TROIKA

 

Alright everybody - - 

What would you prefer,

a captivatingly beautiful piano performance by me.....

or

an update on the anguish and misery that I'm enduring in rehab.

The votes are in! It's unanimous!

You want anguish and misery.

Well, I'm not in the mood for verbosity or details. I'll be brief. Sort of.

The big storm arrived on time with snow on Friday and Saturday. Not much snow here in town. A lot more way out in the boonies where I live.

I'm still on a massive amount of meds. I think the extremely strong antibiotic will be removed this week. The onslaught of lasix continues - - which makes me pee every half hour.

It's so joyful to keep filling urinals and calling the nurses to empty them.

Yesterday two nurses shaved me (my face/beard). No one has ever shaved me in my entire life. Weird.

When I was in Cookeville I was on a very strict diet. They hardly let me eat anything. Now I'm on a regular diet with "low" sodium. Yesterday I had bacon, a cheese omelette, and regular coffee (no decaf) for breakfast. I think they're trying to kill me.

I'm really not in the mood to get into complicated details. It's all setbacks, anguish, massive unpleasantness.

Everyone is helpful here, despite my misery.

My vital signs and bloodwork are good. The edema has lessened significantly and is under control.

My biggest fear is that I'll never walk again.

To hell with this.

Like it or not, let's get to the music.

I made this video a few years ago (?). I thought it's appropriate for our winter weather.

Of course it's "Troika" ("November" from "The Seasons") by Tchaikovsky.

video best viewed full screen

Jon

Your driver on the sleigh ride

RHAPSODY IN BLUE

 

I consider this to be one of my crowning glories.

What, Jon - - you have more than one??

Let's preface this with a quote from Mae West.

"Modesty will get you nowhere."

I'm talking about my solo piano arrangement of "Rhapsody in Blue" by George Gershwin (1898  - 1937). It's the best and most difficult of all the piano arrangements I've ever done.

Why is it so difficult?

The original composition is written for piano and orchestra. My arrangement combines the orchestra and piano all in one piece. You have to be one helluva pianist to play it.

Are you one helluva pianist, Jon?

What? I didn't hear you.

I've already told this story several times before, but I have a desire to rehash it again.

Gershwin wrote this composition in 1924 for piano and small jazz orchestra. For some strange reason it was originally entitled "Experiment in Modern Music".

The work premiered in New York City on February 12, 1924. Gershwin was the pianist with Paul Whiteman as conductor.

Ira Gershwin (George's brother) attended an art exhibition which featured paintings by James McNeill Whistler. One painting was called Nocturne in Blue and Gold.

Inspired by this, Ira came up with the title "Rhapsody in Blue" for his brother's composition.

Later, American composer Ferde Grofe ( who wrote "The Grand Canyon Suite") arranged "Rhapsody in Blue" for full symphonic orchestra, which is the version we know today.

So, where do I come in? Here's the tale.

I was about 24 years old, existing in Hollywood. One hot summer night I went to see a musician friend of mine who lived in the Hollywood Hills.

I had just finished writing my solo piano arrangement of "Rhapsody", and my friend wanted to see it.

It was a lazy night and we eventually got plastered on Sangria. Long after midnight, my friend suggested that I play my new arrangement. And he wanted to record it.

I was adamatly against it.

I was drunk and out of practice. I'm always extremely nervous when I record, for fear of making a mistake. This piece is dangerously difficult and over fifteen minutes long. The risks are enormous.

I had more wine. I decided to risk it. My friend recorded my performance, and..........I got through it without a  mistake! (??)

So, the performance on the video is the exact recording made that long-ago summer night. No edits. No enhancements. The audio isn't perfect, but I don't care.

This recording reminds me of my golden years in California,  of my reckless youth, and that balmy summer night.......

when the balcony doors were open and Hollywood was sprawled out before us, and the moon was high above distant palm trees that shrugged in the gentle haze, and the glorious future beckoned us in our eternal youth....

and suddenly a few sentimental tears swell up, remembering what used to be.

Thanks for reading this,  Jon

Through the years I've made several (better) recordings of this but all were lost. This crude recording is the only one I have left.

(Video best watched in full-screen)

THE MERRY WIDOW

I have an intense passion for opera but was never enthused with operetta (usually a short, "light" opera).

It wasn't until I saw a performance of the 1906 operetta The Merry Widow that my indifference turned to passion. The intensely romantic and bittersweet sentimentality of Franz Lehar's (1870 - 1948) music left me in blissful state of melodic intoxication.
Lehar was a Hungarian composer and his music deeply resonated with my romantic Hungarian blood.

The Merry Widow is a simple story -
A young couple was deeply in love but their impending marriage was rudely interrupted by an unforeseen circumstance.
Many, many years later they were reunited - - he, a dashing military man and she, a desirable widow. Their ancient love was rekindled with - of course - a happy ending.

My video only contains a few excerpts from The Merry Widow and my piano performance is completely impromptu and unrehearsed. I tried to incorporate the essence of an enchanted May night.

                                     Jon

Video best viewed full-screen

 

THIS IS THE ONE I LOVE TO HATE

 Polonaise

in A major, op. 40 no.1
(Polonaise Militaire)
by Frederic Chopin (1810-1849)

Chopin is a sublime composer and I've always loved his music. There's one particular composition, however, that I never warmed up to. In fact, I could almost say that I loathe it.

This is the Polonaise in A major, the infamous Military Polonaise.

Perhaps I dislike it because it is mercilessly over-played. It's been a concert stage warhorse forever.

The endless repeats in the piece make it seem eternal. You keep hoping it will eventually end, but it doesn't. 

The piece is brazenly loud....and only gets louder. Forte inevitably crescendos to Triple Forte, without mercy.

I have dared pianists to incorporate a pianissimo into this piece and it's a complete impossibility.


Reasons that I like it:
It's fun to play.  Lot's of unabashed piano-pounding.
The thing is, the pianist has to have stamina and it helps to have large hands. 
My hands are large. I can span an eleventh with my right hand - - and a twelfth with my left. That's very impressive. 

My YouTube video of this piece leaves a lot to be desired. It's merely a "practice" video - - recorded while I was practicing, not performing.

It was recorded in Texas on a summer day that was nearly 110 degrees (Fahrenheit).

If nothing else, I should get kudos for successfully turning the pages.....

                                          Jon

FRUHLINGSRAUSCHEN

I post this video every year at the arrival of spring. You're probably tired of seeing it - - but just pretend that you're delighted. 

Fruhlingsrauschen

Rustle of Spring, op.32 no.3 by Norwegian composer Christian Sinding (1856 - 1941).

I recorded this video in San Angelo, Texas during a brutally hot summer when the temperature was over 110 degrees (Fahrenheit). Apologies for the terrible audio quality.

Today, here in rural Tennessee, the weather is freezing and spring is nowhere in sight. The temperature dropped to 13 degrees (Fahrenheit) last night with heavy frost.

Warmer temperatures are predicted by the end of this week
Should I try to believe it??

Wherever you are - - - welcome to spring!

 

TROIKA RIDE AND DEAD END

I thought a pleasant troika ride through the snow would be appropriate for this time of year. It's my piano performance on a video I made about a year ago.

Music is by Tchaikovsky - a series of twelve piano pieces depicting the months - entitled The Seasons, op.37
The month November is called Troika.

Dead End

I wanted to brighten your day with the music (hopefully) - - before revealing the dead end reality of my dismal existence here in the forest.

Torrential rain for several days with howling winds. The wind was so strong that it blew my front door open overnight and I didn't discover it until dawn.

My health "issues" are so intense that I can hardly walk and lately I'm getting frequent aura migraines (among other things).
Supplies are low and so are my finances. I tried to start my car yesterday and it's completely dead - - probably because I haven't used it in a long time. Getting a new battery is an inevitable annoyance.....

You wouldn't want to hear the rest of the daily horrors that are torturing me.

Worst of all, very frigid temperatures are predicted for next week - - near zero at night and possible snow by Christmas.

I'm apprehensive about this (hell, I'm actually terrified), since my furnace isn't working and I'm relying solely on a few feeble space heaters. If the power goes out, I'm literally dead. I know I won't survive.
I had a fireplace when I lived in Texas.
I don't have a damn thing here.

Sorry for writing another depressing post, but I'm offering you grim reality.

I hope somebody will dare to visit this wretched blog once in awhile. It will give you a chance to be overwhelmed by my cursed misery - - and thank the Lord for the blessings and luxuries that you have.

 Jon, shivering alone

video best viewed full screen

ROOSTER RAG

 Note:
As if I didn't have enough problems - NONE of my computer keyboards are working. I'm presently using an online "virtual" keyboard, which is absolute hell. 
Have to get a new keyboard. Don't know when I'll be back. Hope everyone had a very pleasant Thanksgiving.

Here is a rerun post from last year.      Jon

I wanted to post some music associated with turkeys, in honor of Thanksgiving - but turkey music seems to be nearly non-existent.
The once-popular Turkey Trot dance (over 100 years ago) isn't foremost in my piano repertoire.
And I've always disliked Turkey in the Straw.

So I searched through my music files and extracted an old recording I made of the Rooster Rag. 
Heck, roosters are sort of similar to turkeys - - and if you're drunk enough you can't even tell the difference.
I finally made a video to accompany the music. I threw it together in less than half an hour - which explains the shabby quality.

I'll readily confess that it isn't easy to do anything creative with a rooster theme.

 The Rooster Rag was composed by Muriel Pollack (1895-1971) and published in 1917.

Pollack was a composer/lyricist who started out as a piano player for silent movies. She studied at the New York Institute of Musical Art (which later became Julliard) and eventually had a fairly successful musical career.


Her full name was Mary Muriel Pollock Groll Donaldson (she was married twice). Born in New York, died in Hollywood, California.

I heard that Muriel initially wrote The Rooster Rag when she was about seventeen, but it wasn't published until several years later.
It's a brilliant piece and fun to play.  

If you listen to this recording carefully, you'll probably hear the music manuscript fall off the piano (around 1:12) while I was in the middle of the performance.
Fortunately I kept valiantly playing without missing much of a beat......

                                 Jon    (2021)

 
Video best viewed full screen

JON DOES DEBUSSY

 

 

 

 

 I'm soused on homemade wine and shouldn't be allowed to blog. Acute inebriation is the only way I can tolerate life and get through these incredibly intolerable days......

Every time I post a piano video, everybody runs for the EXIT and leaves me in the dust.

What the hell should I do to get some attention and respect? Strip naked, stand on my head, and sing Pagliacci ??
Don't smirk. I just might do it.

Let's look at this with some semblance of reasonable plausibility:
How many Tennessee hillbilly pauper hermits do you know who can play Debussy?

I rest my case.

I found this old VHS rehearsal tape and just posted it on YouTube. It was recorded in San Angelo, TX. (the audio is bad - the camera was too close to the piano).

Arabesque #1 in E major, by Claude Debussy (1862 - 1918).

As much as I like Debussy's music, performing it has never my forte. And - to be absolutely blunt - I've never liked this Arabesque. In fact, I almost hate it. It is an early Debussy composition, which has none of the intoxicating intricacies that are prevalent in his later piano music.

You've already seen my interpretation of Debussy's Clair de lune, but some of you forgot to applaud - so I've decided to inflict it upon you again.

 

Two Debussy compositions for the price of one.
What more could you ask for?

Cheers, Jon

ROOSTER RAG

I wanted to post some music associated with turkeys, in honor of Thanksgiving - but turkey music seems to be nearly non-existent.
The once-popular Turkey Trot dance (over 100 years ago) isn't foremost in my piano repertoire.

So I searched through my music files and extracted an old recording I made of the Rooster Rag. 
Heck, roosters are sort of similar to turkeys - - and if you're drunk enough you can't even tell the difference.

Last night I made a video to accompany the music. I threw it together in less than half an hour - which explains the shabby quality.

I'll readily confess that it isn't easy to do anything creative with a rooster theme.

 The Rooster Rag was composed by Muriel Pollack (1895-1971) and published in 1917.

Pollack was a composer/lyricist who started out as a piano player for silent movies. She studied at the New York Institute of Musical Art (which later became Julliard) and eventually had a fairly successful musical career.


Her full name was Mary Muriel Pollock Groll Donaldson (she was married twice). Born in New York, died in Hollywood, California.

I heard that Muriel initially wrote The Rooster Rag when she was about seventeen, but it wasn't published until several years later.
It's a brilliant piece and fun to play. 

If you listen to this recording carefully, you'll probably hear the music manuscript fall off the piano (around 1:12) while I was in the middle of the performance.
Fortunately I kept valiantly playing without missing much of a beat......

                                 Jon

 This was originally posted two years ago

SAVE THE MUSIC

 

When I was a young music student/musician in Southern California, I made several hundred (no lie) piano recordings. In retrospect, my infinite energy and vast musical repertoire astounds me. Nowadays, I hardly have the energy to crawl out of bed and feed the cats.

At that long ago time, I never really thought about preserving any documentation of my musical efforts. When I was an accompanist and performed with various chamber orchestras my concerts were often video-taped, but I have no clue what happened to those tapes.

My solo piano performances were mostly recorded on cassette tapes, which were usually tossed into boxes and quickly forgotten.

After I moved away from California I began to lament my musical past and wished that I had more diligently preserved my efforts.

I had a small music studio in San Angelo, Texas, where I decided to record some video tapes of my old piano repertoire. I was sorely out of practice , but figured anything was better than nothing.

The video tapes were less than amateur - and I made the mistake of placing the camera too close to the piano, which  distorted the audio and made my playing sound harsh and annoying.

At around the same time, I discovered several boxes of old cassette tapes containing my piano music. There were over 100 tapes, in various degrees of rapid deterioration.
Fortunately (thank God for modern technology) I found a way to transfer the tapes to mp3 files. It was a long and tedious task, but a worthy one.

The only problem was that the audio quality is mostly appalling, but at least my music on the crumbling cassettes is saved.

So what's my point?

Very recently (this week, in fact) I've discovered how to edit my tapes and videos to (at least slightly) improve the audio quality.

Last night I edited two of my videos recorded in San Angelo. I admittedly didn't know what I was doing, but I do think they sound somewhat better.

I'm posting both of the videos here for your listening pleasure.
I can hear you applauding! All two of you.

The first video is the original piano version of Clair de lune by Claude Debussy ( 1862 - 1918).

The second video is my own arrangement of Malaguena by Ernesto Lecuona ( 1896 - 1963). My arrangement is EXTREMELY difficult. It takes a helluva lot of technical stamina to get through it.

Oh, one more thing -
my piano videos were purposely designed to keep the light focused on my hands - - not on my pretty face.
(*smile*)

MAY ROARING

 

May? Roaring??
Roaring like a lion, or perhaps even worse. Torrential rain. Biblical rain. Ark-worthy rain.
Last night and early this morning severe thunderstorms.
I stayed in bed, listening to screaming winds and ark-worthy rain. Listening to house-shaking thunder. Watching lightning explode in blinding flashes outside the window. Lightning so fierce that it expelled a lifetime of sins and instilled a fear of the Almighty.
Then I said "To hell with it" and went to sleep.

Naturally there was a power outage. If I had a dollar for every power outage here in rural Tennessee, I could probably buy a castle in Transylvania.
That's where I want to go. Land of the Magyar vampires.

So how have I been doing?
I'm profoundly depressed, disgusted with absolutely everything. Physically, I feel like I died three weeks ago. Mentally I'm far over the edge.
What edge, you ask? The edge of extinction.

Isn't it amazing that I write so well even when I'm mentally and physically kaput.

Remember last week when the snake was in my house? (read my previous blog post to savor the excitement). I heard noises and crashes in the living room. Well, the nasty serpent knocked some things off of shelves. And he knocked down a row of colored glass bottles that I had on a windowsill (my cats never touch them). Fortunately nothing broke.

Snakes really aren't bad, Jon. They do a lot of good. Snakes are our friends.

Yea, right. Tell that to Adam and Eve.

I'm cute. Even when I'm miserable.

I made a new piano video.
(don't you DARE go away - - you're my captive audience).

My piano rendition of music from the operetta The Merry Widow by Franz Lehar (1870 - 1948). A Hungarian composer.

My original video contained six songs and was way too long, so I cut it down to three.

The month of May always reminds me of The Merry Widow. The very first performance I ever saw of it was in May - - long ago, when I was intensely romantic....and in love. Fond memories.

The Merry Widow is the story of a first love that went awry - and a second chance to rekindle that love many years later.
The music is emotionally appealing and intriguingly beautiful.

My piano arrangement on the video was an impromptu endeavor - performed without any rehearsal - and without much thought.

Almost everything I do is without much thought.
It's scary.

                Cheers, Jon

Video best watched full-screen

ODE TO SPRING

 

 These erratic changes in temperature have impeded my enthusiasm for the upcoming first day of spring.. It's 70 degrees one day (Fahrenheit) and 40 the next. Frost is predicted for tonight.
I can't handle radical temperature fluctuations.

Today was very chilly and windy and I was tempted to crawl into bed and hibernate.
Instead, I forced myself to think sunny thoughts and made a springtime video. 

It's very short - just a minute and a half - but I tried to incorporate some glimpses of spring: flowers, chicks, bunnies...
The music is by Mendelssohn, piano interpretation by me.

If that isn't enough to infuse springtime warmth into your heart, I'm also offering my performance of Rustle of Spring by Christian Sinding (1856 - 1941).

 

 

I've posted this video several previous times, but just pretend like you haven't seen it and try to feign admiration and astonishment. I recorded this in Texas during the summer when it was 110 degrees.
(the audio is loud on this, you'll have to tone it down)

Welcome to spring!

Videos best viewed full-screen

ANGEL FOOD

 

 

 Every once in a rare while I'm pleasantly surprised. The other night I found some piano tapes that I didn't remember recording. I had completely forgotten about the Angel Food Rag and was delighted to hear it again.

So (of course) I decided to make it into a video. The BIG problem was - what the heck kind of visuals can I use for the subject of angel food?

I initially tried an angel theme, but it bombed Big Time. Angels and heavenly vestals don't exactly go with ragtime music - so I incorporated the tried-and-true theme of cartoon animals. I think it worked out reasonably well.

The Angel Food Rag was written by Al Marzian. Biographical information about this composer is very scarce, but I found out a few things.

Al Marzian

Albert Frederick Marzian (1875 - 1947) was born in Russia but his parents were German. The family moved to America when he was thirteen.

Albert and his brother Alfred (a professional cellist) were involved with the Louisville Symphony Orchestra in Kentucky, and Albert eventually became conductor there.

Albert later ran a music store in Albany, Indiana, was part-owner of a music publishing company in Louisville, and was also a conductor and arranger in local musical theater.

Since Al Marzian didn't particularly want to be associated with ragtime music, he used the pseudonym Mark Janza on some of his compositions (such as the Lion Tamer Rag). He also supposedly made some piano rolls under the name Silvio Marzini.

Anyway, I think the Angel Food Rag is a great ragtime composition and it's fun to perform.

Change of subject -

there was a HUGE windstorm here last night, which toppled some nearby trees - - but thankfully none on my property.

video best viewed full screen

WIND, WEATHER, AND WARSAW

  

--

I won't bother to mention that this past week was incredibly bad - during which everything that could go wrong, did go wrong.

I won't mention that I'm completely out of supplies and have to wait until Monday to go to town.  

I will mention that the weather has been horrendous this weekend. The wind was so frighteningly strong this morning that I thought I was back in West Texas.
In Texas, however, I had a house made of bricks - which could courageously withstand the wind.

My Tennessee house is unnervingly flimsy. The Big Bad Wolf could easily blow it down. 
And I feared that some of these gigantic trees would topple over and pulverize me.

A Tornado Watch accompanied the wind, but that didn't bother me. When I lived in the Missouri Ozarks there were Tornado Watches every day (or so it seemed....). Intense apprehension was part of my daily agenda.

Right now, in late afternoon, there is fog, thunder, and torrential rain. The brutal wind has subsided. 
I've decided that I'll probably survive.
Although I might need a rowboat..... 

So, what's this about Warsaw??

I'm talking about the Warsaw Concerto. I love this composition and have performed it publicly more times than any other piece of music.

I also recorded it at least a dozen times. Some of those recordings are now lost, but fortunately a few remain.

The Warsaw Concerto was composed by Richard Addinsell (1904 -1977) and  featured in the 1941 British film Dangerous Moonlight.

It was originally written for piano and orchestra, but the version I play is my own arrangement for piano solo. I still have a few pages of my piano score - - which I wrote when I was in my early 20's.

I made this video recently. After exhausting my limited ideas for visuals, I decided to do an ocean theme.

When I first watched the result of my creative efforts, my first thought was

Holy crap, this is going to make everybody seasick!!

...but then I decided that it wasn't bad after all.
Take some Dramamine - - and watch the video full-screen.

AUTUMN INTERLUDE

During a lucid moment of creativity - sandwiched between a suffocating myriad of problems - I made this music video last night.

It only took about half an hour, but when I finished I discovered that I (somehow) screwed up the synchronization of the audio - so I had to do it all over again. 

Some of you probably heard it before, when I previously posted it on SoundCloud.

Since this is one of my all-time favorite recordings, I decided to rehash it on video. Having absolutely no clue what to use for visuals, I decided to  turn it into an autumnal theme.

This is my piano arrangement of the theme from The Apartment - a 1960 film starring Shirley MacLaine and Jack Lemmon.

The music is composed by Charles Williams (1893-1978). Williams originally wrote this for the 1949 film The Romantic Age and at that time the theme was known by the title Jealous Lover.

Ironically, I've never seen the film The Apartment, but I've always loved the romantic music score.

In an uncharacteristic moment of blatant egotism, I'll admit that my piano arrangement is double-damn good and incredibly difficult. I used to perform it quite often when I lived in California.

Video is best viewed full-screen

REVOLUTIONARY

It's no secret that I sometimes post videos of my piano music in order to astound and enthrall you 
(he says with sarcasm).

Here is my latest YouTube video. I usually post my piano recordings on SoundCloud, because it's a much easier process.
Making a video for my music is always a big pain in the ass. I had to tax my creative abilities for this video. What the heck kind of visuals can I use for Chopin's Revolutionary Etude??

After much thought and deep pondering, I decided to enhance the music with clouds.
Don't ask Why?, because I have no plausible explanation. Perhaps because they look dramatic.

This is Frederic Chopin's (famous) etude for piano in C minor, op.10 no.12 known as the Revolutionary Etude.

Chopin wrote it in 1831 when he was about twenty. It was inspired by the 1831 Russian attack on Warsaw.

When I was a music student in Los Angeles I performed nearly all of Chopin's 24 piano etudes and recorded several of them.

Unfortunately, this performance  of the C minor etude is the only one of my Chopin etude recordings that has survived.

For best visual impact, view video full-screen

My YouTube channel Jayveesonata 

DANGEROUS MOONLIGHT

Dangerous? Moonlight??

Yea. Sometimes it is. Especially when musically speaking. I'll explain later.

It's way after midnight, unusually chilly. In fact, I'm drinking hot tea and was forced to put an extra blanket on the bed. 

Despite the unseasonably cool weather, mockingbirds are making a racket in some nearby trees tonight. I occasionally go out on the back porch and whistle to them. They immediately whistle back - and often imitate the sounds that I make. It's highly entertaining.

Speaking of entertaining.....
that's my smooth transition to another subject

I'm still in the (tedious) process of transferring my old piano recordings to 3mp files. Tonight I found a recording that I really like (for a rare change).

It's my performance of the C# minor piano sonata, op.27 no.2, by Beethoven - - popularly known as the Moonlight Sonata.
Beethoven never called it the Moonlight.
His title was Sonata quasi una fantasia.

The sonata was dubbed "Moonlight" because of the slow, beautifully haunting first movement.

I recorded the entire sonata, but it's well over fifteen minutes long - so I'm only the posting the final (third) movement - which is a fiery presto agitato. It's extremely difficult and (in retrospect) I like my performance and am amazed at my virtuosity.

Beethoven wrote this sonata in 1801 and - pianistically speaking - he was way ahead of his time.

I first performed this sonata publicly in Riverside, California when I was twenty years old. 
This particular recording was made about a decade later when I was thirty. 

It is kind of dangerous to play the third movement of the Moonlight Sonata.

As I was recording this my only goal was not to make a mistake. One false move and you're dead.

GOOD GRAVY

A cool, rainy weekend - much more like autumn than spring. 

I scrapped my Mother's Day post, since my intuition told me it was too saccharine and sentimental. My most popular blog posts are always the inane, mindless, embarrassingly bad ones (like the previous atrocity).

SO -
I sifted through my old piano recordings and found some benign, (non-classical!) ragtime music.

I also found some nonsensical vintage photographs to haphazardly accompany the music.

I slapped the video together in less than twenty minutes and breathed a satisfied sigh of relief - - until I discovered (with horror) that

1. I misspelled a word on the title
and
2. MovieMaker (as usual) messed up
my mp3 music file - so I had to convert the damn thing to a WAVE file......and start all over again.

ANYWAY

here is the Good Gravy Rag, written in 1913 by Harry Barnard Belding (1882 - 1931)
performed by moi.



As always, video is best viewed full-screen

SPRING IS HERE

I've decided to celebrate the first day of spring by inflicting some springtime music upon you.

Rustle of Spring (Fruhlingsrauschen) op.32
by Norwegian composer Christian Sinding (1856 - 1941)

Sinding maintained that the constant motion of this piano piece is symbolic of the restlessness of spring.

I think that it depicts a breeze rustling through the trees.

This is a unedited, unrefined rehearsal tape that I made when I lived in Texas.

Welcome to spring, mes amis.

Jon 

PATHETIQUE

Run for your lives!
You're going to be inflicted with another piano tape.

Whenever I'm depressed and burdened with a myriad of seemingly unresolvable problems - - whenever I don't feel like writing a cutesy, upbeat blog post - - I resort to posting my piano music. 

I'm sure it bores the hell out of some people, but it inevitably lifts my spirits by reminding me of the person I used to be. 

Yesterday, while sorting through the hopeless pile of junk that's in the garage, I found - among my mother's possessions - one of my old piano tapes. This surprised me because I didn't remember the tape. I must have given it to my Mom long ago and then forgot about it.

According to the label on the tape, I recorded it in Anaheim, CA, 1983. 
It's the complete piano sonata #8 in C minor, op. 13 by Ludwig van Beethoven - known as the "Pathetique".

Beethoven never called it "Pathetique", but his music publisher added the word on the title for dramatic effect.

Beethoven wrote this sonata in 1798 when he was 27. Upon listening to it last night, I was struck by how vastly ahead of his time Beethoven was.
The intense passion and technical difficulty of this work was previously unheard of in the 1700's. It's completely astounding (not to mention the fact that he was already going deaf at that time).

Okay, I'll admit it -
I'm also impressed at how well I performed it, considering that it's one of my very early recordings. Through the years I've recorded the Pathetique Sonata at least six times, but this is my earliest known recording of it.

Last night I transferred my tape to an Mp3 file (via Audacity) and today I uploaded it to my SoundCloud account (took me twenty minutes to figure out what my password was for SoundCloud).

Since the sonata is very long, I've only posted the first movement here:
Grave - Allegro di molto e Con Brio.