Bruce Brubaker on all things piano
After a concert I played in Munich in May, there was a question-and-answer session. (I performed music written by Alvin Curran, Sylvano Bussotti, and Earle Brown.) One audience member asked if a performer of newish music still needs to study Chopin's etudes? Since the pervasive use of photography by visual artists, the question arises in art schools: "Do art students need to learn how to draw?" To the question in Munich, my immediate … [Read more...]
I perform a piece with Butoh artist Maureen Fleming in which I play Philip Glass's Etude No. 5. The performance includes a video of Maureen moving, projected larger-than-life-size on a scrim. Behind the scrim, Maureen performs live. In front of the scrim, onstage, I sit at a piano and play the etude. Maureen made the video first. She started improvising movements and shooting video, with careful, subtle lighting. The movements are slow … [Read more...]
Olivier Messiaen's Quartet for the End of Time has gotten easier to play. Fifteen years ago, I learned the piece and performed it, finding the music quite difficult. There were rhythmic complexities, and ensemble challenges. Especially in the first movement ("Liturgie de cristal"), and in the sixth movement ("Danse de la fureur, pour les sept trompettes"), it was difficult just to stay together with the other players. Around the world last … [Read more...]
"We switched to Lavazza." I already guessed, from the cups and paraphernalia with the particular blue of the brand. My favorite place to drink espresso in New York City has succumbed. Lavazza is good actually. And it's reassuring to find a shop brewing "Italy's Favorite Coffee" in some unlikely town (Hannover) when you want a shot of the black elixir. But, lots of other coffee tastes are disappearing. The world is being Lavazzafied! And, … [Read more...]
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