Happy Piano Day!

March 29, 2023 11:43 AM

Piano Day is held on the 88th day of the year (there are 88 keys on a standard piano). The idea came from the German pianist and composer Nils Frahm in 2015 "because it doesn’t hurt to celebrate the piano and everything around it: performers, composers, piano builders, tuners, movers and most important, the listener." Come celebrate the piano!

Just a very few suggestions for celebrating:

Mary Lou Williams - Zodiac Suite
Elton John - Bennie and the Jets, Central Park
Martha Argerich, Chopin's Piano Concerto 1
Geri Allen Trio at the Guggenheim
Thelonious Monk Quartet, Norway and Denmark concerts, 1966
Little Richard - 1964 TV performance
Keith Jarrett solo concert, Tokyo, 1984
Tori Amos Tiny Desk Concert
Bill Evans Trio, BBC Studio, 1965
Allen Toussaint at Generation Hall, New Orleans, 2014
Joey Alexander - Giant Steps
Lang Lang - Rachmaninoff Piano Concerto 2
Marian McPartland & Dave Brubeck - A Piano Jazz Special
Kenny Barron Quintet - Live at the Village Vanguard
Jaki Byard, 1965
Vijay Iyer Tiny Desk Concert
Jon Batiste Tiny Desk Concert
Dr. John - Newport Jazz Festival 2006


Previously:

Nils Frahm declares March 29th Piano Day with a free album
Hania Rani - Live from Studio S2
Stratus: an interactive, collaborative and live piano installation at Harpa Concert Hall in Reykjavik

266 posts tagged with piano

posted by kristi (39 comments total)

My collection of links is basically "quick! list all the pianists you can think of in 30 seconds!" I may well add more in the comments as I think of them.

I hope you all will share your own favorite piano links. There's so much good piano!
posted by kristi at 11:45 AM on March 29, 2023

In the past couple of years YouTube has been showing me the music theory peeps and I’ve quite enjoyed them

I bought a nice keyboard some number of years ago and now I have some idea what I have to learn on it
posted by Heywood Mogroot III at 11:57 AM on March 29, 2023 [1 favorite]

Favourite piano link: Chico and Harpo play the piano in The Big Store. No-one ever tickled the ivories like Chico.
posted by Capt. Renault at 11:57 AM on March 29, 2023 [8 favorites]

Glenn Gould and Bach.
posted by Abehammerb Lincoln at 11:59 AM on March 29, 2023 [4 favorites]

Favourite piano link: Chico and Harpo play the piano in The Big Store. No-one ever tickled the ivories like Chico.

Amazing. Once again, we are reminded that the only thing Bugs Bunny really invented was wiring one of the keys with TNT.
posted by The Bellman at 12:05 PM on March 29, 2023 [5 favorites]

Some of my all-time favorite piano covers:
Mr Self Destruct
Tom Brier's Legend of Zelda
Interstellar
posted by kaibutsu at 12:11 PM on March 29, 2023 [2 favorites]

Another Marx, William Marx, on the piano, playing a piece by John Cage.
posted by njohnson23 at 12:16 PM on March 29, 2023 [1 favorite]

This is a great post idea, and here are probably my favorite versions of Moonlight Sonata, Canon in D, Clair de Lune, and Comptine d'un autre été (all out of tune; related playlist). I also recently enjoyed these Ronald Jenkees covers, e.g. the recent "Wonder and Flow." Also, "iPhone alarm as a piano ballad" was fun.
posted by Wobbuffet at 12:18 PM on March 29, 2023 [1 favorite]

Badbadnotgood - Hard in the Paint
Vijay Iyer Trio - Human Nature
Jason Moran and the Bandwagon - Planet Rock
posted by box at 12:39 PM on March 29, 2023 [2 favorites]

Yuja Wang. Hiromi Uehara.
posted by The Half Language Plant at 12:48 PM on March 29, 2023 [2 favorites]

Two albums I will promote anytime I can:

Demian Dorelli's Pink Moon, a solo piano cover of Nick Drake's album; and,

Benny Andersson's Piano, where he plays some of what he wrote with Bjorn. Stripped down, the beauty of the melodies really comes out, and you see how old fashioned some of ABBA's songs really were.
posted by Capt. Renault at 12:55 PM on March 29, 2023 [1 favorite]

Lately I've been enjoying Ben Laude's tonebase videos, particularly this Beethoven lesson from Seymour Bernstein, who also has opinions about Glenn Gould.

And then there's also Yuja Wang being Yuja Wang for 2 minutes and 41 seconds straight and Yuja Wang interview (Living the Classical Life, ep. 14).

(Also I need a piano teacher for my kid. Anyone have a Seattle/Bellevue-area rec? Memail me)
posted by qxntpqbbbqxl at 1:34 PM on March 29, 2023 [1 favorite]

What a great idea for a post. Some recent favorites:

Prelude from Ravel's Le Tombeau de Couperin, performed by Andrea Vivanet.

Fantasie Negre #3 by Florence Price, performed by Samantha Ege.

The Spruce by Sibelius, performed by Janne Mertanen.

Song of Youth by Agatha Backer Grondahl, performed by June Armstrong.

Then I'll Be Tired of You (and honestly everything off of Rhapsody) by Ahmad Jamal.

Piano Concerto in F# minor by Scriabin, performed by the Chicago Symphony Orchestra and Anatol Ugorski.

Er Huang by Qigang Chin, performed by Chun Chieh-Yen

Piano Sonata in E flat minor by Paul Dukas, performed by Alexander Vaulin.
posted by saladin at 1:41 PM on March 29, 2023 [3 favorites]

I tuned a piano for the first time yesterday! Our old upright Steinway.

It took a $20 kit, all day, and a lot more muscular effort than I expected, to reasonably tune all 226 strings. Fairly exhausting, physically and mentally.

But now I know 1) it's possible for civilians to tune a piano (poorly), 2) it's well worth whatever professionals charge (which I probably can't afford unfortunately), and 3) pianos are marvels of engineering when you take the cover off.
posted by swift at 1:47 PM on March 29, 2023 [6 favorites]

I love so many of these already, but i'm surprised to be the one to have to add Oscar Peterson
posted by OHenryPacey at 1:47 PM on March 29, 2023 [4 favorites]

Sullivan Fortner !!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iNsYkJUCsfc
posted by Droll Lord at 2:49 PM on March 29, 2023 [1 favorite]

Hanakiv is on the same label as Hania Rani, working in a dance music/classical space. I've been enjoying her album a lot.

Kelly Moran is a touring pianist for FKA Twigs and others, who has a new album coming out this year. Here is her version of Avril 14th, using a Diskklavier - Yamaha's auto-playing pianos, which seem to feature heavily in her recording process for the new album. Her previous work for Warp is... exciting?

If you want to know more about pianos, the Merriam Music youtube page is interesting. They review pianos, including digital pianos, and talk about different types of piano and related stuff. A recent series of videos talked about the differences between German, Japanese, Chinese, and American Pianos. It's worth poking around their youtube presence for more in-depth reviews.

If I'm recommending channels, I would also recommend Open Studio Jazz. Like Tonebase, mentioned above, it's an online learning environment, but this time for jazz. Led by two jazz pianists, they have an engaging piano/jazz podcast. Nahre Sol is a solo musician who seems to be very big on the socials, but that doesn't make her music any less interesting. Aimee Noltee is a jazz pianist and singer whose channel breaks down songs and themes in jazz.
posted by The River Ivel at 2:55 PM on March 29, 2023 [3 favorites]

seconding the Hiromi Uehara recommendation with her almost illegally jazzy Pachelbel's Canon.
(which has been mentioned here on the blue before, but I forget the detail)
posted by scruss at 3:04 PM on March 29, 2023 [2 favorites]

The most mind-bending piano performance I've ever seen remains pianist Rob Kovacs playing Piano Phase by Steve Reich as a solo piece, on 2 pianos simultaneously. If you don't know what phase music is, it's worth it to read a bit (especially about this delightful piece specifically), and that should provide enough insight to know why that video records a nearly super-human feat.
posted by LooseFilter at 3:31 PM on March 29, 2023 [1 favorite]

Johnny Guitar Watson -- Special Boogie
posted by y2karl at 4:10 PM on March 29, 2023 [1 favorite]

Dr John -- Blue Monk
posted by y2karl at 4:20 PM on March 29, 2023 [2 favorites]

I have inhaled the discography of Lubomyr Melnyk in the past month or so. From the Tidal bio:

Ukrainian pianist/composer Lubomyr Melnyk is best known for his groundbreaking "continuous music" technique, which involves playing extremely rapid, complex patterns of notes, often while holding down the sustain pedal in order to produce overtones.

Lubomyr Melnyk - Son of Parasol

Trailer for a short film (4min51sec) Lubomyr Melnyk - The Continuous Music Man

He definitely celebrates the piano.
"You've got ten fingers. Make them live."
posted by mephisjo at 5:45 PM on March 29, 2023 [4 favorites]

So I made the mistake of mentioning this to my teenage son, who is a very good pianist and absolutely obsessed with classical piano. I told him if he had two or three suggestions, I'd add them to this thread.

He came back with 925 words over 37 paragraphs; I'll just add a couple, but if anyone wants more, say the word and I can add more, or I can MeMail you the whole kit and kaboodle. But seeing as he blew off studying for an AP US History test to do this, I gotta at least share some of it. All are YT links except where noted.

2. Beethoven - Piano Sonata No. 28 in A major (pf. Igor Levit and others)
You have to include Beethoven on International Piano Day. His 32 piano sonatas forever set the standard for what piano music should be.
Written over his entire lifespan, Beethoven's sonatas transform themselves over time from Mozartian and famous ("Moonlight") to jagged and emotional ("Appassionata") to difficult and reflective ("Hammerklavier").
This piece is from Beethoven's late period. If you want any further description, AXK does a better job than I ever could. Oh, it seems like an introduction is in order.
The YouTube channel of Ashish Xiangyi Kumar is an absolute treasure to classical music aficionados of all expertise levels, from your first encounter to your five hundredth listen.
His videos contain several recordings of each piece synchronized with the sheet music, and the video descriptions contain original and in-depth analyses of both the classical work and each performance from the video.
If you already know and love Beethoven's late works, try Brahms' equally beautiful late works [Spotify], especially this one, and also a piano concerto because Brahms is great.

4. Ravel - Une barque sur l'ocean (pf. Andre Laplante)
Ravel's music is so much more than just Bolero. So much more. I can't stress that enough.
His piano music ranges from the serene Pavane for a Dead Princess to the terrifying Gaspard de la nuit.
His orchestral music ranges from the Pavane (the same one, much of his orchestra music was transcribed from earlier piano pieces) to the dizzying and sarcastic La Valse.
This piece spoke to me from the very first time I heard it, and on every subsequent listen I discover something brand new.
If you already know and - no you don't, have some more Ravel. How about his orchestration of the same piece? Or another water-themed piano piece? Or the most beautiful sunrise you've ever heard? Or the aforementioned Pavane? Or the aforementioned Valse? Sorry, I can't help myself.

(he also wrote about Bach, Chopin, Scriabin, Messiaen, and Kapustin, but if I dropped all of them in here I'd probably break Metafilter)
posted by martin q blank at 6:04 PM on March 29, 2023 [10 favorites]

For 20 years I owned a piano moving company. My customers included the Grateful Dead, Metallica, Journey, Huey Lewis and the News, Steve Miller, Andre Agassi, Chick Corea, and the Bohemian Grove, which owns over a hundred pianos.

It paid great, and I met all the local musicians.
posted by Repack Rider at 6:45 PM on March 29, 2023 [9 favorites]

Three greats off the top of my head:

• Keith Jarrett - The Köln Concert (completely improvised and one of the best-selling solo-jazz and best-selling piano recordings ever, and has a great backstory)
• Erik Satie - Trois Gymnopédies (maybe the best piano music to fall asleep to on repeat)
• Glenn Gould playing Bach's The Well-Tempered Clavier - a collection of pieces Bach wrote purportedly for piano tuners to make sure they tuned everything correctly—one piece each for every major and minor key
posted by not_on_display at 6:47 PM on March 29, 2023 [3 favorites]

I've really enjoyed the playing of Sean Mason at Lindy Focus the last couple of years.

“Late Night Performance - Rachel Pitner feat. Sean Mason”—Lindy Focus XX, 24 March 2023

He's leading or playing with jazz bands here, but he takes some solos that really shine.
“The Sean Mason Octet”—Lindy Focus XIX, 28 December 2021
“The Mint Julep Jazz Band”—Lindy Focus XX, 27 December 2022

Found these looking for the above, so bonus for me!

“Sean Mason Quintet”—National Jazz Museum in Harlem, 07 July 2022
“Dueling Pianos -- Steven Feifke and Sean Mason ‘You're My Everything’”—Steven Feifke, 26 October 2021
posted by ob1quixote at 6:50 PM on March 29, 2023 [1 favorite]

I have a piano and I play it almost every day. It is such a joy.
posted by hypnogogue at 6:53 PM on March 29, 2023 [2 favorites]

Oh and my tiny pianobrag story: I had to move to a smaller apartment last summer, and decided to give up the spinet piano that was my grandmother's, my mom's, and then mine and my son's, since 1950-something. It's next to impossible to even give away a piano, I found out, between the moving and the tuning and the upkeep, it's too much of a hassle for most people. And I had moved into different apartments and dragged it with me one too many times, and in the meantime my son and I had been using keyboards mostly. So, I spent weeks trying to give my beloved piano away to people I knew. and non-profits. and senior citizens' homes. and elementary schools. and you-name-it. All declined quickly.

Then someone where I work (a "small college in the Northeast") suggested I ask the Associate Director of Science Education if they could use a piano. So what the heck, I sent him an email, and he immediately called me and said, "Yes! Absolutely. We used to have a spinet a long time ago, and I miss it—we'll use it to teach one of our large lecture courses about wavelengths and sound... and we'll pay to move it here." And within two days, it was gone.

So now it's got new use and a new life! The story couldn't have ended up any better—any undergrad who passes through my office has also probably already heard my piano. And I can go visit it anytime in the storage room underneath the lecture hall! The Demo Team takes good care of it.

(Afterword: I have a weighted-key digital piano now—not quite the same, but good enough for my low level of proficiency.)
posted by not_on_display at 7:04 PM on March 29, 2023 [5 favorites]

(he also wrote about Bach, Chopin, Scriabin, Messiaen, and Kapustin, but if I dropped all of them in here I'd probably break Metafilter)

Drop them all in, please, martin q blank, and think about getting your son a MetaFilter account!
posted by Songdog at 7:55 PM on March 29, 2023 [5 favorites]

Martin Q Blank Jr sounds like a good kid.
posted by Abehammerb Lincoln at 1:57 AM on March 30, 2023 [4 favorites]

Happy World Piano Day from Ron Mael
posted by pxe2000 at 4:11 AM on March 30, 2023 [1 favorite]

Martin Q Blank Jr sounds like a good kid.
awww, blush. definitely better than his dad, that's for sure.

here's another. the longest -- and actually more about the piano than the music!
will drop another once other folks have had their turns.

1. Bach (tr. Busoni) - Chaconne in D minor (pf. Caleb Hu)
Bach is widely considered to be the one of the first (and one of the greatest) composers of common-practice classical music; in fact, the modern piano wasn't invented until after his death.
In Bach's time, the monotone harpsichord was normally relegated to background accompaniment, and more expressive instruments such as the violin were used in compositions that were more emotional than cerebral.
Today's piano recitals commonly include Bach's harpsichord works; since they were written for a keyboard instrument, the playing technique remains the same.
The only parts of the music that change are the softer tone of the instrument and the ability to create infinitely more emotionally nuanced performances from an instrument that could play both soft and loud - or in Italian, "piano e forte".
Ferrucio Busoni, in addition to being an incredibly gifted pianist and severely underrated composer, revered Bach immensely, and played a large part in reviving Bach's music to the popularity it enjoys today.
In order to accomplish this, he transcribed many of Bach's works - from chorale preludes to organ improvisations to the entire Goldberg Variations - for piano performance.
Widely considered the greatest solo violin piece ever written, Bach wrote this chaconne to grieve the death of his mother. Busoni's piano transcription, although occasionally straying from the original, packs an equal if not greater emotional punch.
If you already know and love Bach, check out Domenico Scarlatti. He wrote an astonishing 556 piano sonatas, and Carlo Grante recorded all of them [Spotify].
posted by martin q blank at 6:14 AM on March 30, 2023 [2 favorites]

The the, "uncertain smile"
posted by hollyanderbody at 7:23 AM on March 30, 2023 [2 favorites]

I just had a piano lesson today! I still kind of suck but every now and then it all clicks and I can get something good out of it.

Thanks for the links, Bill Evans is the man, man.
posted by benoliver999 at 9:15 AM on March 30, 2023 [3 favorites]

Piano is visible around 3:30 in this clip https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=z98qK1ClKPE here.
posted by costello at 11:26 AM on March 30, 2023

Wow, no idea there was such a thing as World Piano Day. Hope we can have an annual posting. Thanks for this kristi!

My link - the Firebird suite piano transcription, just for the thrill of watching the score go by with the playing of it.
posted by storybored at 1:00 PM on March 30, 2023

Martin Q Blank Jr sounds like a good kid.

Most definitely, and his piano enthusiasm is amazing! A clarification that he may find interesting: JS Bach is considered among the last composers in the style broadly described as Baroque, while Domenico Scarlatti is a primary rebel/innovator of the then-emergent Classical style (‘common practice’ is an increasingly archaic term in the field, mainly because it describes something that never really happened); their music is very, very different, in ways that are extremely consequential. (Other innovators of the Classical style in the early 1700s include several of JS Bach’s kids: CPE, JC, and WF foremost among them—the Bach who was biggest inspiration to and model for, e.g., Haydn and Mozart was their beloved Emanuel (CPE), not his dad. CPE also primarily improvised and composed on the clavichord, an interesting transitional instrument between the harpsichord and the pianoforte, still uses plectra but is somewhat velocity sensitive.)

If MQB, Jr. digs Scarlatti, make sure he’s checked out CPE Bach (esp. Fantasia in C minor) and JC Bach (Sonata in D). That’s the music from which the Classical style proper emerges, and poor old JS Bach was over a generation behind by the time he passed in 1750.
posted by LooseFilter at 1:17 PM on March 30, 2023

Fun fact (for music nerds): Domenico Scarlatti was a second-generation innovator, too (or nepo baby, depending on the framing I guess), his dad was Alessandro Scarlatti, one of the most successful and influential Baroque opera composers. Domenico had a hugely successful early career following his father as an opera composer, then retired in his early 30s and spent the next four decades writing over 500 ingeniously focused pieces for keyboard that played a significant role in creating a fundamentally new compositional style (work that he didn’t even publish because he was doing it for fun and his own edification; somebody else had to publish it all).
posted by LooseFilter at 1:26 PM on March 30, 2023

Recently started learning piano and discovering piano-centric music.

The youtube algorithm was nice enough to introduce me to Ludovico Einaudi via Tiny Desk and I can't get enough. Also really enjoying this work from Joep Beving on World Piano Day 2022
posted by J-Garr at 4:24 PM on March 30, 2023