Géza Anda , MySQL and PHP

The past two years, I've remembered Géza Anda's passing on this blog.  I was so busy this year I forgot.  I've been listening to a lot of Ivan Moravec these days, but I pulled out some of my favorite Anda recordings again.  The Schumann Fantasie and Symphonic Etudes played by Anda are always interesting.  He can really rush things sometimes.  I think I should pull out the Mozart piano concerto set I was given last Christmas too.  I've been listening to Murray Perahia's set in my car.

Tonight, I figured out how to make receipts from a MySQL database.  It's nothing fancy.  I just used PHP to read the records from MySQL and then had it generate numbered receipts by using HTML tables to format them.  I also figured out how to use PHP to display an RSS feed on this page.  I really like open source.  My default office suite is LibreOffice.  Python, Inkscape and Audacity are among the other open source tools I use.  I used Audacity to analyse sound and I used it in my kid's grade 4 class to check who could play a violin note in tune.

Today, a student had trouble with a Powerpoint file generated from a Mac app (not Office Mac).  I had asked her to save it as PPTX, but that was not possible as she didn't have Office Mac.  I converted the slides to images and was about to insert an image library into Powerpoint 2010 when I remembered an online conversion service.  The Mac PPT wouldn't load into Powerpoint 2010 but it did load into LibreOffice 3.5 with glitches (funny how the open source product worked better huh?). I remembered a service I had used successfully before.  I did a Google search "z format conversion" and found Zamzar.  The offending PPT was uploaded to Zamzar and within a few minutes, I was sent an e-mail with a link to the converted file.  Voila, it worked!  The audio files were in M4A format.  I tried VLC Player to convert to MP3 without success.  Next I used Adobe Soundbooth to convert M4A to MP3 and it worked.  Finally, I use Audacity to edit her 3 converted MP3 audio clips together as the background music for the PPT.  I am more familiar with Audacity than SoundBooth (that's why I didn't edit and merge the clips from SoundBooth).

Valerie Tryon's Mozart Concerto Recording Arrives on Maundy Thursday

I was awaiting this CD with great anticipation.  I have waited several months before finally taking the plunge and buying it from Amazon.ca marketplace.  There are several unique things about this CD-the first recording of Leopold Godowsky's candenza for KV 491 and some newly discovered music to add to the Rondo KV 386.  Hummel's candenzas are used for KV 503 and there is an extra track of Hummel's cadenza for KV 491 (which I believe Annie Fisher plays in her EMI KV 491 recording).  A very generous CD from APR as usual (76 minutes).  It is the third APR recording I've purchased (the others were Tryon's Schumann/Schubert/Mozart CD and her Chopin Chronology).  I've never been disappointed by either APR or Valerie Tryon.  She has a formidable technique which is always in service to the music.  I came upon an interview of her from Parry Sound last summer and she said "I haven't many years left" and indicated she wanted to play less.  Well, she was 75 years old when she made this concerto recording 18-19 April 2009.  I certainly hope she plays many more years.  Her technique is still secure.  Truly a great artist.  I actually listened to the final movement of KV 503 first as I was wondering how it would compare to Leon Fleisher's recording.  I think she is actually playing it Allegretto as marked.  Fleisher takes it very fast (and wow, is he ever exciting).  Géza Anda also takes this Allegretto pretty fast.  Year's ago when I first heard KV 503 from Alicia de Larrocha's LP recording from my Time Life Mozart series, I was quite awe struck at the grandeur of the first movement (Allegro maetoso - very apt indeed).  For KV 491, I first heard Wilhelm Kempff's recording on a cassette.  That was a magical recording from 1960 and Valerie Tryon's CD is of that calibre.  We are very fortunate that Valerie Tryon's art is preserved for everyone by the several recordings she has made for APR.  We are also lucky that people more remote places can now order this CD from Presto Classical or Amazon.ca (or direct from APR).  I will be buying more APR recordings of Valerie Tryon.  Her talent is truly under-appreciated!

Beethoven night again

Yesterday night, I decided to pull out the DVD of Maurizio Pollini playing Beethoven's 3rd (Op 37) and 5th (Op 73) piano concerti.  Elisha promptly picked up a pencil to start conducting. He also went upstairs to get his violin and become part of the orchestra.  I've not been very motivated to exercise, so the visual of Pollini playing my favorite Beethoven piano concerto (Op 37) helped as I kept at it for the entire concerto.  Later, upstairs, we listened and watched von Karajan conduct the Pastorale symphony finale and the 5th and 9th symphony (last movement).  Our baby truly loves this and I think Beethoven is his favorite.  What a favorite to have - a genius of the highest order.

We often joke that Elisha's a "genius" because his violin teacher is so impressed with what he's accomplished since starting in September.  He's shown him off to his other students on Friday morning for the past two lessons (he can play the note that's on the flash card almost immediately).  He can still hardly believe that Elisha can really read notes that fast (since he first tested him on March 18).  He also keeps on asking how old he is (he thought he already turned 4, but he's still 3 years old).  At group lesson, he also plays by notes, not by fingering. 

Now why are Elisha and his older brother, Samuel, among his best violin students?  Well, Elisha is truly intrinsically motivated.  He actually practises about 40 minutes a day.  Yesterday, he even picked up his violin on his own and played his new piece Go Tell Aunt Rhodie.  His brother practises about 40 minutes a day as well as another 45 for piano.  There's no secret - what ever you put into what you do often determines what you get in return.

Some CD Gems From the Summer of 2009

While visiting Oakville in the summer of 2009, I visited L'Atelier Grigorian and bought four CDs from their bargain bin:

• Valerie Tryon Chopin Ballades and Scherzi
• Anton Kuerti Schumann Kreisleriana
• Chamber Orchestra of Europe Mozart Prague and KV 543
• Chamber Orchestra of Europe Mozart Horn Concerti

As I recall, I got these for only $5 each.  The Tryon disk was heralded by New York Times critic Harold Schoenberg as one of the most important Chopin releases of the decade.  Anton Kuerti speaks for himself.  I finally got around to listening to the Mozart Prague disk with Alexander Schneider conducting.  It's very enjoyable.  They were lucky finds indeed!

Valerie Tryon and the Schumann Fantasie Op 17

This CD does not disappoint.  I was most interested in the Schumann Fantasie, Op 17 as that is one of my favorite solo piano works.  I heard the name Valerie Tryon and the Rembrandt Trio on CBC Stereo when I was in grad school (1990s). Never gave it much thought back then as I don't listen to chamber music too much.  The Schubert and Mozart sonatas are nice too.  I had a chance to listen to Valerie Tryon in Ancaster in the summer of 2009, but didn't act on it.  That recital was actually put together by the piano dealer I bought my Mason and Hamlin Model A from (don't buy a piano from The Music Group - I got terrible service from them and had to deal with Mason and Hamlin directly).  I have no problem with Mason and Hamlin - great company to deal with as they fixed the problem my dealer should have resolved.

The only thing I was disappointed with was that the audio quality didn't wow me.  Not that it was poor engineering, but I was hoping for something great from APR - a small English company. Valerie Tryon's technique has stayed solid even though she was over 70 when this CD was recorded.  She should be better known!