MetaFilter posts tagged with piano and music

Glenn Gould plays the Goldberg Variations

Joe Beese — Sat, 26 Dec 2009 15:33:17 -0800

Glenn Gould plays Clavier Ubung bestehend in einer ARIA mit verschiedenen Veraenderungen vors Clavicimbal mit 2 Manualen - also known as the Goldberg Variations. (previously)

Frédéric Chopin's bicentennial

Joe Beese — Sun, 13 Dec 2009 18:48:40 -0800

2010 is the bicentennial of the birth of Frédéric François Chopin - a reluctant instrumental virtuoso, an immortal Romantic composer, and all-around bastard. If I wanted to introduce a kid to Chopin, I'd play him the attention-grabbing Etude op.10 no.1 in C major (266kb PDF) - here performed magnificently by Maurizio Pollini.

The Keyboard Piano

empatterson — Sat, 28 Nov 2009 04:16:57 -0800

Sure, the site around it is not in English but since Music is a language we can all appreciate, the Keyboard Piano is a ton of fun. (Requires Silverlight) Hint: alphabetical order makes scales happen. Oh, and if you check out the links, they have some really funky sounding songs you can try.

Kaikhosru Shapurji Sorabji

Joe Beese — Fri, 27 Nov 2009 11:51:08 -0800

The closing 4 pages are so cataclysmic and catastrophic as anything I've ever done — the harmony bites like nitric acid — the counterpoint grinds like the mills of God... His work Opus Clavicembalisticum (1930) for solo piano takes between about 3¾ and 4¾ hours to play and consists of three sections, each divided into several movements, and each larger than the last. ... His longest work Symphonic Variations occupies 484 A3-pages of manuscript in three volumes and could take about eight hours to play. - Wikipedia (previously)

It's a concerto with a cat. So it's a CATcerto.

jbickers — Sat, 25 Jul 2009 09:15:25 -0800

Mindaugas Piečaitis has performed his "CATcerto," an original score written to accompany Nora The Piano Cat's piano improvisation. Here's the video of kitty with orchestra. Please don't show it to Uter the weiner dog. It'd make him feel terrible.

Le Earworme.

lazaruslong — Fri, 17 Jul 2009 10:06:02 -0800

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

Twenty-seven hours of Solo Piano

tapeguy — Sun, 17 May 2009 13:08:52 -0800

Pianist, producer, and songwriter Gonzales (real name Jason Charles Beck) is currently attempting to break the Guinness World Record for the longest solo concert. He's aiming for 27 hours, and at time of writing has around six hours left to go. You can follow the attempt live online. The record is currently held by India's Prasanna Gudi for his 26 hours and 12 minutes sitar recital. Here's where Gonzales explains his motivation for his attempt.

Mario's Music Sight-Read

knave — Mon, 27 Apr 2009 16:19:04 -0800

Fans of video game music and/or piano aficionados, I present three pieces from the Super Mario Bros series: Super Mario World's Air Platform rag, SMB2 overworld theme, and SMB1 overworld theme, expertly played "blind" by ragtime pianist Tom Brier. According to the video descriptions, Tom doesn't play video games and hasn't heard any of these tunes before. If you're a ragtime enthusiast, you can see more of his playing in Keeper1st's video stream. His ability to sight-read ragtime is mind-blowing. I don't know these guys, but I've found myself watching these videos over and over, and decided more people should see them. Hopefully the attention isn't unwanted, but either way, please go easy on the snark (I know, it's a lot to ask).

Sooo Funky

Roach — Tue, 24 Feb 2009 11:49:32 -0800

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. I would have linked directly to the tour dates on her website, but her sites inner pages all reflect the same main URL. Enjoy.

Playing him out.

progosk — Fri, 30 Jan 2009 03:15:43 -0800

Henry Hey's new Bush Song. (SLYTP; previously; via waxy.) Bonus link: download the mp4. Bonus tune: McCain&Palin Song.

The Uncle Floyd FPP!

not_on_display — Tue, 06 Jan 2009 14:01:28 -0800

Deep in the Heart of Jersey you'll find "Uncle Floyd" Vivino, roaming the streets of various towns and cities, kibbitzing with the locals. In Belleville. Nutley. Bloomfield Avenue and Ferry Street in Newark. Kearny. Cliffside Park. Main Street, Paterson. An abandoned lot in Paterson. What, you never heard of Uncle Floyd? From 1974 to 1998, Floyd Vivino hosted The Uncle Floyd Show, a low-budget mess of a parody/tribute to variety shows and kids' shows, at the same time championing many local and/or outsider musicians, and accumulating a wide underground following via the UHF airwaves--why, David Bowie even wrote a song about Uncle Floyd. Here's a link to the entire Uncle Floyd Show Album Floyd currently plays over 300 gigs a year. His booking website gives a few examples of his New Jersified vaudeville stylings (not to mention some great publicity photos): 1 2 3 [music automatically plays when page is loaded] Here's more of UF on the pee-yanner. The late CM "Mugsy" Calam was a favorite performer on the Uncle Floyd Show; archive.org has some footage neatly arranged for you; there's plenty more of Mugsy on YouTube. Some newspaper articles about Floyd: NYT 1/10/88 ...more by Anthony Buccino, reporter for various NJ newspapers: 3/3/77 visiting the set | 3/17/77, Uncle Floyd Meets the Mayor of Bloomfield | 11/3/77 Web presence? Yeah! Uncle Floyd on Facebook Uncle Floyd on Flickr Photos: Backstage with Uncle Floyd And, finally, Uncle Floyd's Web Site, with updates on what cast members are doing these days.

Dulcitone 1884

netbros — Sat, 20 Dec 2008 12:17:08 -0800

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. A dulcitone is a keyboard instrument in which sound is produced by a range of tuning forks, which vibrate when struck by felt-covered hammers activated by the keyboard. The instrument was designed and manufactured by the firm of Thomas Machell & Sons in Scotland during the late nineteenth century. A significant feature of the dulcitone was its portability, a product of its lightweight and compact construction and the fact that the tuning forks (unlike, for instance, the strings of a piano) were not prone to going out of tune. However, the volume produced is extremely limited, and the dulcitone's part is frequently substituted by a glockenspiel or other celesta type instruments. For those electronic musicians out there, Pendle Poucher is selling his sampled libraries. What is offered at Dulcitone 1884 is sampled instruments, built from many megabytes of stereo samples, and split over three velocity layers. It is offered in Kontakt2/3, Ableton Sampler, EXS24, Soundfont, Shortcircuit, SFZ, NN-XT/Reason Combinator, Wusik, and Giga formats. Poucher's site on Virb.com also has sample libraries for a grand thrift autoharp, a ships piano, a tiny binaural harpsichord, and steel drum percussion. Each library is only £15.00.

SARAH PALIN'S BAADASSSSS SONG

East Manitoba Regional Junior Kabaddi Champion '94 — Wed, 22 Oct 2008 03:29:26 -0800

PALIN SONG

Leo Ornstein: The Sonata on the Edge and the Chaos Beyond.

Effigy2000 — Wed, 03 Sep 2008 17:01:44 -0800

Leo Ornstein is generally considered to have been one of the greatest pianists of the early twentieth century. His performances of works by avant-garde composers and his own innovative and even shocking pieces made him a cause célèbre on both sides of the Atlantic. By the mid-1920s, he had walked away from his fame and soon disappeared from popular memory. And although he passed away in 2002, the internet still remembers him and his amazing legacy of work. At this website dedicated to the artist and his work, you can read all about him as well as listen to many of his scores and MP3s-on-demand. There's also readable sheet music here at the International Music Score Library Project . And there's a register of archived documents spanning Leo's career over at Yale University's website. If all of that has grabbed your attention and you find yourself thinking "you know what? I really want to learn more about this Ornstein guy", here's some more links you might find of interest. Leo Ornstein interviewed by Charles Amirkhanian on Leo's 100th Birthday. Another interview, this time between Leo and his wife, conducted by Vivian Perlis. Max Schubel and Jennifer Rinehart interview Leo. Marc-André Hamelin's performance of Suicide in an Airplane from the Hyperion Leo Ornstein: Piano Music. A video of a 2002 performance of Morning in the Woods for solo piano by Sarah Cahill.

This Band Rips

netbros — Sun, 20 Apr 2008 13:35:56 -0800

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] The average smooth jazz track is on the "downtempo" (most widely played tracks are in the 90–105 BPM range) side, layering a lead, melody-playing instrument (saxophones, guitars, piano) over a backdrop that tends to consist of programmed rhythms and various pads and/or samples. Although many people and record companies group smooth and contemporary jazz together, both genres are slightly different in the way they serve the listener. Smooth jazz is generally considered background music, whereas "serious" jazz is seen as demanding the listener's undivided attention. Following are some of my favorite Smooth Jazz bands and tracks. Enjoy. Tourist in Paradise -- The Rippingtons Together Tonight -- Brian Culbertson Rollin -- Fourplay Notorious -- Boney James and Rick Braun Do You Miss Me -- Mindi Abair Midnight in Manhattan -- Peter White and Dave Koz Return of the Eagle -- Craig Chaquico It's All Good -- Brian Simpson Well, that's enough from me. Do you have any of your own favorites you'd like to add?

Glenn Gould's chair

carsonb — Wed, 16 Apr 2008 22:00:14 -0800

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. Glenn Gould was quite the eccentric musician. Witness his quirk firsthand at the CBC Digital Archives' Glenn Gould: Variations on an Artist. Via AskMe

While His Piano Gently Weeps

amyms — Tue, 15 Jan 2008 19:48:35 -0800

Free Bird on piano [YouTube]. The 14-year-old musician, who calls himself UnclassicalPiano on YouTube, currently has 16 other selections, including Stairway To Heaven, Behind Blue Eyes, While My Guitar Gently Weeps, Message In A Bottle and Black Sabbath's Paranoid (his main interest is metal), all of which he says he learned to play by ear.

"This is my brain, and it's fine, it's where I spend the vast majority of my time."

doift — Wed, 14 Nov 2007 16:16:00 -0800

Have these fellows whetted your appetite for Southern Hemispherical comic singer-songwriters who care about The Issues? Barefoot Australian Tim Minchin ought to satisfy that hunger with an environmental anthem and a peace anthem. But aside from his social activism, he's also vulgar, poignant, dark, and of course, rock. Based in London and best experienced live, he's in the U.S. this week, then back in Australia in December. If nothing else, at least he might inspire you to use one of these.

Healing power

nicolin — Thu, 01 Nov 2007 06:26:20 -0800

A day in the life of Abdullah Ibrahim, South-African composer and performer who creates hypnotic and softly singing grooves. To me, his recent piano trios are the highlights of his work, because they are both swinging and soulful. But his compositions do not sound bad in a big band setting -(or in an arrangement for guitar). His music is quiet and meditative but powerful, and has sometimes been used as a banner for freedom and equality. Now he likes to withdraw once in a while to the smallest scenes (french commentary with some english underneath), putting strong emphasis on necessary simplicity. Written portrait.

I wish my brother George was here.

miss lynnster — Tue, 30 Oct 2007 18:05:54 -0800

In 1956, Time Magazine wrote, "He is the summit of sex—the pinnacle of Masculine, Feminine and Neuter. Everything that He, She or It can ever want." (Wait. Seriously???) Behold the evolution of The Liberace Show: from dapper virtuoso to sequined, wacky showman. Full b/w episode 1953 Full b/w episode 1955 Full b/w episode 1956 Youtube color clips 1969

Waltz for Debby.

St Urbain's Horseman — Thu, 25 Oct 2007 17:21:45 -0800

Sad, head-down legendary jazz piano. (Single-link YouTube) More Bill and the Wiki. [Previously] Hopefully more of a reminder than a double.

Rachmaninoff had big hands

imposster — Tue, 09 Oct 2007 06:21:06 -0800

Rachmaninoff had big hands. (More from Igudesman and Joo (flash), former students of Yehudi Menuhin). Or, if you prefer, -Borges plays Liszt with Rolf and -Dudley Moore plays with himself

He's Got Rhythm

St Urbain's Horseman — Sat, 25 Aug 2007 21:11:53 -0800

He's got Rhythm (single-link YouTube)

...So the musician would have a place to put his beer.

Wolfdog — Mon, 25 Jun 2007 07:36:03 -0800

A lovely free online text on the Fundamentals of Piano Practice. (Tuning, too.)

Rach 3

homunculus — Mon, 26 Feb 2007 20:38:58 -0800

Rachmaninov's Piano Concerto No.3, in D minor, with Martha Argerich on piano. Many know the Rach 3 from the movie Shine. [Via C&L.]