A couple of weeks ago I published on my Youtube-channel a documentary - divided in three parts - on Valentina Lisitsa’s Rachmaninoff recording project in London.
London, December 2009: me and Val at the end of a joyful day of stunning recording sessions.
Valentina’s Rachmaninoff project - bound for release on cd around September 2010 - concerns the recording of piano concerti 1 to 4 (already finished), the Paganini Variations and probably a few pieces for piano solo. The documentary focuses on the first phase of the project, the recording of piano concertos 1 and 2. Interviews with Valentina Lisitsa, conductor Michael Francis and producer Michael Fine are alternated with impressions of the recording sessions.
Here’s my Youtube video-portrait of piano genius Valentina Lisitsa, based on an interview I had with her in London, April 2009. I’m sure all Valentina’s fans will be interested to hear her talking on her music and career and for those who don’t know her yet -it seems there are still many music lovers out there who haven’t been introduced to her music- I think Valentina might well be an unexpected surprise, a musical gem they’ll no doubt like to hear from now on. Check out the video!
An exceptionally gifted young musician is Carnatic violinist Athira Krishna, born in Trivandrum in Kerala. I know about her since 2007 after I found a clip of her published on Youtube on which I responded with enthusiasm and admiration.
I was more than pleased to find three recently published video’s of this prodigious young Carnatic playing violinist, who has won a lot of prestigious awards already and is widely recognized as one of India’s most gifted young musicians.
As far as I know she has played in Europe only in Germany so far. This really should change. She’s an incredible talent and I’m sure audiences in Holland (and other European countries) would love to hear her. Anyway, I, for one, will keep on namedropping her for sure
Here’s in three video’s -click on the following links- some of her fabulous playing, from a concert recorded on 4 December 2009: Part One - Part Two - Part Three.
On Friday 31 July 2009, from 21.00 to 22.30 PM (dutch time), Gharana - my Concertzender programme on raga musicians and their performing tradition - features singer T.M. Krishna (b.1976) from Chennai (formerly Madras), one of the young top performers in carnatic -or South Indian- raga music. He’s known for his glowing voice and Read the rest of this entry »
Sad news, a pillar of Indian Classical Music has fallen… Ali Akbar Khan passed away on Friday 19 June 2009. The one time I heard him live in the Mozes en Aäronkerk in Amsterdam in the eighties was an overwhelming experience, an unforgettable concert. Fortunately we can all access more than fifty years of good recordings of this no longer living legend.
There’s a lot of video footage of him too, for instance watch & listen him playing in a beautiful performance of Raag Brindabani Sarang, a clip that was published on 19 june(!) 2007.
Last saturday, 30 May 2009, BBC Radio 3’s World Routes focused once more on the Darbar South Asian Music Festival 2009 at London’s Southbank Centre, this time highlighting the concert of carnatic star singer Aruna Sairam. I was there too in the Purcell Room in London, it was a fantastic concert! The programme offers large segments of the concert and an interview with Aruna Sairam who explains some of carnatic music’s intricacies. This edition of World Routes is available for ‘on demand’ listening until 6 June 2009. Read more at BBC Radio 3. A must for evryone with an interest in Indian classical music.
On Friday 29 May -from 21.00 to 22.30 PM, dutch time- there’ll be a broadcast of a new episode of Gharana, my programme on Indian classical music for Holland’s finest musicstation, the Concertzender. This time the programme focuses on Chitravina N. Ravikiran (b.1967), a celebrated musician in South Indian carnatic music. He has been labeled ‘the Mozart of India’ by critics. He’s a virtuoso on a lute called the chitravina. It’s the world’s oldest fretless slide instrument still being played. Ravikiran was a prodigy and he became famous already at the age of two Read the rest of this entry »
In April 2009 I visited the Darbar Festival in London. Among the great concerts were those featured on Saturday, 23 May 2009, 15:00 on BBC Radio 3. The BBC Radio 3 programme World Routes brings highlights from Read the rest of this entry »
My copy of Terry Riley’s “Persian Surgery Dervishes”
On the brink of Thursday 14 May (dutch time 00:00-01:00 AM) to Friday 15 May my edition of ‘OpgeHoesd‘ -dutch radiostation Concertzender’s great weekly LP record programme- features a great minimal music ‘cult-classic’ by Terry Riley from 1972: Persian Surgery Dervishes. Fantastic mesmerising music, especially the A-side of the album. More info and a possibillity to listen ‘on demand’ after broadcast you’ll find here (after broadcast a speaker icon there will enable ‘on demand’-listening). Since the music’s hypnotic mood and cyclic repetitive structure clearly refers to the process of breathing and the way of reciting names of God (and the divine) in islamic zikr-ceremonies, I’ve added a recording of a zikr-ceremony of a Naqshbandi Sufi Order from Turkmenistan. Give it a listen and maybe this music will get you tuned into a different mindset, one that will make you wonder and exclaim ‘Thank God it’s friday!’
Me and Valentina after the interview
