Fascinating Texturals. I'm Not Sure This Is Its Ultimate Realization, But Fine Introduction To A Composer

Fascinating texturals. I'm not sure this is its ultimate realization, but fine introduction to a composer unknown to me. I assume the performer is Thomas Bjørnseth, although I could be wrong about this. My applause in any event for decoding a difficult text. (I love the video methodology of following the score, brilliant.)

atonalitydotnet:

SCIARRINO Piano Sonata no.5

Complete playlist: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vDVL6FopD_E&feature=PlayList&p=EE0742EFCB8874F4&playnext_from=PL&index=0&playnext=1

Something interesting coming tomorrow, in honor of Chopin. I think this could be a lot of fun.

[Image source unknown, but found courtesy of foreverswedish.org]

Portrait of the Artist as Piano Teacher

readmorewikipedia:

Pirahã is believed to be the only surviving member of the Mura language family, all other members having become extinct in the last few centuries. It is therefore a language isolate, without any known connection to other living languages.

Pirahã can be whistled, hummed, or encoded in music. Consonants and vowels may be omitted altogether and the meaning conveyed solely through variations in pitch, stress, and rhythm.

Some Relevance

I believe this quotation has some relevance to my previous post:

His [Pogorelich's] recordings from the 1980s are too extreme to be classics, but they hold up if you're in a mood to hear Ravel's Gaspard de la Nuit bristle with extraordinarily menacing energy.

"Too extreme to be classics." I suppose that says it all.

Listen: something either works or it doesn't. Even if it doesn't, it may have value beyond its mere candidacy for classicism. If it works in your mind, why shouldn't it enter the hall of fame?

Source: Philadelphia Enquirer 4/29/2010

Vladimir Feltsman plays with an admirable sense of pianistic touch and clarity. He has what was once described to me (with regard to another player, I think Weissenberg) as "steely fingers". And of course if you prefer your counterpoint detaché, he's right in the zone. Why then is his Bach so boring?

I'm not sure I have the answer. I don't know if my view is shared in any way that could provide insight. All I know is: he is throwing in all kinds of extra-Johann variations and improvisations, which is lovely and fine and wonderfully impure, and he's clipping away with his steely technique, and it's boring beyond belief. I don't mean to say it's unlistenable, it's not banal exactly, but the pieces, the positives, don't add up. It's the damnedest thing. Terrific soporific.

(Note: the Courante is provided for example only. I find the above true for all his Bach, and truth be told almost everything else too. But I encourage you to try him for yourself, I hope my experience isn't true for you.)