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PianoMorphosis

Bruce Brubaker on all things piano

Evidence

June 7, 2021 by Bruce Brubaker

My introduction of Emanuel Ax in May in Boston, as he received an honorary doctorate from New England Conservatory.

“For a long time the listeners of the world have admired — for a long time, the listeners in the world have loved Emanuel Ax. Hearing him play Century Rolls, the piano concerto written in 1997 by John Adams for him, first played by Mr. Ax and the Cleveland Orchestra, I was thrilled. As I was thrilled hearing him play Brahms’ Second Piano Concerto with the Boston Symphony and Bernard Haitink. 

“When Manny was a Perspectives Artist at Carnegie Hall, he commissioned three pieces that completed the cycle of ‘diverse’ sonatas planned but not finished by Claude Debussy, new music by Steven Stucky, Marc-André Dalbavie, and Kaija Saariaho. Emanuel Ax shows us what a pianist can be. He is deeply involved with classical music, at the same time he plays, he commissions new music: new music by Bright Sheng, Thomas Adès, Melinda Wagner, HK Gruber and more, and more. 

“His many collaborations with Cantabrigian Yo-Yo Ma, or his recording with Patrick Stewart, show the significance of a pianist’s involvement with chamber music, with ensemble, the significance of cooperation and engagement with others. 

“Emanuel Ax has given several masterclasses at New England Conservatory, one right here in Jordan Hall. I admired and loved him on one occasion as we heard an excellent NEC student playing Robert Schumann’s Carnaval. After a particularly brilliant passage, Manny leaned over and whispered in my ear, ‘Wow, I wish I could play like that!’

“This charm and the deep humanity of Emanuel Ax gets at something more. He has adjusted the role of the classical concert pianist for a new century. The overpowering ego we sometimes encouraged in musicians endangered us. Emanuel Ax proves that something else is possible. In a virtuoso there can be virtue. In his music-making and in his personhood, Emanuel Ax is the evidence. 

“President Kalyn, it is my great honor to present Emanuel Ax for the Honorary Degree, Doctor of Music.”

Filed Under: Uncategorized Tagged With: Adams, Ax, Boston, Boston Symphony, Brahms, Carnaval, Carnegie Hall, Century Rolls, chamber music, Cleveland Orchestra, Emanuel, Enoch Arden, Johannes, John, John Adams, Jordan Hall, Ma, NEC, New England Conservatory, Patrick, Robert, Sangyoung Kim, Schumann, Stewart, virtue, virtuoso, Yo-yo

Bruce Brubaker

Recordings like the new American piano music albums I make for ECM, InFiné, Bedroom Community, and Arabesque reach millions of listeners, and break through some old divisions of high culture/pop, or art/entertainment. My fans are listening to Billie Eilish, The Weeknd — even the occasional Mozart track! Spotify, Apple Music, YouTube are allowing music lovers to discover music they could not have found so easily before. Live performances begin to reflect what’s happening online. My performances occur in classical venues like the Philharmonie in Paris, the Barbican in London, at La Roque d’Anthéron, at festivals such as Barcelona’s Sónar and Nuits Sonores in Brussels, and such nightclubs as New York’s (le) Poisson Rouge. Read More…

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PianoMorphosis

Music is changing. Society's changing. Pianists, and piano music, and piano playing are changing too. That's PianoMorphosis. But we're not only reacting... From the piano -- at the piano, around the piano -- we are agents of change. We affect … [Read More...]

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BB on the web

“Glassforms” with Max Cooper at Sónar

“Glass Etude” on YouTube

demi-cadratin review of Brubaker solo concert at La Roque d’Anthéron

“Classical music dead? Nico Muhly proves it isn’t” — The Telegraph‘s Lucy Jones on my Drones & Piano EP

Bachtrack review of Brubaker all-Glass concert

“Brubaker recital proves eclectic, hypnotic, and timeless” — Harlow Robinson’s Boston Globe review of my Jordan Hall recital

“Simulcast” with Francesco Tristano on Arte

Bruce Brubaker hosts 4 weeks of “Hammered!” on WQXR — “Something Borrowed,” “Drone,” “Portal,” “The Raw and the Cooked”

“Onstage, a grand piano and an iPod” — David Weininger’s story with video by Dina Rudick

“Bruce Brubaker on Breaking Down Boundaries” — extensive audio interview at PittsburghNewMusicNet.com

“Heavy on the Ivories” — Andrea Shea’s story for WBUR about Bruce Brubaker’s performances and recording of “The Time Curve Preludes” by William Duckworth

“Feeding Those Young and Curious Listeners” — Anthony Tommasini in The New York Times on the first anniversary of the Poisson Rouge

“The Jewel in the Fish” — Harry Rolnick on Bruce Brubaker at the Poisson Rouge

“The Post-Postmodern Pianist” — Damian Da Costa profiles Bruce Brubaker in The New York Observer

Bruce Brubaker questioned at NewYorkPianist.net

“Finding the keys to the heart of Jordan Hall” — Joan Anderman in the Boston Globe on the search for a new concert grand piano

“Hearing and Seeing” — Philip Glass speaks with Bruce Brubaker and Jon Magnussen, Princeton, Institute for Advanced Study

Bruce Brubaker about Messiaen’s bird music, NPR, “Here and Now”

“I Hear America: Gunther Schuller at 80” — notes and programs for concert series, New England Conservatory, Harvard University, Boston Symphony Orchestra

“A Conversation That Never Occurred About the Irene Diamond Concert,” Juilliard Journal

Bruce Brubaker plays music by Alvin Curran at (le) Poisson Rouge

Bruce Brubaker

Recordings such the new American piano music albums I make for ECM, InFiné, and Arabesque reach many listeners, and seem to break through some old divisions of high culture/pop, or art/entertainment. My fans are listening to Cardi B, Childish Gambino, Ariana Grande — even the occasional Mozart track! Spotify, Apple Music, and YouTube are allowing music lovers to discover music they could not have encountered so easily in the past. Live performances begin to reflect what’s happening online: this year I play at the International Piano Festival at La Roque d’Anthéron, traditional concert venues in Los Angeles, and Boston — as well as nightclubs in Berlin, Hamburg, Paris, Lyon, Geneva, and New York’s (le) Poisson Rouge.

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