Tuesday, October 10, 2006

Bach and Beyond

A couple of weeks ago I heard about this CD on NPR. Gabriela Montero Bach and Beyond. She improvises on Bach. I liked what I heard so I went to Barnes and Noble to see if they had it. They didn't have it and had to order it and then I found out that they would have to burn one for me. Today it came in. I haven't listened to much of it but so far I like it.

The odd thing is that if you know the theme and are familiar with a piece then it might be a problem. I don't think it will be for me as it is so well recorded and I haven't listened to enough of it yet to know. I know that I can listen to the same classical piece performed by two different people and I'll like one and not the other because I'm used to hearing something played a certian way. But it has to be really familiar.

When I was a little kid my mom used to play the piano after my sister and I went to bed. One of the things she would play was Chopin Etude No.3 in E major Op. 10 (you'd probably know it if you heard it) I got used to the way she played it, and it bothers me if someone goofs around with it too much.

2 comments:

Anonymous said...

I've become addicted to KUSC, the classical music station in my area. Except they have a tendency to play opera on the weekends, which I'm not fond of but am learning to like. :)

I know exactly what you mean; it's amazing how the same sheet music can produce two different pieces of music depending on who is playing, the instrument they are on, etc.

I need to listen to more Chopin. When I was learning piano most of the stuff I played was Bach and Beethoven. Actually, there's a grand piano I have access to that I should start practicing on. It would be a great stress reliever!

If you haven't seen "Unleashed" yet, with Jet Li, I would recommend it. There's a beautiful Mozart sonata featured in it.

don said...

That is cool that you play. I like some opera but not all. I guess it is like anything.

I envy the music choices you must have on the radio now. My digital cable has quite a few choices but no celtic. (?)

I haven't seen Unleashed, but I went to the movie site and watched the trailer. It looks like a good one.