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Eight out of ten humans wish they could learn piano. I’ll give you the practical steps necessary to learn piano. It’s up to you to carry them out. Learning piano has not one thing to do with your fingers: it’s all in your mind. Resolve to play the piano five minutes a day. Discard any expected values you may have had. Find what your “learning speed limit” is: don’t exceed it or you’ll become fatigued. Look at all the piano methods you can. If it is not IMMEDIATELY understandable to you, discard it and try another piano method until you find one that works for you. Find a piano teacher you like and try piano lessons with them. If you don’t like them, quit and find another. Keep quitting until you find one that suits you. Listen to what you feel: if it feels boring, it is boring. Find a piano teacher that stimulates you, who makes you want to play. Make sure you recognise what style of music you want to play. Don’t say “everything.” Life is too short to learn it all. Buy a simple, inexpensive instrument until you know how you feel in regards to it. Listen to the best pianists playing in the style you want to learn. Listen more. Listen to everything. Develop the habit of unearthing the recordings that make you happy. Listen to the people you want to sound like. Give in to the fact that you have to repeat songs ceaselessly until your hands start out to play them by themselves. Do what I do at times: put a DVD player by the piano, play your bestloved comedies softly, and repeat the song you want to play. The firstborn step is the most important: resolve to play the piano five minutes a day.
69 of 69 people found the following review helpful. The challenges of serving as conductor and soloist are undoubtedly considerable, but Barenboim, performing entirely from memory and without a score, makes it look easy and natural. Even while fully engaged in his role as soloist, Barenboim never loses command of the orchestra. Sometimes his direction is in the momentary freedom of a sweeping gesture of his left hand. At other times it’s the subtlety of his nod or the quickness of his eye. The Staatskapelle is perfectly attuned to these nuances and their playing is always on cue and never hesitant. Among the many highlights: the wonderful exchange between piano and clarinet in the Largo of the first concerto, a thrilling account of the Rondo Vivace in the final movement of the fourth and all the beauty and majesty of the Emperor. The performance was recorded before a live audience during a three-day piano festival in Bochum, Germany in 2007. The concerts took place in the Jahrhunderthalle, which features an architectural design from a converted steel mill. The minimalist interior with high ceiling and exposed steel beams forgoes the traditional elegance that adorns many concert halls (and the stuffy pretence that goes with it). Aesthetically, the Jahrhunderthalle stands as a venue that emphasizes comfort and clean sight lines above all. The sold-out audience is appreciative and respectful of the music. They are often in view, but rarely heard (even between movements) until their applause at the end of each work. They are smartly (if not formally) attired people who know good classical music when they hear it. Some of the performances took place during daylight hours allowing the large rear windows to cast a gorgeous natural light on the audience as well as the performers who are further illuminated by soft stage lighting that highlights the musicians and their instruments where needed and without any harsh shadows. The 1080i Blu-ray image is near flawless. Skin tones are natural and appealing. The color of the instruments and the audience attire is accurate with no bleeding. The ivory keyboard is properly exposed and balanced with plenty of resolution to see the distinction between keys. The black levels are strong without losing any detail in the jacket creases of the musicians. Close-ups reveal the polished brass of the French horns as well as the fine grain in the basses and violins. Barenboim is appropriately the center of attention and we can see the delicate wisps of his hair and the beads of perspiration that begin to glisten on his forehead by the third movement of each concerto. The PCM 2.0 audio track is clean, but the piano sounds a little harsh above high C. By contrast the DTS HD-MA 5.1 track, by opening up the ambience of the rear channels and a broader soundstage, delivers a beautiful sound that is warm and spacious and devoid of any discordance in the upper register. The piano is properly centered while the sonic integrity of each orchestral instrument is presented with distinction according to its location on stage. The full program runs at approximately 3:20. There are no supplements save for a handful of trailers of other Medici Arts releases. An interview with Barenboim, some rehearsal footage and a short history of the venue would have been nice, but unfortunately were opportunities missed. In the end that’s the only thing missing as this is, in every other way, a most welcome release and another grand achievement for one of classical music’s most distinguished artists. 3 of 3 people found the following review helpful. 2 of 2 people found the following review helpful. Barenboim, the finest contemporary performer of the Concertos, shows a warmth and palpable intimacy with the composer and the Berlin Staaatskapelle. He is his animated self, but more restrained than in his Triple Concerto and Choral Fantasy recording with Itzhak Perlman and Yo Yo Ma in DVD. The audio coming from the blu ray is first rate. The picture is radiant and above criticism. Camera positioning is extraordinary, superbly scripted, planned out note by note. There are at least four close-up angles for his piano playing something not possible to even a holder of a front row seat at a live performance. Face on, frontal shots show the piano’s hammers and dampers, rarely seen during a live performance. His cadenzas, especially in the Adagio of the Second Concerto, send chills to the listener as if Barenboim is alone at his piano, his fingers dancing along the ivories. One feels the intimacy of the moment. A live performance offers so much more than listening to a CD. The blu ray experience equals that. That more superb classical music is being released on blu ray, combining razor sharp visuals and the high quality aural experience affords the classical music listener the finest musical experience other than the live performance. I enjoyed the lengthy crowd applause in the end; it shows the gemütlichkeit of the German concerto attendee; restrained and seated throughout the first four concertos but exultant and standing after Fifth. To see the Teutonic ice break is so thrilling. An “almost” live performance to be enjoyed over and over. |
Daniel Barenboim Shines as Conductor and Soloist