It's hard to believe that it's been 4 1/2 years since the premiere of David Lang's the little match girl passion at Zankel Hall. I was there, and remember the piece standing out from the rest of the program, but I don't think anyone in the hall that night would have predicted that it would go on to win the Pulitzer Prize, immediately elevating Lang's status as a composer - and, by proxy, that of the entire downtown music scene.  

History seemed to repeat itself last Friday, when Zankel was again packed with a mixed crowd of uptown and downtown types to see the same musicians - Paul Hillier's Theater of Voices - perform the same work. The performance was part of Carnegie's "Making Music" series, which highlights the work of a particular composer through performances and conversation, led by Carnegie's director of artistic planning, Jeremy Geffen (who also led the conversation I heard in David's SoHo loft in 2009.) Here, Geffen was a somewhat awkward host, saved from disaster only by Lang's easy charm and wit. Some examples:

"People think a composer's job is to make cool sounds. No. We actually manage energy."

"(Winning the Pulitzer) was a complete surprise to me. But, it's been a wonderful thing. Now, I can say any ridiculous thing I want."

"No, I'm not giving it back."

the little match girl passion is written for four voices, one each from the traditional S-A-T-B setup. Each singer also is tasked with playing percussion: mostly delicate chimes and a deep bass drum that rattled through my chest like a far off thundercloud. The music is simple yet devastating, recounting Hans Christian Andersen's sad tale of the girl who runs away from her violent father, only to die frozen on the streets clutching a book of matches she held to stay warm. The entire hall was riveted throughout, just like they were at the premiere.

Folllowing the intermission was the N.Y. premiere of David's death speaks, co-commissioned by Carnegie and Stanford University for their Stanford Lively Arts program. On the surface, the concept sounded incredibly cool: take the same 4-player setup as little match girl passion, but this time using texts from Schubert's songs about death, employing four classically-trained musicians whose careers have long-since veered into the indie-pop world: Bryce Dessner, Owen Pallett, Shara Worden, and Nico Muhly.

"I wanted to bring these musicians back to classical music, from which they came. They left because the landscape wasn't sufficient for what they wanted to express."

Unfortunately, these four talented musicians - all brilliant composers in their own right - seemed stifled attempting to adhere to David's intricate music. Owen, in particular, seemed wasted on the venture, consigned to backup vocals and an occasional violin line. And, try as I might, I just can't warm up to Shara's nonstop vibrato. Still, the potential of the work was palpable, and with a bit more time in the incubator, death speaks might just take its rightful place alongside that already-acknowledged masterpiece.

This last January HPC sent four representatives to the National Association of Music Merchants (NAMM) convention in Anaheim Ca, which several of our competitors did not bother to attend. We are always eager to scout for the latest and greatest ideas in piano technology, design and marketing to share with our customers. We scored some custom cabinets that others will not have for several months, strengthened relationships with our vendors, and worked to develop additional ways to better serve those customers that depend on us to offer the ‘mostest with the leastest cost’.

Our School of Music is growing at a phenomenal rate, thanks to a fresh approach to the whole idea of piano education, gleaned from success stories in other markets. Our piano rental programs are assisting a whole new generation of Houstonians to be able to enjoy piano lessons at very reasonable rates. Our central location in Houston makes for an easy drive from any direction, and our team of piano professionals are here 7 days a week to assist you in making an educated choice on how to best bring music into your home.

Once again Houston piano Company works diligently and consistently to earn your business.

SEE SOME PICTURES WE TOOK AT NAMM 2012

 Thursday, February 2nd:

Sæunn Þorsteinsdóttir at the Scandinavia House:

Praised by the New York Times as "a charismatic cellist", Þorsteinsdóttir brings her unique sound and virtuosic abilities to the Scandinavia House in Midtown East.  This show is in celebration of the recent release of her debut recording of the Suites for Cello by Benjamin Britten. Free.

Thurston Moore at The Allen Room

As a part of Lincoln Center's American Songbook series, the longtime Sonic Youth frontman showcases his latest solo effort, Demolished Thoughts, which finds him leaning in a folk direction. Could Thurston finally be mellowing out? Tickets start at $35 and are available here.

Friday, February 3rd:

David Sanchez Quartet at the Jazz Standard:

Since his time as a protege of Dizzy Gillespie, Sanchez has flourished as one of our preeminent tenor players. Bringing his quartet to the Jazz Standard for five nights, Sanchez combines a variety of different cultural influences to create a unique sound.  Tickets are $30 and can be found here.

Saturday, February 4th:

Jherek Bischoff and the Wordless Music Orchestra at Merkin Concert Hall:

Opening the second annual Ecstatic Music Festival, Jherek Bischoff and the Wordless Music Orchestra are joined by a star-studded group of guest vocalists, including David Byrne, Carla Bozulich Craig Wedren, Greg Saunier (Deerhoof), Mirah, and Zac Pennington (Parenthetical Girls). Tickets are sold out, but you can try for returns.

Keyed Up Music Project at Tenri Cultural Institute

Pianist Marc Peloquin teams up with partner Roberto Hidalgo to present twentieth-century works for 4-hand piano, at one and two pianos on Saturday at the Tenri Cultural Institute.  This is the second concert of the second season of the Keyed-up Music Project, Mr. Peloquin's exploration of recent music for the piano.  Tickets are $20 at the door; reservations can be made at 917-847-3551 or KeyedUpMusicProject@gmail.com.

Sunday, February 5th:

For all those non-Madonna fans, Littlefield will be showing Super Bowl XLVI on their big screen, with a live halftime show by The Cypher. Free, with beer and shot specials throughout. GO GIANTS!

(Contributing Writers: Angela Sutton, Brian Weidy, FoM)

We have been getting a lot of inquiries from people asking whether or not we buy used pianos, and we want everyone to know…

Hear ye, hear ye!

YES, we absolutely buy used pianos.

We are always interested in taking a look at what shape your piano for sale is looking like to see if we can make you an offer. Don’t be shy to contact us either by phone, or using one of our contact forms.

All this week, John Schaefer's New Sounds Live is hosting it's Silent Film Series at the WFC Wintergarden with films by Bill Morrison, the documentary filmmaker. Morrison's films are typically assembled from vintage found footage, woven together to craft a story that brings to life otherwise-forgotten places and people. He then commissions a composer - often one of the various Bang on a Can members (see here, here, and here) - to contribute a score to the otherwise-silent films.

Tuesday night, the series kicked off with the U.S. premiere of The Miners' Hymns, piecing together nearly a century's worth of footage from the Durham mines of northeast England - from the difficult conditions in the early 20th century, to the introduction of machinery mid-century, to the violent clashes with police during the miners' strikes of 1984. A color sequence shot from helicopter towards the end of the film shows that the mines have now all closed, replaced by "temples of modern leisure and consumerism" (acc. to the program notes) such as shopping malls, glass condos, and Sunderland F.C.' s Stadium of Light.

The film, which was commissioned by the British Film Institute, was accompanied by a score from Icelandic composer Jóhann Jóhannsson that combined electronics (performed by Jóhannsson) with acoustic instruments, played here live by the Wordless Music Orchestra under Brad Lubman. The score was conspicuous in it's heavy use of brass, reverberating throughout the marble and glass atrium with bold fanfares and quiet dirges, a tribute to the colliery brass bands that used to play at local celebrations. For all of my past complaints about the boomy sound of the Wintergarden, here it was the perfect acoustic.

The dark, claustrophobic shots inside the mines resonated with the memory of recent events, including the 2010 disasters at the Big Branch Mine in West Virginia and the San Jose Mine in Copiapó, Chile. (The film was premiered three weeks prior to the Chilean incident.) It was a stark reminder of just how dangerous this work is, and how fortunate most of us are to sit behind desks for a living, with carpal tunnel syndrome the worst threat to our well-being. 

And, yet, for all of the mines' difficulties, the film - and Jóhannsson's soaring, majestic score - seems to lament the loss of mine-inspired pride and solidarity that sustained these communities for more than a century. It was impossible not to get choked up by the final scene, showing miners and their families parading through the town behind union banners, eventually arriving at the millennium-old Durham Cathedral (where the premiere screening took place in 2010) for the annual Miners' Gala. It was the sort of face-to-face ritual that is quickly fading from our modern world, replaced with virtual chat rooms and Skype sessions that conspire to keep us all in our bedrooms - though, ironically, these are the same digital tools that fueled last year's Arab Spring and Occupy protests.

Other Morrison films being screened this week include The Great Flood with a score by Bill Frisell, Spark of Being with music by Dave Douglas - and Morrison's best-known work, Decasia (2001), with an accompanying "symphony" by Michael Gordon performed live by the Oberlin Contemporary Music Ensemble. All screenings are free, more information here. More trailers after the jump.

Trailer - "The Great Flood" 

"Spark of Being" trailer

"Decasia" excerpt

Brodmann Professional Edition 6’ 2” Grand

The instrument that outperforms Bösendorfer at a third of the price of a Steinway.

Never before, has a piano offered so much for so little. The Brodmann Professional Edition pianos are comparably priced with the better mid-priced instruments from Yamaha, Kawai and Boston, yet far outperform them. Why? Because none of these pianos have the same quality of materials, or European scale design.

Features that set Brodmann apart from other mid-priced pianos:

• German Duplex Scale from the finest designers in the industry. Pianos with German duplex scale designs sing with much more harmonics than others.
• Top Quality German slow-growth white Austrian spruce soundboard and ribs by Strunz. These soundboards are made from woods that grow in a higher altitude and extremely cold climate. Trees from this region are hundreds of years old, grow slower and produce wood that is exceptionally dense. The more dense the wood, the better tone projection and sustain will be. Strunz soundboards are the choice by most German piano builders because of their superiority.
• German under-felted hammers from Abel. Abel hammers are praised for giving optimum performance, yielding every tone imaginable. At a soft touch, the piano will sing sweet and mellow. When playing with more force, the piano will roar to life.
• German strings by Roslau, the finest in the world.



• German Agraffes, which produce perfect string alignment and accurate down-bearing producing a singing quality in each and every string.
• German tuning pins, the finest made.
• Brodmann action designed by Langer UK, with solid wood keyboard, solid ebony sharp tops and an outstanding balanced touch. Langer actions are renowned for their outstanding balanced touch.



• Hard-rock Beech inner and outer rims. Beech and maple have always been the choice wood for rim construction of high-end builders. These are the best woods for structure and supporting the incredible amount of force which greatly increases the lifespan of a piano.

In conclusion;

Brodmann is the overwhelmingly wise choice for anyone wanting a high-end performance piano at a mid-level price. Nothing in its price range will come close to equaling the quality.

Brodmann Professional Edition 6 Gallery