Preparations for Armistice Day

[pianolist]

November 11th will soon be upon us, and, like all good Boy Scouts at the Cenotaph, we need to Be Prepared. I'd be interested to know how other Piano Street members intend to prepare themselves for this special day.

Prayer? Alcohol? Study scores? Anti-depressants? Sticks of rock with "Foula" printed all the way through?

[ahinton]

November 11th will soon be upon us, and, like all good Boy Scouts at the Cenotaph, we need to Be Prepared. I'd be interested to know how other Piano Street members intend to prepare themselves for this special day.

Prayer? Alcohol? Study scores? Anti-depressants? Sticks of rock with "Foula" printed all the way through?

Well, some of us here know you you will be preparing for it, do we not?! And your reference to "Sticks of rock with "Foula" printed all the way through" is likewise indicative of someone else who participates here frequently and often most amusingly but who may be bringing such sticks with him to the event for which you are preparing yourself rather than staying on that particular island on that day. as to the rest - well
1. "Prayer" should not be necessary for that event (although it might still nevertheless come in useful), since "pianostimo" has already declared that her absence therefrom has sadly been enforced by family circumstance.
2. Consumption of "Alcohol" will not be permitted during the performance and, in any case, certain of us may with some good reason hope that even better effects that it can offer will be provided by the three composers on duty on that occasion.
3. The use of "Study scores" is discouraged as it may - or perhaps will - distract the pianist (who won't want to see lots of pages being turned at once when he is concentrating so hard) and who could possibly need "Anti-depressants" when Chopin and Beethoven are there instead? (and don't you DARE to answer "anyone who stays for the second half!)...

And - if anyone without a legitimate complimentary tries to get in without paying for his/her ticket - well, in the going down of The Sun and the review that almost certainly won't appear in The Times, "WE WILL REMEMBER THEM!"...

Best,

Alistair

[pianistimo]

in the usa, it is callled veterans day.  the ending of WWI and II - and the signing of the peace treaties.  but, we still have war - so what to do?  celebrate peace at the same time?  i guess so.  the many who have died have many more that have followed them.  so many young boys and now girls, too.

wouldn't it be nice to be able to rid the world of land mines.  that's another killer.  why celebrate a day that is so impotent.  go out and do something!  make peace!  although detonating land mines is sort of a risky business.

ps i'm all for music solving most of the world's problems.  if musicians can get along and work together in composing, performing, and enjoying each other's company - why can't the world?

[wishful thinker]

in the usa, it is callled veterans day.  the ending of WWI and II - and the signing of the peace treaties. 

There was no peace treaty at the end of World War II.  Japan surrendered, but Germany never did, and there was no treaty.  Technically, Britain is still at war with Germany!   

[pianolist]

However, at Versailles, the Polish supremo, one Ignacy Jan Paderewski, gave three speeches of one hour each, in English, French and Polish respectively, all without notes. He was a clever old sod, but there's something more succinct about Rachmaninov's playing!

All this talk of treaties begs my original question, which has more to do with entreaties to attend, a compositional treatise on the contemporary piano, or even Dutch treaties during the interval. But I suppose I can hardly complain about threads finding a life of their own, now can I?

[wishful thinker]

Treaties ? Cheesy nibbles ? 

I know not whether I can compose myself 

[ahinton]

ps i'm all for music solving most of the world's problems.  if musicians can get along and work together in composing, performing, and enjoying each other's company - why can't the world?

I do not believe that music itself can actively "solve" any of the kinds of problem to which you draw attention, but what it can do (as doubtelss you realise) is act as a kind of catalyst for putting certain matters into a kind of perspective, as amply illustrated and exemplified by Daniel Barenboim's West-East Divan Orchestra in which it is not unknown for the young Arabs who join forces with the young Israelis to play Wagner - a heady combination that many might have considered as double suicide not so long ago. Barenboim is a Jew, of course, yet he has been unafraid to speak out against certain actions of the Israeli government and seems genuinely to be trying to maintain this ensemble as one that is above politics, just as is the music that it plays, while at the same time demonstrating that, when these young musicians rehearse and perform together, frantic war-mongering between Israelis and Arabs is simply nowhere to be seen - as though the players have somehow "wiped it off the map". Perhaps Irán's premier Ahmadinejad - who has less than a year ago presided over the reimposition of a veto on all public and private performance, broadcast and even study of Western "classical" music in his country - might do well to attend one of that orchestra's concerts rather than expressing his rabid public desire to wipe one half of that orchestra off the map, along with all its compatriots...

Best,

Alistair