Piano Network UK event, 12th November

About a year ago I was invited to join the Facebook group Piano Network UK. The group is for pianists, teachers, composers, promoters, tuners, journalists: anyone with a specific interest in the UK piano scene. A very friendly bunch, as shown by the 'launch event' held in London last Thursday, 12th November.

The event was initially booked months ago and in the meantime my diary has become very full - such that 3 hours each way to London and back became valuable downtime! I had also booked an audience ticket rather than performer - it would have been great to perform, but a good decision in the end as I had (still have!) no brain space to prepare anything at the moment.

The meetup was held in 1901 Arts Club which is a really small, intimate venue just next to Waterloo station - along one of those curious super-narrow London streets. The ground floor was our performance space for the evening; upstairs there is a cozy bar and lounge.

Once we got started, the vibe was very much a piano group atmosphere. No pre-announced programme; Network founder/organiser Andrew called up performers, who each announced their piece; fellow organiser Lorraine was documenter-in-chief (photos and set list) Very relaxed and friendly with a generous interval/drinking time.

The repertoire choice was fabulous! A good few 'own composition' pieces (by way of explanation, 3 of the performers are/have been affiliated to The Piano Cloud, an online grouping for creative pianists) and a great selection of more traditional repertoire, as follows below. All of the own-composition pieces were superb, really atmospheric. The performances of pieces by Ireland, Scott, and Mayerl in particular captured my attention; definite ones to investigate for further listening.

Setlist:

Andrew - Departures (own composition)
Nikolas Sideris - The King and the Dragon/The Deaf Girl's Music Box/The Cook and The Duke from "Fairyland in Treble" by Nikolas Sideris
Anne - John Ireland The Island Spell
Peter - Chaminade Concert Etude Pathetique
Claire - Cyril Scott Lotus Land
Ed - Hope (own composition)
Jane - Shostakovich Preludes op.34 nos. 3 & 19
Liz and Mark - Rachmaninov Vocalise
Luke - own improvisation
Marie - Billy Mayerl Railroad Rhythm
Martin - Nocturne (own composition)
Zheer - Ludovico Einaudi Divinere

Great listening, and I had a fantastic time chatting to friends old and new! Just about made the train back home....

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 .

Angela Hewitt Week, 14th-20th May 2012

I just received information from a friend about Angela Hewitt Week in Ottawa, 14th-20th May as declared by Mayor Jim Watson. Ms Hewitt is performing with Chamber Players of Canada on Friday 18th May; there will also be An Afternoon With Angela Hewitt on 20th May at the National Arts Centre hosted by the Canadian Friends of the Trasimeno Music Festival .

The Venezuelan maestro comes to Cardiff

A highly anticipated evening of entertainment for M and I, we headed to St Davids Hall to see the conductor of the moment, Gustavo Dudamel , conduct the Philharmonia Orchestra . Highly entertaining, too, and the place was pretty full, though possibly not sold out. We had anticipated the first piece to be Antonio Estevez' 'Mediodia en el llano', but a last minute change meant the first work was (I believe - the posters up in the venue were rather short on info!) Berlioz' Roman Carnival. Initially we may have been a tad disappointed but the replacement work was excellently peformed, cue many smiles. Unfortunately, the smiles soon evaporated, as the second, and for us, least interesting piece, was Mozart's Piano Concert No.17 K453 with Emanuel Ax on piano. M described Ax as mellow, I described him as dull. That may be because neither of us are really into Mozart, but compared to previous visits to St Davids Hall to see pianists Noriko Ogawa and Freddy Kempf, we really...

PrettyInScarlett

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