great Depression, the "talkies" and even television. But the increasingly cheap cost of home entertainment systems and a decreasing interest in the instruments of yesteryear have meant the business is no longer viable."
Read the Rest.
This Week's Web Pick
Wednesday, June 29, 2005
Red Hot Rachmaninoff
"Building on the popularity of modern composer Rachmaninoff, leading music publishing house Boosey & Hawkes has completed its collection of the composer's 'Masterworks' with a new full score of 'Symphonic Dances', combined with the Respighi orchestration of 'Etudes-Tableaux' and Rachmaninoff's own orchestration of 'Vocalise'."
More Details Here.
More Details Here.
To be A Connoisseur
The Wall Street Journal has a very nice profile of David Dubal and his program "Reflections from the Keyboard":
""Where else, within a six-minute span, can you hear a movement of Schumann's 'Carnival' played by Rachmaninoff, Cortot, Hess, Arrau, Godowsky and Michelangeli?" asks Mr. Dubal, rattling off some of the greatest names in the history of piano playing. "Each one is so different it's hard to believe--some reflect the passionate side of Schumann's character, some the Apollonian." Read the rest here.
This is something I think I a lot of piano devotees do at home: listen to lots of recordings of the same work. Dubal is an excellent guide thru the literature and history of pianists. Dubal raises some interesting points (though I'm not sure I agree completely with his assessment of pop music).
You can hear Dubal's program online over WQXR's webcast here.
""Where else, within a six-minute span, can you hear a movement of Schumann's 'Carnival' played by Rachmaninoff, Cortot, Hess, Arrau, Godowsky and Michelangeli?" asks Mr. Dubal, rattling off some of the greatest names in the history of piano playing. "Each one is so different it's hard to believe--some reflect the passionate side of Schumann's character, some the Apollonian." Read the rest here.
This is something I think I a lot of piano devotees do at home: listen to lots of recordings of the same work. Dubal is an excellent guide thru the literature and history of pianists. Dubal raises some interesting points (though I'm not sure I agree completely with his assessment of pop music).
You can hear Dubal's program online over WQXR's webcast here.
Grete Sultan
Sad news of the passing of Grete Sultan. She was a long time champion of John Cage's piano music (he composed the Etudes Australes for her). She celebrated her 90th birthday with a performance of the Goldberg Variations in NYC.Details (German)More here (Spanish)
Link to the first volume in the Sultan legacy recordings. Check it out.
The Four Finger Pianist
I found this to be one of those inspiring stories that makes one step back and take stock:
"At 7:30 p.m., a young woman entered the room and positioned herself at the piano. She has only two fingers on each hand. Her legs end at her knees. But then the pianist began playing Ludwig van Beethoven’s ``Song of Joy,’’ and as the music took over, everyone forgot her physical limitations and just listened."
The rest is here.
"At 7:30 p.m., a young woman entered the room and positioned herself at the piano. She has only two fingers on each hand. Her legs end at her knees. But then the pianist began playing Ludwig van Beethoven’s ``Song of Joy,’’ and as the music took over, everyone forgot her physical limitations and just listened."
The rest is here.
Tuesday, June 28, 2005
Pianos and Thugs: A Love Story?
Geez, looks like there's going to be a spate of movies involving pianos, classical pianists, and thugs. Earlier this summer we had Unleashed. A movie I found so bizarre and riddled with implausabilities (to say nothing of the acting) that I found it nearly unwatchable. Curiously, it may just be that I saw this around the time of the Van Cliburn and it somehow got colored by all that... I dunno.Time magazine has a review of "The Beat That My Heart Skipped":
"In the case of Jacques Audiard's film, The Beat, his protagonist Tom (Romain Duris) is in "real estate." Translated, that means he beats up the tenants in the low-rent buildings he and his partners hope to turn into high-rent properties. On the side, he provides similar services for his slumlord father, who's fading into senility. His late mother, however, was a famous pianist whose talent he has inherited. One day he encounters her agent, who encourages his return to the keyboard. Soon his fingers are flying--and his strong arm is beginning to atrophy." Read the Rest.
This film is a remake of James Toback's "Fingers." Toback's movie is a great one and you really ought to see it. More about "Fingers" here. Somehow I think I'm going to like this one alot better than "Unleashed".
Speaking of pianists and movies, I'd be remiss not to mention the recent passing of Lorna Thayer who gave us one of the most memorable moments in the film "Five Easy Pieces". That scene has become famous as the "Chicken Salad Scene".
"In that memorable moment in the 1970 film, as the voice of authority opposite Jack Nicholson's rebellious Bobby Dupea, a classical pianist turned oil rigger, the middle-aged Thayer proved to be a formidable foil in what has come to be known as the "chicken salad scene." The scene, in which Thayer's character refuses repeatedly to change the house rules, is considered quintessential Nicholson and has had a long afterlife -- no Nicholson tribute or compilation of memorable Hollywood lines does without it. " Read the rest
Also at the movies is the new Batman movie which I really liked alot! In fact, I think it is the best of the Batman movies made so far. The score by Howard and Zimmer (with the help of two orchestrators), however, is probably the least likeable of the Batman movies. More interesting is the electronica work provided Ramin Djawadi. For a different take on the film's soundtrack check out this
review.
Monday, June 27, 2005
jazz piano-player Vijay Iyer.
The Boston Globe has a write-up of jazz piano-player Vijay Iyer. The Globe writes:
"Like his predecessors in the ''percussive" school of jazz piano -- Thelonious Monk, Andrew Hill, Randy Weston, Muhal Richard Abrams, Cecil Taylor, all of whom he cites as influences -- Iyer has taken on the challenge of generating rhythm and phrase, structure and form. It means that he rarely lays out, nor does he take many conventional solos, when playing in a group. But he can also use rhythm and repetition to produce dense, haunting atmospherics working at his piano alone."
The "fluff" phrase "the challenge of generating rhythm and phrase, structure and form" seems an empty line, a meaningless if nice sounding turn of phrase. After all which pianist worth his or her salt doesn't take on that challenge? The more accurately descriptive line is: "dense, haunting atmospherics" which describes, to my ears, Iyer's playing at it's best. I believe it is best described as energetic if largely unremarkable playing. What is remarkable, at least at flow into and out of some currents of cultural fancy, is the Indian-American heritage of Iyer. But that seems of little consequence to the music: "The inflections from the Indian classical tradition in Iyer's work are very subtle; it's entirely possible to listen to the music without knowing about it." True enough and in fact makes the article's title (with its reference to genre bending) seem a bit daft.
More here
"Like his predecessors in the ''percussive" school of jazz piano -- Thelonious Monk, Andrew Hill, Randy Weston, Muhal Richard Abrams, Cecil Taylor, all of whom he cites as influences -- Iyer has taken on the challenge of generating rhythm and phrase, structure and form. It means that he rarely lays out, nor does he take many conventional solos, when playing in a group. But he can also use rhythm and repetition to produce dense, haunting atmospherics working at his piano alone."
The "fluff" phrase "the challenge of generating rhythm and phrase, structure and form" seems an empty line, a meaningless if nice sounding turn of phrase. After all which pianist worth his or her salt doesn't take on that challenge? The more accurately descriptive line is: "dense, haunting atmospherics" which describes, to my ears, Iyer's playing at it's best. I believe it is best described as energetic if largely unremarkable playing. What is remarkable, at least at flow into and out of some currents of cultural fancy, is the Indian-American heritage of Iyer. But that seems of little consequence to the music: "The inflections from the Indian classical tradition in Iyer's work are very subtle; it's entirely possible to listen to the music without knowing about it." True enough and in fact makes the article's title (with its reference to genre bending) seem a bit daft.
More here
The Other Thomas Moore
Via a post at RetroKlang I was introduced to a tremendous online resouce which nicely compliments today's Web Site of the Day. It is pianist Thomas Moore's collection of music links.
Check it out
here.
Check it out
here.