Upcoming concerts

[naturlaut]

For those of you who are in Hong Kong, I will be playing a concert on May 8 (Sunday).  As with all my concerts, they will feature a programme with an interesting theme.  This time, it is titled "Piano 6 - 4 - 2 - 0", involving music written for 6 hands, 4 hands, solo (2 hands), and ... zero hands.  



Title: Piano 6 - 4 - 2 - 0

Programme: Featuring music of Tchaikovsky, Philip Glass, John Cage, and others

Venue: Music & Drama Institute, 16th Floor, 128 Wellington Street, Central

Time: 7:30pm

Admission: $100 (free seating)



Email me if you'd like to obtain a ticket for the concert.

 

[PHV]

For those of you who are in Hong Kong, I will be playing a concert on May 8 (Sunday).  As with all my concerts, they will feature a programme with an interesting theme.  This time, it is titled "Piano 6 - 4 - 2 - 0", involving music written for 6 hands, 4 hands, solo (2 hands), and ... zero hands.  



Title: Piano 6 - 4 - 2 - 0

Programme: Featuring music of Tchaikovsky, Philip Glass, John Cage, and others

Venue: Music & Drama Institute, 16th Floor, 128 Wellington Street, Central

Time: 7:30pm

Admission: $100 (free seating)



Email me if you'd like to obtain a ticket for the concert.

Is admission seriously $100?

 

[naturlaut]

Sorry, I mean Hong Kong Dollar $100. This concert is in Hong Kong. HK$100 roughly equivalent to US$13.

 

[PHV]

Sorry, I mean Hong Kong Dollar $100.  This concert is in Hong Kong.  HK$100 roughly equivalent to US$13.

yea, i was about to say that the last time I paid $100 for a classical type concert I was seeing Itzhak Perlman and Pinchas Zukerman performing the Bach double...

 

[imageWIS]

For those of you who are in Hong Kong, I will be playing a concert on May 8 (Sunday). As with all my concerts, they will feature a programme with an interesting theme. This time, it is titled "Piano 6 - 4 - 2 - 0", involving music written for 6 hands, 4 hands, solo (2 hands), and ... zero hands.



Title: Piano 6 - 4 - 2 - 0

Programme: Featuring music of Tchaikovsky, Philip Glass, John Cage, and others

Venue: Music & Drama Institute, 16th Floor, 128 Wellington Street, Central

Time: 7:30pm

Admission: $100 (free seating)



Email me if you'd like to obtain a ticket for the concert.

Hell, even I can play piano with no hands, why I simply hit the power button on my Casio keyboard...

Jon.

 

[Thracozaag]

What a cool concept for a concert; will you have a brass band playing in the background or other affairs going on during 4'33"?

koji

 

[PHV]

For those of you who are in Hong Kong, I will be playing a concert on May 8 (Sunday).  As with all my concerts, they will feature a programme with an interesting theme.  This time, it is titled "Piano 6 - 4 - 2 - 0", involving music written for 6 hands, 4 hands, solo (2 hands), and ... zero hands.  



Title: Piano 6 - 4 - 2 - 0

Programme: Featuring music of Tchaikovsky, Philip Glass, John Cage, and others

Venue: Music & Drama Institute, 16th Floor, 128 Wellington Street, Central

Time: 7:30pm

Admission: $100 (free seating)



Email me if you'd like to obtain a ticket for the concert.

Please tell me how this goes. I'd be delighted to hear if this went over well with audiences. The state of the 'art' is already tenuous, and it would be interesting to see how people take a non traditional program.

 

[naturlaut]

What a cool concept for a concert; will you have a brass band playing in the background or other affairs going on during 4'33"?

koji

I will literally be playing rest, treating them like music. Just as you wouldn't have other fanfare going on during your Scriabin, I wouldn't have anything else (planned) going on during the rests. I will let the audience decide what is music to their ears.

The essence of the programme lies not just in the 4'33". The concert will begin with a collection of light Viennese pieces by Paul Zilcher (1855 - 1843) in 6 hands, then a somewhat more engaging 4-hand transcription of Tchaikovsky Sleeping Beauty (transcribed by composer). The emotional climax comes next in another 4-hand transcription of Tchaikovsky's Symphony No. 6's first movement. Thereafter, the boiling emotion will simmer down to a Philip Glass minimalistic Mad Rush (a 12-minute piece of repetitiveness), and finally to 'soundlessness' in Cage's 4'33". There will be no encore after that. The concert begins with quite a crowd on stage, ends with me alone, in silence.

I have an even more interesting programme coming-up, though sadly we couldn't do it together (or maybe we could.). My next (or next next) programme will be an homage to Godowsky, where a number of his transcriptions will be performed. I will have little kids play pieces in their original form (like Schubert's Moment Musical or Saint-Saen's Swan on cello) and then Godowsky's transcriptions. The exact logistic has not been finalized yet, but this should be another interesting programme.

 

[imageWIS]

Quote:

(Thracozaag @ April 20 2005,17:45) What a cool concept for a concert; will you have a brass band playing in the background or other affairs going on during 4'33"? koji
I will literally be playing rest, treating them like music. Just as you wouldn't have other fanfare going on during your Scriabin, I wouldn't have anything else (planned) going on during the rests. I will let the audience decide what is music to their ears. The essence of the programme lies not just in the 4'33". The concert will begin with a collection of light Viennese pieces by Paul Zilcher (1855 - 1843) in 6 hands, then a somewhat more engaging 4-hand transcription of Tchaikovsky Sleeping Beauty (transcribed by composer). The emotional climax comes next in another 4-hand transcription of Tchaikovsky's Symphony No. 6's first movement. Thereafter, the boiling emotion will simmer down to a Philip Glass minimalistic Mad Rush (a 12-minute piece of repetitiveness), and finally to 'soundlessness' in Cage's 4'33". There will be no encore after that. The concert begins with quite a crowd on stage, ends with me alone, in silence. I have an even more interesting programme coming-up, though sadly we couldn't do it together (or maybe we could.). My next (or next next) programme will be an homage to Godowsky, where a number of his transcriptions will be performed. I will have little kids play pieces in their original form (like Schubert's Moment Musical or Saint-Saen's Swan on cello) and then Godowsky's transcriptions. The exact logistic has not been finalized yet, but this should be another interesting programme.
4'33" was always a very original piece...although I don't know if I can consider it music really...maybe anti-music? Jon.

 

[naturlaut]

Is 4'33" original? I recently stumbled across a piece written by an almost unknown German composer, Â Erwin Schulhoff (1894 - 1942), called Funf Pittoresken, Op. 31 (1919). Â (For a catalogue of his works, go here.) Â The third movement, titled "In futurum", it looks like this: http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v5...chulhoffOp.jpg I suspect Cage knew about this all along.

 

[Mr Checks]

Naturlaut wrote:

The concert begins with quite a crowd on stage, ends with me alone, in silence.

It would be interesting if the audience leaves without clapping:  when a concert ends quietly (in this case VERY quietly), I sometimes just want the sound to stay with me, uninterrupted by applause.

I understand and welcome the appreciation of the audience, but sometimes it just doesn't feel "right" to clap after an exceptional performance of a quiet piece.

 

[naturlaut]

I totally agree. I couldn't bring myself to any clapping after a performance of Mahler 9th recently. I almost wanted to bring my hands to my ears when the usual thunderous applause began.

 

[Mr Checks]

I couldn't bring myself to any clapping after a performance of Mahler 9th recently.

It was a Mahler 5 performance with Jerzy Semkow that made me think of that; there is something "unmusical" about the clapping and grunting that displaces the solemnity of the music.

Again, I appreciate the sentiment, but it would be nice to have quiet for a change.

 

[imageWIS]

Is 4'33" original? I recently stumbled across a piece written by an almost unknown German composer, Erwin Schulhoff (1894 - 1942), called Funf Pittoresken, Op. 31 (1919). (For a catalogue of his works, go here.) The third movement, titled "In futurum", it looks like this: http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v5...chulhoffOp.jpg I suspect Cage knew about this all along.

How very...restful. Jon.

 

[naturlaut]

How very...restful.

Jon.

Notice the time signature and the clefs?