Author: GPL

Lecture @ NYU February 20th, 2021

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Silence revisited: framing and re-framing John Cage’s 4’33” on YouTube Just as John Cage was influenced by diverse and non-musical sources from Zen to Thoreau so did his creation of the silence piece (4’33”) have effects far beyond the world of classical music. Amateurs, pranksters, death-metal bands, architects, and students have embraced it, each finding their own meaning. Hundreds of these versions are available on YouTube, and have been a rich source in my recent research. As part of my artistic practice, I have been attempting to unpack the ‘black box’ of

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The Speed of Silence

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The Speed of Silence (english below) McGowan en Livingston doen – naast hun bestaan als kunstenaars – artistiek onderzoek (PhD) aan de Universiteit Leiden. Ned McGowan onderzoekt het fenomeen snelheid in muziek, vanuit een uitvoerende en compositorische invalshoek. Guy Livingston onderzoekt stilte en de vele aspecten ervan, vooral in hedendaagse muziek en architectuur, en maakt daarnaast een serie podcasts over dit onderwerp. performing at Studio “The Bug”, in the former US embassy of The Hague. photo by Matilda Arvidsson Een recent concert, februari jl., tijdens het Leidse festival, Peel Slowly

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NEC Piano Department Lecture

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NEC lecture notes from Guy Livingston, created for a lecture at the New England Conservatory. But these links are useful for all young pianists looking for new romantic repertoire…enjoy! LINKS: Gershwin Songbooks (arr for solo piano): Vanessa Lann – toy piano music: Lann – entranced by the beckoning light: Lann – Leaps of Faith: Bolcom – Serpent’s Kiss: Frederic Mompou: Prokofiev -Romeo and Juliet “Pern” by Yann Tiersen https://www.musicnotes.com/sheetmusic/mtd.asp?ppn=MN0108589&utm_source=Musicnotes%20Now&utm_medium=referral&utm_campaign=10-Breathtakingly-Beautiful-Piano-Pieces-mdash-Musicnotes-Now Cloud Atlas by Mark Fowler: https://www.musicnotes.com/sheetmusic/mtd.asp?ppn=MN0177739&utm_source=Musicnotes%20Now&utm_medium=referral&utm_campaign=10-Breathtakingly-Beautiful-Piano-Pieces-mdash-Musicnotes-Now “One Summer’s Day” by Joe Hisaishi Ole Miss Blues – James P. Johnson (piano roll)

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Bombshell

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Much to my astonishment, I have become briefly (and marginally) famous for my role (miniscule) in a film about Hollywood beauty Hedy Lamarr. Not only was she the sexiest woman on screen in the 1940s and 50s, but she also was an inventor, and worked with my favorite composer, George Antheil, on a patent for a “secret communications device”. Although nothing came of their brilliant invention, it turned out to be a stunning preview of frequency hopping, a technique which is used in wifi and cell phones, and makes our

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Antheil the Futurist

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Liner Notes for Antheil the Futurist In 1920, a brash young composer from New Jersey named George Antheil decided to be the “most ultra” of the avant-garde, quarreled with his teachers, and transformed himself into a concert pianist. His cousin Robert Antheil remembered many years later: “At that time George was getting ready for his trip to Europe and was practicing all day long. The keys on the piano were worn through the ivory and down into the wood. He attacked the piano fiercely. When his fingers got very sore

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Antheil 2nd Piano Concerto

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A concert pianist and vanguard composer, George Antheil (1900-1959) became known as the “Bad Boy of Music.” The ultimate American in Paris, Antheil was an avant-garde provocateur of the first order who made his name composing iconoclastic compositions: the loudest and brashest classical music of his time. But this album gives us three new performances-two of them world-premiere recordings-which reveal another, forgotten side of antheil, the incurable romantic. Written in 1926, after the the height of Antheil’s radical period, the Piano Concerto No. 2 is an experiment in classical form.

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The Lost Sonatas of George Antheil

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Sotto Voce with Fist: The Story of Antheil’s “Lost” Sonatas Just as John Cage was probably the most notorious American composer of the post-war twentieth century, George Antheil was the most notorious of the pre-war era. Antheil’s succés de scandale was astonishing, making him the rival of Stravinsky and Satie. As with Cage, Antheil’s eagerness to foment revolution came from his daring instrumentation, surprising pronouncements, and anti-establishment attitudes. Works like the Ballet mécanique–scored for 16 mechanical pianos, airplane propellers, percussion, and siren–literally blew people away and caused riots in the

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