tommorrow is 11/11

[pianistimo]

yes.  tommorrow is that date of which i hope everyone who plays and attends ahinton's concert will be in good form.  i really do wish i could have come.  duty called.  but, i send best wishes to all!

hope jonathan powell sleeps well tonight.  ahahahhhahahaahhaahhaah.  just an inside joke.  ok.  i'll explain.  does anyone ever sleep well the night before?  i mean - usually up at 3 am or practicing until then, right?  so you get this 1/2 day of sleep and then - a sudden 'revival.'  i'm sort of curious how he handles the day before.  anyone care to ask this highly personal question for me? 

once i asked my teacher.  he said he hadn't slept at all the night before one concer t- but i think it was due to a deadline on some paperwork that the school gave (and here, i thought he was practicing all night). 

second question:  how long do most performers 'warm up' - typically - right before the concert.  i mean -you don't want to run out of finger dexterity or have an accident.  an hour at the most? 

[le_poete_mourant]

11/11 is my girlfriend's birthday as well. 

[lau]

wow: Last year on 11/11 a person i knew killed himself, though i didn't know him all that well. I played amazing grace at the funeral, while my cousin played along on the violin. Anyway, before that happened i kept seeing 11:11 on the clock almost everyday it seemed like. My mom said maybe something would happen on 11/11.....coincidence?

what is in store for tommorow? cuz the 11:11 on the clock hasn't stopped.

[prometheus]

I am sure the clock displays '11:11' one or twice a day (depening on if you use AM/PM or 24 hours) before and after the unfortunate event.

[pianowolfi]

I'm unfortunately pretty superstitious. On my recent bicycle tour I climbed a mountain of 1400 meters in altitude. Just at the point when i passed 666 meters i coincidentally looked at my altimeter. Then i was riding down at the other side. WHAT? Again I looked down exactly when this weird number appeared which i can't stand! Again 666. I was flabbergasted.

But aside from all repdigits I'd like to wish Jonathan Powell and Alistair Hinton good luck!

[lau]

I am sure the clock displays '11:11' one or twice a day (depening on if you use AM/PM or 24 hours) before and after the unfortunate event.

of course it's displayed twice a day, but what are the odds of me seeing it. I don't look at the clock much either

[ahinton]

Thank you!

Best,

Alistair

[pianolist]

Just a quickie for those on the Eastern Seaboard waiting up for news from the front. Your reporter arrived home about ten minutes ago and is currently uploading his digital camera. An illustrated report should be ready in half an hour or so. Regrettably no-one was wearing tam o'shanters.

IT WAS A TERRIFIC CONCERT !!!

[pianistimo]

sorry i missed it!  glad to hear it went very well!  cheers!

[pianolist]

Pianolist has been making piano rolls for several days, leaving him no time for engaging in the sort of pleasatry at which Piano Street is so effective. However, he and Mrs Pianolist tore themselves away from domestic and musical chores and ventured as far as Waterloo.

Here is the concert hall which they attended, known as the Warehouse. It's a Steinway 'D' in the background, with the page turner/recording engineer sitting at its feet.

Here is the cover of the concert programme, with copious programme notes written in very clear English.

Jonathan Powell gave thoughtful performances of the Chopin and Beethoven, but his tour de force was the world premiere of the Sequentia Claviensis by the ever-youthful Scottish composer and Piano Street correspondent, ahinton. Pianolist would like to hear this again, not because he is in any doubt of its worth, but simply to grow to know it well. It is a fine, dramatic work for piano, lasting well over one hour. Because Pianostreeters are all so kind to each other, you probably won't believe my praise, but it was a really wonderful concert.

Afterwards a few members of the audience retired to Pizza Express, along with the evening's performer and composer. Here are ahinton and Jonathan Powell, followed by ahinton and Pianolist. It is now very late, so any further reporting can wait until later!

[pianistimo]

this was so kind of you to do, pianolist!  i'm sure alistair is exhausted by now - and probably comfortably sleeping.  nice to see what he looks like - a charming composer as we knew - and also what jonathon powell looks like.

[ahinton]

Just a quickie for those on the Eastern Seaboard waiting up for news from the front. Your reporter arrived home about ten minutes ago and is currently uploading his digital camera. An illustrated report should be ready in half an hour or so. Regrettably no-one was wearing tam o'shanters.

IT WAS A TERRIFIC CONCERT !!!

Very many thanks for your most kind words and for your news reporting - the only problem (except, I'm sure, in the case of my own) is that, for some reason, I cannot see the photos you have posted here!

Best,

Alistair

[mephisto]

I see that Sorabji hasn't influenced the structure of Hinton's compositions at all.

[nicco]

Hmm i see no pictures of thal...wasnt he supposed to be there?

[ada]

So glad it went well  for you

[ahinton]

I see that Sorabji hasn't influenced the structure of Hinton's compositions at all.

Nice try! Well, if you were to read the other pages of this programme, you would discover that this particular piece was deliberately written in homage to Sorabji (which is not the case with anything else that I've ever written, other than a very small birthday gift to him in 1977), so the layout here is very much structured with that purpose in mind; in that specific regard, it is atypical of most of my other works, except, perhaps my organ piece Pansophiæ for John Ogdon which, similarly, is written in memory of the great pianist and, since my particular personal memories of him are - inevitably - closely and inextricably bound up with his recording of Sorabji's OC, it, too, has some structural aspects which may be though of as Busonian / Sorabjian.

But to return briefly to Sequentia Claviensis, you, "mephisto", might have a special interest in the background to its last movement, as well as one variation in the Passacaglia which superimposes the motto theme F-A-U-S-T over the passacaglia theme (this F-A-U-S-T motto appears nowhere else in the work until it returns, just once, in the Coda-Stretta that follows the triple fugue and brings the whole piece towards its close).

Best,

Alistair

[ahinton]

Very many thanks for your most kind words and for your news reporting - the only problem (except, I'm sure, in the case of my own) is that, for some reason, I cannot see the photos you have posted here!

Correction! I can see the photos now!

Best,

Alistair

[mephisto]

Nice try! Well, if you were to read the other pages of this programme, you would discover that this particular piece was deliberately written in homage to Sorabji (which is not the case with anything else that I've ever written, other than a very small birthday gift to him in 1977), so the layout here is very much structured with that purpose in mind; in that specific regard, it is atypical of most of my other works, except, perhaps my organ piece Pansophiæ for John Ogdon which, similarly, is written in memory of the great pianist and, since my particular personal memories of him are - inevitably - closely and inextricably bound up with his recording of Sorabji's OC, it, too, has some structural aspects which may be though of as Busonian / Sorabjian.

But to return briefly to Sequentia Claviensis, you, "mephisto", might have a special interest in the background to its last movement, as well as one variation in the Passacaglia which superimposes the motto theme F-A-U-S-T over the passacaglia theme (this F-A-U-S-T motto appears nowhere else in the work until it returns, just once, in the Coda-Stretta that follows the triple fugue and brings the whole piece towards its close).

Best,

Alistair

I was of course only kidding, and it is nothing wrong with influence(remember both Stravinsky and Sarabji)

What is the F-A-U-S-T theme(is it a theme like B-A-C-H or...) And you was is correct in writing that I am intereste in those type of things in music. Being a huge fan of Liszt, Scriabin and Prokofiev among others.

Just a last question, what exactly is a triple-fugue? I know what a fugue is(I have played some), but triple doesn't refeer to the voices but rather the themes(but what themes?)

[ahinton]

Hmm i see no pictures of thal...wasnt he supposed to be there?

Many members of the audience were not, of course, included in the photographs posted by "pianolist" (the first of which would have been taken either some time before the recital commenced or during the interval - I'm not sure which) but, although I do not know what "Thal" looks like (unless the photo in the "BNP" thread" is a genuine one of him), I do not think that he was present; the various posts to other threads in this forum that he made during the time that the concert was taking place would seem further to suggest that he was not in fact in attendance there.

Best,

Alistair

[ahinton]

So glad it went well  for you

Very many thanks!

Best,

Alistair

[ahinton]

I was of course only kidding

Yes, I know! Not a problem for me!

What is the F-A-U-S-T theme(is it a theme like B-A-C-H or...)

Yes, it is just such a motto and is made up of the notes F, A, C, E flat and B natural, the last two being taken respectively from the German spelling "es" (representing E flat) and the seventh degree from tonic sol-fa.

Just a last question, what exactly is a triple-fugue? I know what a fugue is(I have played some), but triple doesn't refeer to the voices but rather the themes(but what themes?)

It is a piece in three consecutive fugal sections, each fugual section having its own invidivual subject and countersubject, so your assumption is correct that the term "triple" in this context does not refer to the number of voices.

Best,

Alistair

[mephisto]

Thanks for the info.

[pianolist]

We have German friends coming to stay, so we have both been clearing the house, and this is my first opportunity to post.

Alistair's concert (and Jonathan Powell's, too!) was essentially a London affair, of course, but it did confirm in my mind one of the best reasons for Piano Street's existence. We are a group of friends, a wonderful discovery for me, and in the face of so much aggression in the world, it is uplifting to observe Alistair receiving support from all around the world.

The audience was a very interesting one, in that several other British composers were there, and because the world of piano music is quite small, Mrs Pianolist and I walked through the entrance and were confronted by two good friends of ours, who turned out to be good friends of Ahinton too.

I am no professional critic, and those who are interested will be able to read Martin Anderson's review in Tempo in due course. But I do think that Sequentia Claviensis is a remarkable work: sincere, technically challenging, and both intellectually and emotionally rewarding. It ought to be an important part of contemporary piano repertoire, though the best music and the best pianists are frequently not the best known.

Piano Street is a virtual community, and I suppose one cannot know everything about those who post. But I can say that my virtual friendship with Ahinton has taken its first step towards becoming a real friendship with Alistair Hinton, and that makes me very content. I have a feeling it would be a similar matter with other posters to the threads I inhabit.