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February 07, 2010 |
JS Bach: Gavotte I & II from English Suite #6 in d minor @ Jordan Hall, 2010.02.06 |
All at From The Top were devastated at the news of Board Chairman, CEO and friend, Francis Oakes Hunnewell a little over a week ago while traveling in Tiblisi. Friends and family gathered and filled Harvard's Memorial Chapel on Friday afternoon (by family request, I Played Rachmaninoff's Vocalise with Hunnewell-sponsored young violinist from the Czech Republic, Gergana Haralampieva), and Saturday evening's sold-out From the Top taping @ New England Conservatory's Jordan Hall was also wholly dedicated to Frank's memory, as was my breakpiece for the show, Gavotte I & II from Bach's English Suite #6 in d minor, available for download here.
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February 01, 2010 |
new live tracks on the road in january |
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January 04, 2010 |
Don Byron: Etude #4, 'Grunt-a-long', live at Bethel AME Church, Boston, MA_2010.01.03 |
Loved hearing this piece at Cleveland Community College last season as the set of Seven by Don Byron wrote for Lisa Moore; a great evening.
Particularly enjoyed the Etude #4, and when I found out From The Top would be taping a Martin Luther Kind special at the gorgeous Bethel AME Church in Jamaica Plain, MA, and that our special guests for the program would include the Boston Children's Chorus and their inspired director, Anthony Trecek-King, I thought this would be the perfect solo breakpiece for the occasion.
also stunning performances by a really refined string quartet from GBYSO, tackling a movement of a Coleridge-Taylor Perkinson string quartet, and a moment of sublime tranquillity with flutist, Chaz Salazar, playing together in Summerland by William Grant Still.
The event's heart-stopping gauntlet was served up right at the outset: BCC with soloist, Gwendolyn Baptiste, made U2's 'MLK' a new masterpiece.
The chorus was spectacular throughout the afternoon program; they sure give me a nice kick-start in the first verse here.
Enjoy.
(photo from last season's From The Top taping in Jordan Hall with BCC)
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December 10, 2009 |
Uncle Dave Lewis - Tail of Three Kitties |
Premiered Uncle Dave Lewis' 'Tail of Three Kitties' during our From The Top live taping hosted by Stanford Lively Arts in Dinkelspiel Auditorium @ Stanford Universoity last Saturday, 2009.12.05.
A note on the history behind the piece by the composer:
"I'm a cat person; in August 2008, my kitty Buttercup had a litter of four kittens which we named after opera singers -- Mario [Lanza], Italo [Tajo], Maria [Callas], and Nino [Vallin] -- "Nino" wound up wway too hard to say for my family, so she became "Nano". We tried to give them away, with no luck. Finally in October -- with Buttercup looking on in shock -- we piled all but Mario into a big cardboard box and carted them off to the pet shelter. Buttercup had another litter of four later, but we succeeded in giving those kittens away. When we moved in October 2009, Buttercup and Mario both disappeared.
This piece was written down immediately after I got back from the pet shelter as sort of a "diary entry", like those of Roger Sessions. The trauma of the experience gives way to a feeling of relief.
The musical text is relatively straightforward, even elementary in the second section.
It's quite short, so to make it longer I suggest repeating the whole piece and to vary or improvise the second section."
Loved working on the piece, and also played it on my set @ Yoshi's SF two nights later.
Here's the Stanford premiere recording.
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December 01, 2009 |
Some Debussy from last season's Miller series with video by Jonathon Rosen & Steve Byram |
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