Another holiday treat… Victor Borge improvising Monti’s Czardas with violinist Anton Kontra!

Christmas Eve movie was American in Paris. I’d forgotten how much I liked Gershwin’s Concerto in F. Here’s Oscar Levant in the dream scene where he’s the pianist, conductor, orchestra and audience! When was the last time you heard piano playing like that in a Hollywood movie? By the way, I had no idea Levant was a composer and that he studied under Harold Schoenberg. Enjoy!

No one can compare!

Try playing this version at your next Christmas party!

On learning the Beethoven Sonatas , pianist Per Tengstrand has some excellent tips. Here’s one that I absolutely agree with. So much easier said than done, but I did spend the time to memorize the Waldstein Sonata (two measures at a time) before I could really play it and I never regretted it…it was the only piece that never had a memory slip in performance. Tengstrand says….

Once opening the score, start memorizing immediately. It is not fun, it’s actually very tedious, but it will force you to analyze the material, it will make you memorize it without using any muscle memory (and that possibility will not come back!) which in turn will be your real, so-called “back-up memory” when the stress in a performance might make your brain’s signals to the fingers go haywire. (read more)

Norwegian pianist Lief Ove Andsnes and South African artist Robin Rhode have collaborated on a multimedia performance of Mussorgsky’s Pictures at an Exhibition. The concert is touring with 2 stage sets (Set 1 and Set 2). Set 1 comprises a large central screen above the piano showing the full video works and Set 2 includes additional still imagery by Robin Rhode on a number of other screens surrounding the piano. The artists just wrapped their London performances and are heading on to Naples, Berlin, Oslo and Paris.

Curious? Read Rhode’s explanation for his treatment of each piece of the suite from the Promenade of the Kadet whose feet never touch the ground to the final submersion and resurrection of the Drowning Piano. Watch the “making of” video and visit Pictures Reframed.

“I’m hoping that we can attract younger people; those who are maybe going to galleries and who are interested in contemporary art but who don’t think that classical music is fashionable. Maybe a project like this can open some ears in addition to eyes for that audience.” — Leif Ove Andsnes

And this is always a good thing.

Invented by Geoff Smith, the fluid piano offers microtonal tuning on every note. The performer is able to change the tuning on each individual note and is no longer limited to the intervals of the Western scale. It’s possible for this piano to be used in the performance of  classical Indian music as well as new music by contemporary composers. It took ten years for this project to come to fruition, but will it take another ten years for it to become mainstream? Watch the video here.

Tonight The Swell Season starts kicks off their US tour with a performance in Seattle. The Swell Season are Glen Hansard (from the Irish band, The Frames) and Marketa Irglova (classically trained Czech pianist and vocalist), both are known for their performance in Once, the 2007 music film from Ireland. The two were a couple and now they’re not but they’re still making beautiful music together.

Falling Slowly is one of those tunes you’ll hum for hours after you’ve heard it, mainly because of the repetitive melody, but also because it’s one of those “I could’ve written that” type of tunes. Want to learn it? Scroll down a bit on this page – Mario Ajero has a podcast lesson for you.

According to Jill Rosen, pet blogger at the Baltimore Sun, Nora the Piano cat is booked for tomorrow. Of course I loved the Catcerto, but that was because of the ingenuity of  Lithuanian conductor, composer and artist Mindaugas Piečaitis.

Nora, the Philadelphia cat known for her musicality, who was named ASPCA’s Cat of the Year this year, will play Saturday, Nov. 21, at the Westchester Cat Show in White Plains, New York. The gray kitty’s first concert is a benefit, being called “Shelter Aid.” Millions have already seen her taped performances on YouTube.

Nora will perform live via webcam from her piano at home in Philadelphia. She’ll be joined by her accompanist and owner Betsy Alexander.

Everyone will be holding their breath because Nora is a cat — and being a cat, she just might not performa on command.

The concert is at 1 p.m. Go to www.ustream.tv live then to see the potential show. Replays will be available later.

As far as watching Nora and her owner “improvising” at the piano, I’d rather my own cats chase their new laser pointer.

Last week Eve Risser, Joel Grip, Ron Stabinsky and Jack Wright presented an exciting evening of improvisation with saxophone, double bass and prepared piano at The Music Studio. In a performance (one that was partially performance art) we got to see Joel play bass with three bows at once, Eve set loose a gaggle of wind-up toys in and around the piano strings and Ron mix in extension cord and Styrofoam to complete his performance. Eve and Joel were here from Paris, passing through our little town on the way to Baltimore and Jack made the trip up from Easton,  thanks to Ron, an NEPA native.  Who would have thought we’d have a standing room only crowd on a weeknight in a town that rolls up the sidewalks 9 pm?