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A brief documentary about historic pianos
Watch “In Between,” a documentary by Jakub Piatek, produced by the Fryderyk Chopin Institute, in which great pianists from around the world talk about the experience — and joys — of playing period pianos, and why they matter so much to our understanding of 18th and 19th century music. Historical instruments are the bridge joining the contemporary times and the past, and the moment in which you touch this instrument is a moment frozen in time, the moment “in between.” Featuring Martha Argerich, Maria João Pires, Janusz Olejniczak, Nelson Goerner, Claire Chevallier, Kristian Bezuidenhout, Fabio Biondi, Nikoai Demidenko, Tobias Koch, Stanislaw Leszczynski, Alexei Lubimov, Garrick Ohlsson, Andreas Staier. Click here to watch on YouTube.
Nobuyuki Tsujii International Fans
This website, run by a devoted fan of Nobu’s who’s deeply knowledgeable about classical music, contains links to several documentaries that have been made about Nobu, along with video from his concert appearances, biographical information, and much more. A Twitter account at @mlliu2006 is constantly updated.
To George Sand: A Desire
Read a poem by Elizabeth Barrett Browning, written in 1853, in celebration of “Thou large-brained woman and large-hearted man…”
Bach: 300 by W.E.R. LaFarge
A poem commemorating the 300th birthday of Johann Sebastian Bach, designed by my father to “enter into a rhythm like that heard so often in Bach’s music, to stay in that rhythm long enough to vary & develop it; then, when the possibilities were satisfied, to end rather quickly, without ceremony, as Bach frequently does.” Click here to read.
Hector Berlioz and his modern orchestra
1845 cartoon featuring Hector Berlioz conducting an orchestra that includes myriad horns, percussion and string instruments — and a cannon. By Jean Ignace Isadore Gérard, known as Grandville, it first appeared in 1845 in L’Illustration on November 15, 1845.