I’m currently in one of my favorite cities, gorgeous San Francisco, to attend the Blogher Conference, and am having a lovely time. I’ll be sharing a longer post later today detailing where I’ve been over the past month, but for now, if you want quick updates about my experiences at Blogher, you can follow me on my Twitter account. If you’re here at Blogher, please come by and say hello, or drop me a direct message on Twitter!



Opening BlogHer mixer at the top of the Westin St. Francis

I feel as though I’ve been a little disconnected this week because I have been immersed in preparations and recording sessions for my next CD, and have been inhabiting the turbulent, restless, melancholic and highly emotionally charged inner worlds of Schumann and Chopin rather than that of the outside world.

Recording of the Schumann G- minor sonata was completed in the past two days, and due to scheduling conflicts for all the parties involved, recording of the Chopin third sonata will take place next month. If all goes well, it will hopefully be released during the summer. Recording is always a difficult and challenging process for me - it is a gruelingly self-critical and a brutally emotional and mentally exhausting time. Listening to oneself over and over again, reworking and trying new things, and the constant emotional drainage that takes place from repeating takes to a microphone and not to a live audience, is very difficult. Unlike a live performance, which is a communicative and sharing event that takes place in one moment in time, a recording is a permanent archive that preserves an artist’s voice and interpretative statement, and because of this, a different set of challenges present themselves.

As I take a little time to rest and revive myself, click here to view a few photos I snapped at the recording sessions.

General News:

1. My upcoming recital in Madrid on the 26th for Casa Asia and the Madrid Cultural Center will touch on the music of Takemitsu. I’ll be performing both of his Rain Sketches in addition to works by Chopin, Ravel, and Debussy - I wanted to place Takemitsu’s music in context to these other French and French-influenced composers to see the influence their music had on his own compositions. It has been an interesting experience working on this program - I feel as though I have been inhabiting a very atmospheric world of suggestive language these past few weeks. You can find the program and press release for the concert to download from my site here (in Spanish). If you’re in Madrid and have time that evening to go to the beautiful Conde Duque hall, I hope to see you there.

2. Sarah Canice Funke wrote an article about me for Suite 101 this weekend, focusing on my integration of the web with my music life, and wrote a bit about my blogging and photography. I have always been written about in terms of my music and performances, and have to admit that I am blushing a little because I somehow feel as though I’ve been recognized for my small, modest blogging and photography efforts…which is nice.

Other news and links:

I spent some time this weekend exploring the blogosphere, and am once again amazed at all of the “good stuff” out there. Here are some links that I enjoyed:

1.The Collaborative Piano Blog: Chris has a great blog that covers everything from collaborative piano work, pianists, and the state of the classical music field.
Two recent posts brought up interesting questions regarding our field:

http://collaborativepiano.blogspot.com/2008/03/good-times-bad-times.html : links and news about the classical field in the US, including the situation in Columbus.

http://collaborativepiano.blogspot.com/2008/03/free-ebook-manifesto-on-trust-economies.html: References another Chris (Chris Brogan - see below) and his recent ebook manifesto with Julien Smith, and the questions raised by the new media/technology and how it affects classical musicians.

2. The Well-Tempered Blog: Bart’s blog covers all things piano related, with interesting tidbits and links.
Recent interesting and amusing posts include:

http://pianophilia.blogspot.com/2008/03/king-of-bling-liberace.html : “King of Bling” is a very apt title.

http://pianophilia.blogspot.com/2008/03/pyrophones-intonarumori-and-things-that.html: Interesting find.

http://pianophilia.blogspot.com/2008/03/rocket-or-piano.html : About the new Schimmel Pegasus Piano which quite simply, frightens me.

3. Solitude in Music: Jeff, a classical guitartist in Singapore, shares his lovely thoughts about music.
One I enjoyed recently:

http://solitudeinmusic.blogspot.com/2008/02/i-am-amateur.html : Something I have often thought about.

4. Chris Brogan
I’m putting up a general link for Chris’ site because I enjoy his posts and ideas. Enthusiastic, passionate about social media, and an all-around extraordinary engager, Chris consistently provides food for thought, whatever field you may be in.

It’s a cold, cloudy, drizzly, grey day and I feel quite uninspired.



My teacher used to complain on days like this, and with his rough, heavily Russian-accented English, he would proclaim that days like this were not meant for producing “any inspired or beautiful music”, but were meant for being alone, thinking and ruminating. I used to tease him, saying with all the fresh idealism of youth, “Oh Alexander, come on! It doesn’t matter what the weather is like, we can still create something beautiful from the inside! Come on, let’s get to work!” I used to love this kind of weather - especially while I lived in New York, where the grey dreariness was a part of the very character of the city. I felt like it made me tougher, grittier, and it energized me into thinking that my work as a musician was so noble because I was trying to create beauty in the middle of such adversity as rain and dark clouds!

And now? Now I’m sitting here, completely affected by the weather, nursing a cup of hot tea, and feeling melancholic and uninspired. Hmm.

Schmutzie just wrote a charming and amusing post about “getting older”, that got me thinking about all of this. Perhaps this current natural acceptance and intake of what is around me is a sign of age, and my previous determined need to prove myself, despite the surroundings, was a hallmark of my brash youth. A few days ago, a friend of mine and fellow pianist, D, celebrated a birthday, and as I sent him his birthday e-card, I mentioned in it that he should “revel” in his youth. Although he’s a few years younger than me, part of the reason why we have been friends for so long is because of his maturity, and his impressive ability to perceive subtle issues in ways that I never could have at his age. But as I sent the card to him, I felt a strange twinge - like the twinge I felt the first time someone called me “ma’am” instead of “miss”. I suddenly felt that those few years between our ages was an enormous gulf, and I felt an unbelievable urge to protect him from all the challenges and difficulties I knew were lying ahead of him. But most of all, I was worried that he would push himself in all of the wrong ways, in the impulsive driven manner of youth, when perhaps the most important thing was for him to learn to let go, to naturally accept things as they come, to take the time to be enriched in all ways by everything that is around us. In other words, all the things my teacher was probably trying to teach me through his sensitive comments about things as innocuous as the weather.

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In other news, I am doing some score shopping today for an interesting performance I have coming up, which I hope to post about later this week. I am also now on StumbleUpon, and have created a Bloglog community for this blog, and would love it if you would join/friend me there.