'General Music' Category
A black metal find
Aficionados of black metal, drone metal, doom metal, “griefcore” and whatever other metal genres have sprung up in the last fifteen minutes might like to investigate Vasculum. The group/artist’s page has a few songs for download – I like it very much, but then I would.
The Vasculum manifesto is, apparently,
no audience engagement – no promotional [...]The Ravel L.H. concerto and reflections on posture
Seeing Bavouzet perform Ravel’s Concerto pour la main gauche at the Proms last Friday was an immensely inspiring experience. His technical assurance was such that he made the flashier, more mercurial runs and fiendish final cadenza seem like a spontaneous outpouring.
I had some serious goose-bumps several times during Bavouzet’s performance, which more than made up [...]The Liszt B minor sonata and time management
The bulk of the Liszt sonata is now (sort of) back in my fingers, but I’m facing a bit of a problem with available time.
If I’m lucky I manage to spend about an hour practising per day. This, clearly, is not enough to maintain a healthy repertoire, or to conquer a piece like the Liszt, [...]Battling the Liszt Sonata
I’ve been working on the Liszt B minor Sonata for the first time since about 2000 or 2001. I wanted to demonstrate vaguely to my girlfriend that I used to be able to play the majority of it up to the hectic fugato section; when I did, so little of it was left readily-available in [...]
Getting to grips with Carter, part 3
My intuition regarding Caténaires proved to be right – at least where my brain is concerned.
I’ve returned to Caténaires after letting it lie fallow for a while. Now, I’ve by no means mastered the other short Carter pieces that I’ve been looking at, but they’ve been ticking along quite nicely, and I’ve become comfortable with [...]A pianist again?
Last week, I played a concerto with an orchestra for the first time in 17 years: Haydn no. 11 in D, to be precise. It was immense fun – the orchestra is one that meets at my old school purely for the purposes of enjoyment. There are no public performances, and as a result the [...]
Getting to grips with Carter, part 1
Anyone reading this blog who has come to it via my Twitter feed (@5357311) will almost certainly be aware of my ongoing struggle with the piano music of Elliott Carter, posted in the form of “535 vs. Carter match report[s]“. When I started work on Caténaires last year in earnest, I knew little else of [...]
Honk
A little while back I had an awake dream, or vision, call it what you will. The Romantic poets would have maintained that it was a divine lightning flash of inspiration. I’m not so sure. Perhaps, given its content, it’s better thought of as a low, thunderous rumble of the same.
I attended the recent performances [...]Twitter
I’ve been using Twitter as a means of communicating with other musical folks – very handy. My username on there is @5357311.
Krystian Zimerman outburst
This article in the Grauniad about his public expression of discontent with US foreign policy made me think that I really ought to spend more money on recordings by Krystian Zimerman.
The paragraphs that most caught my attention are near the end, and tell you everything you need to know about the ridiculous heights of paranoia [...]