The Piano Cloud in Manchester, 2014 edition

After last year's success, I was really excited about this year's The Piano Cloud meetup event at the Royal Northern College of Music in Manchester. Even more so once the room booking was confirmed - 2 Steinway Model D pianos!!!

Present for the afternoon were Andrew (Keyquest Music), Terry (Purple Rhapsody), Luke (Freemondo), Jacob Uhlig, Chris, and myself. Amongst a lot of chat and eating of Krispy Kremes, we enjoyed a super afternoon of music. Terry and Andrew both played pre-written pieces: Terry played a few songs from his new album Momentary Muse, including the fabulous Legions of Poppies, as well as treating us to a rare live improvisation:

Andrew treated us to 'Prelude to a Better Year', and the pair treated the rest of us to a really fun sight-read of Kevin Olson's 'Hoedown at Cripple Creek'. Andrew's good friend Chris also pleased with a few improvisations.

Luke once again showed his breathtaking improvisational ability, including a duet with Jacob. Jacob, although still very young, has recently crowd-funded and recorded a new album which will be out soon (EP available here). His 'classical new age' style has a fresh and uncluttered sound; it was a real treat to hear.

For a little fun, we also attempted 8 hands sight-reading as well as 2 explores of 8-hands 12 bar blues and 8-hands Chopsticks improv. Counting gets really hard sometimes! Having not attempted the 'group play' last year, I really enjoyed this, even though it was a real step outside of my comfort zone.

The Piano Cloud in Manchester

For my part, I brought along a few improv-based pieces(one semi-written and another on the spot improvisation), a little Philip Glass, some Tolkien songs (this book is amazing! - The Road Goes Ever On) and Clara Schumann's 'andante con sentimento'. Before the event, I thought that the 'repertoire' pieces would be easiest to perform, but when I sat down to play, I was much more nervous for the Schumann. A little disconcerting, as I am scheduled to play 'andante con sentimento' in a concert next month...

All in all a fabulous day and lots of inspiration!

Comments

Pigeon Funk

Notes on a very random purchase. Earlier today I acquired Venetian Snares 'Rossz Csillag Alatt Sz ü letett ' purely on the basis of the language and artwork. Its certainly something different - and most definitely not pop. After a bit of searching: Venetial Snares is, according to Wikipedia, the performing name of Aaron Funk, who seems to specialise in experimental tracks in odd time signatures. Article here . The sleeve notes for this album (whose title is Hungarian for 'Born under a bad star') poses the question: what if, for just a day, we could both be pigeons? Interessant. Apparently this concept (a day in the life of a Hungarian pigeon) is non-typical of Venetian Snares sound, but one could ask, does Mr Funk do 'typical'? On first listening, the sound of this CD mixes classical/traditional Hungarian sounds and breakbeats. but aside from that? Definitely a 'listen for yourself' artist; try the website , fan site or myspace .

Lang Lang: a little bit of stardust in Southam Hall

Lang Lang with Anita Pari Like many National Arts Centre regulars, the idea of a Lang Lang concert sounded fantastic... except that for me the Gala tickets are rather too expensive. As a result the turnout for today's masterclass with young artists Anita Pari (Ottawa), Alexander Malikov (Calgary), and Tina Chong (Banff) in Southam Hall was pretty good. No surprises that there were photographers and a TV camera all over the stage... so much so that during Lang's analysis of Malikov's rendition of Transcendental Étude No 8 'Wild Hunt' (Liszt), someone shouted at the cameraman to move. To my mind they seemed a little intrusive on the performances, but none of the artists seemed to take any notice. Lang Lang with Tina Chong Up first and for me the best performance was Anita Pari with the captivating Ballade No 1 by Chopin. In comparison, Malikov's performance did not have anywhere near as much projection. Final performer Tina Chong seemed

New talent at Southminster

As a follow-on from last weekend's excellent Chopin concert, there is an afternoon of New Artists from the NAC's Summer Music Institute at Southminster United Church on 17th June. Entitled 'Dover Beach and other works for summertime', the concert features new artists Katarzyna Sadej , Emily Nenninger , Drew Santini, Hannah Min, Paul Casey , Karen Kang and Bryan Wagorn. I had the chance to hear Bryan Wagorn at one of University of Ottawa's Concerts at the NAC 4th Stage concerts back in February and thoroughly enjoyed his performance. The proposed programme is very enticing: MENDELSSOHN String Quartet No. 2 in A minor, Op. 13 MONIUSZKO Sen (The Dream) Prząśniczka (Spinner Girl) SZYMANOWSKI Lecioły Zórazie (The Swans Were Flying) Ściani Dumbek (The Dark Forest) CHOPIN Piosnka Litewska (Lithuanian Folksong) Moja Pieszczotka

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