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May 14, 2008
Dancing to the movies
Our first hour is devoted to music designed for dancing, including a dance-friendly "Piano Puzzler" and a slice of Ravel's ballet, "Daphnis and Chloe," from Gustavo Dudamel and the Los Angeles Philharmonic at Disney Hall. And our second hour features music that's played a starring role in such films as "The Red Violin,""The Pianist,""The Piano" and "Amadeus."
Today's Playlist
hour 1 Listen
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Franz Schubert
"The Bee"
Violinist Renaud Capucon and pianist Jerome Ducros
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Peter Tchaikovsky
Valse Sentimentale
Violinist Renaud Capucon and pianist Jerome Ducros
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Carl Maria von Weber
"An Invitation to the Dance"
Flutist Tara Helen O'Connor, clarinetist Todd Palmer, harpist Catrin Finch, bassist Edward Allman and the St. Lawrence String Quartet
Spoleto Chamber Music Festival, Charleston, South Carolina
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Arthur Foote
Sarabande and Rigaudon
Trio Virtuosi
George Bush Conference Center, College Station, Texas
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Astor Piazzolla
"Libertango"
Quartet San Francisco
Yoshi's, San Francisco
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"The Piano Puzzler"
This week's contestant is Jeanette McCormick from Choteau, Montana
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Maurice Ravel
Act Two of the complete ballet music from "Daphnis and Chloe"
The Los Angeles Philharmonic and Pacific Chorale with conductor Gustavo Dudamel
Walt Disney Concert Hall, Los Angeles
hour 2 Listen
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Jonny Greenwood
"Prospectors' Quartet" from "There Will Be Blood"
The Emperor Quartet
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Patrick Doyle
"What Players are They" from "Hamlet"
A studio orchestra with conductor Robert Ziegler
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John Corigliano
Third and fourth movements from "The Red Violin" Concerto
Violinist Joshua Bell with the Baltimore Symphony Orchestra and conductor Marin Alsop
Meyerhoff Symphony Hall, Baltimore
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Frederic Chopin
Nocturne No. 20 in C-sharp Minor, Op. Posthumous
Pianist Mikhail Pletnev
Tonhalle, Zurich, Switzerland
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Michael Nyman
"The Heart Asks Pleasure First"
Pianist Jean-Yves Thibaudet
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Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart
Symphony No. 25 in G Minor, K. 183
The St. Paul Chamber Orchestra with conductor Hans Graf
Ordway Center for the Performing Arts, St. Paul
Another conducting robot...yeah, right.
Posted by Fred Child at 3:19 PM on April 24, 2008
Honda's robot named ASIMO will conduct the Detroit Symphony on May 13th. That's the headline in "news of the odd" around the world today. Perhaps more aptly: the Detroit Symphony has agreed to have a robot stand on the podium and wave its arms in a pre-programmed set of movements while they play some music.
The reason they've agreed to this entertainingly humiliating demostration? That's not making the headlines, but it should. Honda is giving the Detroit Symphony a million dollars to create "The Power of Dreams Music Education Fund." ASIMO may not do any actual conducting, but a million dollars for music education in Detroit? Thank you, Honda!
ASIMO has been around since 1986, and according to the official Honda ASIMO website:
ASIMO can help the blind and the elderly. He can do things that old people can't do for themselves. ASIMO could help the blind cross the street...He could help the elderly by walking up and down steps with them and keeping them company.
But before you rush out to buy an ASIMO to help you walk up and down steps, check out this video of ASIMO taking a tumble. (ASIMO then burbled "I've fallen and I can't get up.") (He didn't really.)
By the way...ASIMO is not the first conducting robot. In 2004, Sony's QRIO (pronounced curio) conducted the Tokyo Symphony in about 90 seconds of Beethoven's 5th. The first violinist in the Tokyo Philharmonic, Eiji Arai, said "We usually adjust our timing by paying attention to the conductor's breathing, but QRIO doesn't breathe, so it was a bit difficult to communicate with it."
I haven't seen any official admission of ASIMO's pre-programmed conducting movements, but Sony was upfront about QRIO in 2004. A joke was even pre-programmed. Right before the performance, QRIO turned to the audience and said "I'm feeling nervous."
Read previous entries | Comment on this postSpecial Features
After a four year search, the Chicago Symphony Orchestra has named Riccardo Muti as its music director. Right after the announcement was made, Fred Child spoke with Steve Lester, bass player for the orchestra and chairman of the Members Committee which selected Muti.
Listen
The legendary piano trio, the Beaux Arts Trio, is on its final U.S. tour. Violinist Daniel Hope is keeping an audio diary along the way. Click to listen to his reflections, backstage jokes and interviews with other musicians, family and friends about the trio.
Visit the feature page
Conflict over slavery, the Pottwatomie massacre, the raid on Harper's Ferry... historic events that create a dramatic setting for a new opera. Listen to composer/librettist Kirke Mechem describe his new opera, John Brown, which will premiere at the Lyric Opera of Kansas City the first weekend of May.
Listen
German pianist Lars Vogt calls Robert Schumann's Piano Concerto the most important of all the great Romantic concertos. He recently performed it with the Minnesota Orchestra but before the concert Brian Newhouse joined him on stage to discuss what makes this concerto great.
Listen
Fred Child co-hosted a live L.A. Philharmonic concert with KUSC's Gail Eichenthal and during intermission they were joined by conductor Gustavo Dudamel, violinist Leila Josefowicz and members of the orchestra.
Visit the feature page
The Piano Puzzler with Bruce Adolphe is now available for download and as a podcast.
Performance Today is supported in part by an award from the National Endowment for the Arts - which believes that a great nation deserves great art - and also by The Huss Foundation, the Mardag Foundation, the Katherine B. Andersen Fund of The Saint Paul Foundation, the Phyllis S. Poehler / Walter E. Stremel Trust, and Emily Anne & Gedney Tuttle, and the Friends of Performance Today: Cy and Paula DeCosse, Connie and Dan Kunin.
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