Three-peat

Repeat Victory!

Go, Me!

Piano Stuff

I recorded these about a year ago, then promptly forgot about them.

Happy 100th Birthday, Gian Carlo Menotti!

In honor of the composer of the first television opera (Amahl and the Night Visitors), we present to you a bit of culture.

The Telephone, an opera in one act, by Gian Carlo Menotti, heard in this 2000 recording, directed by Dr. Susan Treacy, with Celeste Ingram, soprano, Daniel Morton, baritone, and Yr. Obd. Svt., piano accompaniment.

Another Mystery Solved

On the way back from Iron Man 2 tonight, I heard Jim Svejda (SHFAY-dah) play a familiar sounding piece, from an old recording.

It took me about 15 seconds to figure out where I knew it from. Let's see if anyone who reads this blog (*cough* Tom Adams *cough*) can recognize it.

The piece was (aptly) named "Oh Good Ale", by Peter Warlock. You can here it hear (Amazon).

Recognize it?

Ok, here's a hint.

Very aptly named.

F.U. News Moment of Culture

Le Boeuf sur le Toit - The Ox on the Roof

Darius Milhaud

Along the lines of "me on the dating scene," here's a script for a movie in which I'm transported to an alternate universe. In this scene, I'm working closely with a beautiful and brilliant scientist, played by Amanda Tapping, to try and figure out how I can get home to warn the people in my universe about the coming Goa'uld invasion.

And before you ask, I have no idea where this came from, which is a statement that could be made about virtually every thought I've ever had.

*music plays in the backgound*

Me: "That's pretty music, what is it?"

Scientist: "Mozart's 64th symphony, if I'm not mistaken."

Me: "64th? That's not right. Mozart's 41st symphony was his last, written shortly before his death in 1791."

Scientist: "No, you're mistaken. He wrote 98 symphonies, before he finally died in 1836."

Me: "What? You mean Mozart didn't die young in this universe?"

Scientist: "No of course not. You mean he did in yours?"

Me: "Yes, at the age of 35."

Scientist: "You mean your Mozart never lived long enough to write his London symphonies? You mean you've never heard his greatest opera, 'The Little Emperor'?"

Me: "No! Where can I get a copy of these? I must listen to them?"

Scientist: "You can borrow my complete Mozart collection."

Me: "That's fantastic! New music by Mozart! This will be incredible! I'm not sure I want to go back to my universe now! Oh, if your Mozart lived longer, that means he would have lived long enough to have been influenced by Beethoven!"

Scientist: "Who?"

Me: "Don't tell me you've never heard of Ludwig von Beethoven. German composer? Eroica? Emperor Concerto? Pastoral symphony? Ode to Joy? Fidelio?"

Scientist: *blank stare*

Me: *look of shock and horror* "No! You damned dirty apes! Also, KAAAAAAAHN!"

This is when I break my glasses and am unable to spend the post-apocalyptic future reading, and it also turns out that the scientist cut her hair to buy me a silver chain for my pocket watch, which I sold to buy her a set of combs for her hair.

Topic for discussion: would you prefer to live in our universe, where Mozart died at the age of 35, but we have Beethoven, or would you rather live in the universe where Beethoven never existed, but Mozart lived until the age of 80, becoming a greater composer every year?

Also, the other universe is being invaded by the Goa'uld.

Something Else Appropriate for the Day.

Marvel at my inability to keep a steady tempo.

I apologize for the mistakes. I learned it in less than 6 weeks.

Good Friday Meditation

Agnus Dei, qui tollis peccata mundi: miserere nobis.
Agnus Dei, qui tollis peccata mundi: miserere nobis.
Agnus Dei, qui tollis peccata mundi: dona nobis pacem.



Lamb of God, you take away the sins of the world; have mercy on us.
Lamb of God, you take away the sins of the world; have mercy on us.
Lamb of God, you take away the sins of the world; grant us peace.

What We're Playing, YouTube Version

Well, Joe beat me to the punch, but yes, those are the pieces I recorded.  If you want direct links to the HQ versions, with MUCH better audio, here they are:

The Girl With The Flaxen Hair

The Graceful Ghost

Polonaise in A Flat

The Stars and Stripes Forever

But the reason I hadn't posted them yet, is that I was working on this, an embeddable custom player of all our music on YouTube, just for F.U. News (you may need to make your browser wider):

Here's a direct link to the playlist that goes into the player, which you can randomize, or copy to your own playlist (if you have a YouTube account, but of course you do so you can vote 5 stars on all our videos).

Jenny, post more piano videos!

UPDATE: Yay, Jenny posted more piano videos!:

Dawn

La Fille aux Cheveux de Lin

Secret Track

Well, What I'm Playing, At Least.

Figured I should post these before I forget them, to prove that, yes I did in fact play them.

Asturias.

Bear Dance.

Polonaise.

The Moldau (Part1) (Part 2).

La Fille aux Cheveux de Lin.

Instead of waiting for that One Perfect Performance™, I just went with what I had, mistakes and all. I've decided I prefer the mistakes, as it makes the performance sound more human, and less like it was played by a robot. Also, it's waaaay to easy to obsess about the mistakes.

What We're Playing.

Volume 1

From What We're Playing

I meant to post this earlier, but for all of you poor saps who we deemed unworthy of receiving this on a physical medium, you too can bask in the greatness of Belland piano playing. Happy (belated) Christmahanukwanzakapiphone.

Linky.

Let me add that "Dawn", as performed by Mrs. Pickles is my new favorite piece, and that Dave should legally change his middle name to "Vladimir Horowitz".

Happy Birthday George Gershwin!