Marc-André Hamelin composed
Circus Galop for the player piano. Performing it is impossible for a mere pair of human hands, but two people have tried to
fake it until they make it. Another has
transcribed it (or half of it, perhaps) for
one player. Often, people will run it through a MIDI sequencer of their choice, to make a
lively animation. Some have built
Arduino robots that
perform it. But, in the end, the best medium for a work this insane is the humble, yet manic
player piano (less manic, but clearer-sounding performance
here). Hamelin
himself has run his composition through one, managing to get his television host to start dancing as the closing credits fade out...
posted by Blazecock Pileon
on Jan 3, 2012 -
34 comments
One of America's most idiosyncratic musical geniuses was, of course, the great Thelonious Monk (
Wiki), and what better way to celebrate his birthday today than viewing (in its entirety!) an excellent documentary on the man and his music?
Straight, No Chaser
posted by flapjax at midnite
on Oct 10, 2011 -
25 comments
The lunch concerts in the Amsterdam Concertgebouw used to be (possibly still are) often public general rehearsals for the big evening series.
Here we can see the mental transformation of pianist
Maria Joao Pires, who expects another Mozart concerto than conductor
Riccardo Chailly begins to conduct.
[more inside]
posted by Namlit
on Feb 19, 2011 -
17 comments
Classical pianists tend to be identified by their favorite repertoire. Thus,
Murray Perahia got stamped as a Mozart and Schumann pianist in his early career, and people raised their eyebrows when he embarked on
Liszt and other heavy repertoire. And
Rudolf Serkin is today perhaps known best for his Beethoven, and not for the
Chopin etudes he played in his earlier years.
Searching for something totally else, I stumbled upon a few private recordings by
Clara Haskil [more inside]
posted by Namlit
on Nov 7, 2010 -
5 comments
There's never been a better time to be a curious classical pianist.
A few YouTube users have been uploading synchronized scores to dozens of interesting pieces, usually
virtuosic and/or
obscure, and often out of print or otherwise unavailable. There are all sorts of
treasures, but perhaps the most notable scores are those of a lost generation of
post-Scriabin Russian composers whose avant-garde output was later suppressed by the Soviet government.
posted by dfan
on Nov 4, 2010 -
15 comments
"We are Nirvana The Band , the live musical that will never play the same show twice. To not let us play on your stage would be a terrible mistake. We are Nirvana The Band. For now; forever; for better; for worse. Four -- times four -- is sixteen."
posted by JohnMarston
on Oct 1, 2010 -
17 comments
Perhaps it's best my grandmother didn't live to see this day: the Liberace Museum, located in the besequined showman's old stomping grounds of Las Vegas, is
closing, and that would have saddened her. Maybe it's time for all of us to brush up on our early
Liberace history. And let's hear the sparkling man, resplendent in gold, take
Mack the Knife through some changes. Farewell, Liberace.
posted by flapjax at midnite
on Sep 18, 2010 -
66 comments
"In a way I wish it did not require such a formidable technique, because I do not really enjoy sweating over this music." This is virtuoso pianist Marc-Andre Hamelin
speaking of Charles-Valentin Alkan, the Romantic pianist said to have made even Liszt nervous, and whose exhilarating works fell into obscurity due to their rigorous technical demands. For a warm-up, here's
Alkan's major etude "Allegro barbaro", as performed by Jack Gibbons. A machine recording of his piece
Le Chemin de Fer in which you can see the keys being pressed. Recordings of Youtube exist of people attempting his near-impossible
Scherzo focoso (and, for comparison,
a mechanical rendition of the same). And for encore, here is Hamelin again playing
Les Quatre Ages, frequently considered Alkan's most mature work, a sonata depicting the four ages of man.
posted by Rory Marinich
on Jul 29, 2010 -
20 comments
Performances [MLYT] from the
2010 Old-Time Piano Championship in Peoria. Featuring early March, Cakewalk, Ragtime, Boogie, Stride, Blues, Novelty, Jazz, Classical, and popular song styles from before 1930.
posted by gman
on Jun 20, 2010 -
13 comments
[Martha] Argerich brings to bear qualities that are seldom contained in one person: she is a pianist of brainteasing technical agility; she is a charismatic woman with an enigmatic reputation; she is an unaffected interpreter whose native language is music. This last may be the quality that sets her apart. A lot of pianists play huge double octaves; a lot of pianists photograph well. But few have the unerring naturalness of phrasing that allows them to embody the music rather than interpret it. - Alex Ross, "Madame X".
The New Yorker - November 12, 2001
posted by Joe Beese
on Jun 9, 2010 -
12 comments
A favorite of
John Cage and Gyorgy Ligeti, the latter describing his music as "so utterly original, enjoyable, perfectly constructed but at the same time emotional...the best of any composer living today,"
Conlon Nancarrow's
musical ideas were nevertheless too complex and technically demanding for human performers, and his political ideas too radical and leftist for McCarthy-era America. Expatriated to Mexico, the Texarkana-born avant-gardeist
lived most of his life in isolation, in a cluttered, dusty
studio surrounded by records, piles of books, empty Vodka bottles, newspapers, cigarette cartons, and the tools of his trade: 2 old player pianos and a custom-built
piano roll press.
[more inside]
posted by swift
on Feb 15, 2010 -
16 comments
Emily Loizeau's
Je Suis Jalouse was for me the kind of song that immediately makes you want more. Emily's debut album
L'autre bout du monde (
The Other Side of the World) was released in 2006. She began studying piano at the age of 5, and cites Georges Brassens, Bob Dylan, and The Beatles as her primary influences. Listen to more wonderfulness with
Sister,
Je Ne Sais Pas Choisir, or the
title track from her debut album.
More listening if you are at last.fm
posted by lazaruslong
on Jul 17, 2009 -
5 comments
29 year old
Hiromi Uehara first mesmerized the jazz community with her 2003 Telarc debut, Another Mind. 4 albums later she continues to astonish and inspire. On February 3rd, she released the album
Duet, a collaboration with Chick Corea, having first played with Corea at age 17. A graduate of the
Berklee School of Music, Hiromi
tours relentlessly with her crack band. I defy your jaw not to drop at their performances
here,
here, and
here.
[more inside]
posted by Roach
on Feb 24, 2009 -
85 comments
Pendle Poucher is a UK based composer, sound designer and lover of funny noises who has written, produced and performed soundtracks for every major UK TV station. He has devised large scale public art projects and written chart-topping dance music. However, what I find most interesting, he is also one of relatively few musicians within the UK who owns a dulcitone. Poucher claims that his
Dulcitone 1884 is the world's first multi-sampled dulcitone.
[more inside]
posted by netbros
on Dec 20, 2008 -
8 comments
Smooth Jazz, also sometimes referred to as new adult contemporary music or instrumental pop, is generally described as a genre that utilizes instruments and improvisation traditionally associated with jazz and stylistic influences drawn from mostly R&B, but also funk and pop. Since the late 1980s and into the 1990s, it has become successful as a
radio format. [source
wikipedia]
[more inside]
posted by netbros
on Apr 20, 2008 -
251 comments
Monsieur, you vill not speak disrespectfully of a member of ze family! It is a boon travelling companion, without which I do not function, I cannot operate. It has been with me for 21 years, zis thing, this chair!
Glenn Gould performed for 21 years seated in a folding card chair modified by his father to be height adjustable. That one
chair accompanied him around the world in support of each of his recordings and performances, and now resides on a pedestal at the National Library of Canada. Luckily, exact replicas of the skeletal, cushion-less chair
are available for only €990.
[more inside]
posted by carsonb
on Apr 16, 2008 -
20 comments
