A beautiful moment of audio-visual art from Spanish computer-graphics wizard Alex Roman

I'm impressed with any artist who can combine images and music in a way that they complement each other -- live or recorded.

Spanish computer-graphics artist Alex Roman has been posting his highly polished work to Vimeo. This month, he uploaded a gorgeous short film, The Third & The Seventh, which animates still photography. Roman is responsible for everything you see and hear.

The title of Roman's film is inspired by German philosopher G.W.F. Hegel's Lectures on Aesthetics. Here is all you need to know, thanks to concise-minded, clear-headed contributor, Stephen Houlgate, of the Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy, who has magically boiled Hegel's complex thinking down to this pertinent paragraph:

The principal aim of art is not, therefore, to imitate nature, to decorate our surroundings, to prompt us to engage in moral or political action, or to shock us out of our complacency. It is to allow us to contemplate and enjoy created images of our own spiritual freedom—images that are beautiful precisely because they give expression to our freedom. Art's purpose, in other words, is to enable us to bring to mind the truth about ourselves, and so to become aware of who we truly are. Art is there not just for art's sake, but for beauty's sake, that is, for the sake of a distinctively sensuous form of human self-expression and self-understanding.

Now to The Third & The Seventh, a beautiful, meditative, Sunday moment.

The Third & The Seventh from Alex Roman on Vimeo.

Some orchestral pieces are heard over and over and over again, blogger discovers in check of Toronto Symphony programmes

Young horn player-about-town Jason Austin has sat down with Toronto Symphony Orchestra programmes dating back to 2000 to see which pieces are played most often.

He published the initial findings on his blog yesterday, and they make for interesting reading for anyone who has a sneaking suspicion that certain works are played a bit too much. Austin doesn't make any judgements, though. He merely lays out the titles, so we can draw our own conclusions.

For example, the Tchaikovsky Violin Concerto is lovely, but there are many others we could listen to, instead. But the pull of the familiar -- in every part of our lives -- usually overrides our spirit of adventure.

Before you turn to Horn Logic, Austin's blog, make a mental list of which symphonies and concertos you think you've heard too often. 

Robert Schumann's barely known violin concerto

I can understand soloists and music directors neglecting new music and pieces by forgotten composers, because the marketing people will have a hard time selling tickets. But I can't understand musicians not taking a chance on something by a respected name.

Robert Schumann's Violin Concerto is a case in point. Have you heard it? Have you ever heard of it?

This piece has a fascinating history that's better than any piece of fiction. In short, if what I've read is true, Schumann wrote the piece for Joseph Joachim, who put it away, thinking that the music was a product of the composer's late-life madness, leaving instructions that, if found, it not be played until 100 years after Schumann's death. At a séance in the 1930s, two grand-nieces of Joachim's were visited by Schumann's spirit, which told them about the concerto. This led to its eventual Berlin premiere in 1937 (I guess the spirit's instructions overrode Joachim's wish that people wait until 1956.)

Here is Romanian violinist Liviu Prunaru (currently concertmaster at the Royal Concergebouw Orchestra) performing Schumann's concerto at the Athenaeum in Bucharest in 2006. I love the second movement (video 2a) the best.

Finding Enlightenment in a Roundhouse: English orchestra leader Vladimir Jurowski tries to connect with cool in alternative venues

Yesterday BBC 4 ran an interesting, wide-ranging interview with Vladimir Jurowski, music director of the period-instrument Orchestra of the Age of Enlightenment, along with violinists Maggie Falutless and Matthew Truscott, in advance of tonight's concert at the Roundhouse, Camden, which brings Beethoven's Seventh and the Coriolan Overture to an unlikely venue.

Apple iPad and its ilk: Their appeal is in the Power of Convenience, not in the increasingly elusive allure of quality

I feel I need to follow-up on my enthusiastic prediction about Apple's iPad sounding the end of printed sheet music.

I was so keen to post that I didn't put down all the thinking behind my prediction. To make my thought process as concise as possible, I'm giving credit for my prediction to something I'll call the Power of Convenience -- a powerful force that acts as a kind of impetus towards the lowest common denominator. The result is we embrace products and practices that don't represent the highest-quality way to satisfy a need or a want, but the easiest, most convenient way to get there in our busy lives.

The iPad is the latest consumer manifestation of the Power of Convenience. (I'm sure there is a scientific mind out there who has plotted a neat little graph that shows convenience on one axis, and quality on another, with a clean arc showing the inverse influence between the two.)

Do I like it? It doesn't matter. It's a force greater than any individual -- contrary-minded or not.

Take the iPod and MP3 players. They don't deliver the best sound, but it's good enough for most listeners. Audiphiles recoil in horror, but we're now long past the high-fidelity era and are into the quick-fidelity age.

Newsfeeds. You're not going to get a broad sense of the day's events from your favourite newsfeed. You'll get information on specific topics only. People who believe in a well-informed citizenry recoil in horror, but we're past the mass-media era and are into a personal-media age.

Microwave meals. Forget flavour; this is all about needing to have a meal ready in 5 minutes or less. We know it's not as nutricious or as tasty as a scratch meal could be. But who has the time? Our two food editors at the Star have to add extra explanations in their recipes now. Fewer people cook from scratch, so fewer people know what searing a roast means. Proofing bread dough? You've got to be kidding.

It's the same with our consumption of information and entertainment. Why should I maintain a separate TV, desktop computer, laptop, PDA and MP3 player if one device -- one I can slip into a shoulder bag -- offers all of the above. It may not do any individual task better than a dedicated device, but the convenience factor outweighs the quest for quality.

A couple of readers sent notes referring to other products, such as the Archos 9 -- a Windows-based small tablet -- which is not yet available here. When it and all the other machines with similar size and functionality arrive, the dedicated electronic book readers, personal gaming devices, netbooks and perhaps even a great many laptops will be toast.

That includes dedicated sheet-music readers.

There are sheet music options for larger tablet machines. Two, in particular, have features that have a lot of value for professional musicians. One of those, Music Pad, uses a dedicated tablet, which makes me wonder how it's going to survive beyond the next five years. MusicReader is software you download to your own machine. Both do wonderful things, like letting the musician makes notes on the score. (Click on the images below, if you want more retails.)

But do you seriously doubt that Apple won't have an app for this within the next 18 months?

 

 

British star composer Thomas Adès' violin concerto Concentric Paths gets Canadian premiere tonight in Toronto

 Guardian photo

Much talked-about 38-year-old British composer Thomas Adès is getting a Toronto moment this week, thanks to the Toronto Symphony Orchestra and guest violinist Leila Josefowitz and guest conductor Thomas Gaffigan.

Tonight and Saturday, they present the Canadian premiere of Adès' Concentric Paths, a violin concerto co-commissioned in 2005 by the Los Angeles Philharmonic and Berlin Festspiele. Thomas Marwood had the honour of performing the world premiere.

Adès' strongest recognition has come for his second opera, The Tempest, which had its premiere at Covent Garden in 2004, and has had several revivals, including one in Frankfurt earlier this month, conducted by Canadian Opera Company music director Johannes Debus.

Adès' music is clever and he appreciates the traditional sound of each instrument, but I have yet to become a fan. However, I am trying hard to keep an open mind.

Here, to help me hear Concentric Paths once more time -- and to give you a taste of what it sounds like, is Marwood with the City of Birmingham Symphony, conducted by Adès:

Just you watch, iPad is going to usher out the sheet-music era in favour of on-screen reading

 

Apple's new iPad is like a giant iPhone -- and with the size comes the one ability that no other electronic device has been able to master: showing and turning pages of sheet music as cleanly, clearly, legibly and smoothly as old-fashioned ink on paper.

Why should I keep my shelves filled with stacks and stacks of scores -- that constantly get shuffled out of order, because I never have the time or patience to carefully place them back where they should be -- when I can have quick, electronic access?

I've tried doing it with my laptop, but it's incredibly clumsy to read off the screen and scroll pages at the piano. My iPhone's screen is just too small.

So, I, for one, just can't wait.

And, no, I'm not a paid spokesperson for Apple.

FOLLOW-UP:

Thanks for the comments, guys. I know there has been technology out there for several years that does what the iPad promises. But it's been used by professional musicians only, because of cost. I think the iPad is going to be the device that takes electronic sheet music into the mainstream -- especially given the price.

Latest research shows musical improvisers' brains switch into different mode and that peer opinion affects our own judgements on music

Two issues that keep intriguing me are addressed in an article in the current edition of Miller-McCune: the mindset of the improvising musician, and the effect of peer opinion on one's own perceptions and judgements on the quality of music.

Improvising

I had a chance to ask pianist Gabriella Montero -- who has made her career on fabulous improvising skills -- how she was able to produce sophisticated improvisations at a speed faster than conscious thought. She said that she can only do it by going into a sort of trance, where her conscious mind is switched off, and she can begin to channel a creative surge.

She also pointed out that an essential ingredient is good technique. If her fingers can't move at the speed of her brain's instructions, the effort wouldn't work.

As a church organist in a liturgical setting, I'm called on to improvise musical "bridges" as the priest and accolytes move around during mass, or while the greets finish up and bring forward the collection, and I find that, the more I try to think about whatever improvisation I'm trying to make, the more muddled the final result. I also have to admit that my technique leaves a lot to be desired. I can "hear" all kinds of gorgeous musical figures in my head that my fingers and feet simply can't respond to quickly enough.

The article in Miller-McCune draws on a recent scientific study that confirms that improvisers switch off the conscious side of the brain.

For the improvisation study, researchers Aaron Berkowitz and Daniel Ansaris studied the brains of 28 people as they improvised five-note melodies on a tiny keyboard. Thirteen were classically trained undergraduate pianists from the Dartmouth College music department. The other 15 were nonmusicians (though some had played instruments for up to three years in the past).

"The two groups showed significant differences in functional brain activity during improvisation," the researchers report. "Specifically, musicians deactivated the right temporoparietal junction during melodic improvisation, while nonmusicians showed no change in activity in this region."

This suggests trained musicians "are entering a different state of attentional focus than nonmusicians as soon as they engage in even the simple act of playing, and that this effect is particularly heightened during melodic improvisation," Berkowitz and Ansari write.

In other words, they effectively blocked out mental distractions, "allowing for a more goal-directed performance state that aids in creative thought."

That ability to intensely focus has a variety of obvious benefits. Indeed, this study could be used as further evidence of the value of maintaining music education in the schools.

Peer pressure on music perception

In short, some recent research confirms that, if teenagers see that their peers like a piece of music, they will be more inclined to like it, too.

Why would knowing other people's opinions influence their own? "fMRI results showed a strong correlation between the participants' rating and activity in the caudate nucleus, a region [of the brain] previously implicated in reward-driven actions," according to the paper. "The tendency to change one's evaluation of a song was positively correlated with activation in the anterior insula and anterior cingulate, two regions that are associated with psychological arousal and negative affective states."

The researchers' conclusion: "Our results suggest that a principal mechanism whereby popularity ratings affect consumer choice is through the anxiety generated by the mismatch between one's own preferences and the others'. This mismatch anxiety motivates people to switch their choices in the direction of the consensus."

As a full-time critic, it's something I've suspected for a long time -- except that I think it's true of all ages, not just teens.

For the full article, click here.

In case you're not familiar with Gabriella Montero's keyboard magic, here she is at a recital in Cologne in 2007, taking on the Aria from J.S. Bach's Goldberg Variations:

DVD Review: Deep artistry trumps vocal shimmer in Edita Gruberova's stunning Lucrezia Borgia

There was no room in today's Star for an opera DVD review, so here it is:

Lucrezia Borgia

**** (out of 4) (Medici Arts)

Four stars for a production of a bel canto opera featuring a 60-year-old singer? Am I crazy?

If there was ever an example of age and experience trumping youth and beauty, here it is, in the person of the great Slovak soprano Edita Gruberova. Her voice has lost its shimmer, but she quickly makes us completely forget that fact.

This a thoroughly gripping production of Gaetano Donizetti’s 1833 melodrama featuring legendary aristocratic poisoner Lucrezia Borgia confronting her deepest maternal instincts when her long-lost son Gennaro shows up at the door.

In true operatic fashion, the encounter quickly becomes tangled in deceit and misunderstanding. Lucrezia’s husband thinks she is having an affair with the young man. The mother is not sure how to acknowledge the son. In the end, he is poisoned by the hand that gave him birth.

The title role is dramatically meaty and vocally daunting. Gruberova marshalls every tool in her massive artistic arsenal to sing and portray Lucrezia in her full glory and pathos in Christof Loy’s elegantly straightforward, modern-dress production by the Bavarian State Opera, recorded last summer in Munich.

The rest of the cast, including Pavo Breslik as Gennaro, does an excellent job. Conductor Bertrand de Billy teases every emotional nuance out of the rich score. The Bavarian State Orchestra is excellent.

There is a companion DVD featuring a 55-minute documentary called The Art of Bel Canto, which is really a profile of Gruberova.  It is very nicely done, contrasting her public and private lives with a lot of finesse.

“I’m beginning to wonder if I should still be singing an 18-year-old Lucia?” asks the now-63-year-old Gruberova, at one point. The answer is that opera companies are still asking her to sing. This production of Lucrezia Borgia shows us why.

For full album details, click on the DVD image, above.

Here is "Com'è bello! Quale incanto" from the Prologue. (If you're interested in the companion documentary, much of it can be pieced together with YouTube clips):

Great American pianist Earl Wild dies at 94

Great American pianist Earl Wild died Saturday, aged 94, from congestive heart failure. Allan Kozinn has written a nice obituary in The New York Times.

When I was growing up, Wild was my main audio reference on Franz Liszt. The playing was fluid, broad, elegant and robustly expressive. Here is Wild, likely from about 15 years ago, tackling "Les jeux d'eau à la Villa d'Eeste," from Liszt's Années de pélerinage.

200th anniversaries of Chopin and Schumann a good opportunity to note their mutual love of J.S. Bach

 

Anthony Tommasini, the chief classical music critic at The New York Times, wrote an interesting article on Frédéric Chopin and Robert Schumann yesterday, doing an easy-to-read compare-and-contrast between the two Romantics' music and temperaments.

The article is a prelude to the many, many live and recorded programmes we're going to get this year to mark the 200th anniversary of these composers' births -- Feb. 22 for Chopin, June 8 for Schumann.

The manuscript page, above, comes from a collection at the Morgan Library and Museum that Tommasini looked at. On this page, part of Chopin's sketches of variations on "Là ci darem la mano" from Mozart's opera Don Giovanni, the composer has doodled a character who could very well be Mozart.

What comes through so clearly in Tommasini's article is how well grounded -- and interested -- Chopin and Schumann were in the counterpoint of J.S. Bach.

I thought I'd try to find a musical point of comparison that would illustrate Tommasini's point. Fortunately, there is one posthumously-published fugue of Chopin's kicking around -- a frantically mad affair in A minor. The first clip is of Vladimir Ashkenazy performing it (I don't know when). Schumann wrote many fugues (including a masterful set of fugal pieces for organ on B-A-C-H). The second video is of Sviatoslav Richter playing Schumann's elegant and inventive Fugue in D minor, Op. 72, no. 1, in 1956: