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....

Comments

Music, Poetry and Cake (Gateshead and Lanchester)

Piano at the ready! (by M) After a good few months prep, the concert Piano Music and Poetry (organised through the Gateshead Piano Workshop folks) came around pretty quickly. As one of the participants, I was excited and also a little nervous about the prospect of a Paying Audience. The work paid off, as all the performers were excellent! Well appreciated by the compact audience. The format was in relation to National Poetry Day which was on 2nd October. Each performer chose a poem either in direct or indirect relation to their piece. A summary of the programme: Alan - Liszt Consolation No 4 and Mozart Adagio in B minor Graeme - Chopin Nocturne Op. 62 No. 2 with 'Uncertainty' by Adam Mickiewicz me - Clara Schumann, andante con sentimento with 'Clara Wieck und Beethoven' by Franz Grillparzer Jim - R Schumann Kinderszenen 1 and 7 with 'My child, we were just children' by Heinrich Heine Ernie - Debussy Clair de lune with excerpt from 'Fêtes g...

Sounds of JUNOfest

Classical JUNOs performers Something of a musical melange weekend but an excellent set of events! Eschewing some of the bands and artists we knew, we chose less familiar sounds for our JUNOfest experience. First up was the Classical JUNOs in Concert event at the National Arts Centre , featuring both nominated performers and composers. The mix of contemporary music was brilliantly played by Christina Petrowska Quilico , Susan Hoeppner , Heather Schmidt and the New Orford String Quartet . Quilico amazed the almost 100-strong audience with her performance of Derek Charke's Sepia Fragments in a reduction for piano; I found this piece a really captivating mix of earthly and ethereal elements. Quilico's second performance was of Ann Southam's Glass Houses No. 5 , an hypnotic piece which sounded both fiendishly difficult to play but also very clean and unembellished. Susan Hoeppner's excellent performance of Eldin Burton's Sonatina for Flute and Piano got the po...

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 .

PrettyInScarlett

Search This Blog