Word: pianistics
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...Free: The Nina Simone Story Nina Simone; RCA Legacy; out now In 1956 a nightclub boss told the Juilliard pianist he'd hire her if she'd also sing. Smart idea. As this must-buy-now four-disc career set proves, Simone's reedy, dramatic alto made her a peerless interpreter of Gershwin, Brel, Dylan, the Bee Gees and herself (the scathing Mississippi Goddam). Warning: Contents are emotionally draining. Also life-enhancing...
When the rock 'n' roll pianist and former Ben Folds Five frontman recorded his new solo album, Way to Normal, he knew it would get leaked to the Internet, so he went ahead and did it himself - well, sort of. This summer, Folds released six "fake" songs on the Internet and pretended that they were tracks off his album. The fake songs bore the same titles as tracks on the album, but contained completely different lyrics and music. The real Way to Normal dropped on Sept. 30; the fake versions are available wherever music is freely downloaded. Folds talked...
Even the sturdiest reputations have a way of changing after the death of an artist. At the turn of the century Paderewski was considered a nonpareil concert pianist; in hindsight his slipshod technique and questionable musical taste consign him to a place among the keyboard's lesser lights. Perhaps it is too early to revise the conventional wisdom on Vladimir Horowitz, who up to his death in 1989 was widely regarded as the greatest pianist of the 20th century -- maybe of all time. Still, the release by Sony Classical of a 13-CD set of all the recordings Horowitz made...
...clarinet with such technical brilliance or controlled emotion, and Goodman expected nothing less from his band. Musicians who fell short were subjected to ''the ray.'' ''He'd look over his glasses and stare at you --really nail you down with his eyes,'' remembers Vibraphonist Hampton, a member with Pianist Wilson and Drummer Gene Krupa of the seminal Goodman Quartet, which introduced a chamber-music approach to jazz. ''And all the time he'd be making some of the most difficult passages on his clarinet. He wouldn't stop playing, and he wouldn't stop glaring.'' Goodman's relentless drive...
Talk about dynasties: the Yankees, Canadiens and Celtics have nothing on Ludwig van Beethoven. Since the mid-19th century, Beethoven has been the dominant figure in concert music. Brahms was haunted by him, Bruckner worshiped him, and Wagner was inspired by him. Pianists, string quartets and symphony orchestras perform his music incessantly, and audiences never tire of it. In the nearly 160 years since his death, Beethoven has fended off all contenders to World's Greatest Composer and shows no signs of losing his title. The latest crop of the champ's compact disks: Beethoven: The Five Piano Concertos; Polonaise...