Danish comedian and pianist Victor Borge gives every impression of having been asked to play a duet with someone whom he not only doesn’t know, but doesn’t particularly like. Forced to come up with a mutually agreeable way of sharing the musical workload, he settles on the most difficult route possible.
It’s not clear why two pianists were needed for this performance of Liszt’s Hungarian Rhapsody No.2, S.244/2. I think that they did it just for the fun of it. The result is hilarious.
They’re not the only ones to tackle Liszt’s Hungarian Rhapsody No.2 as a piano duo. We also have these guys:
• 1945 ~ Rod Argent, English keyboardist for the Zombies
• 1946 ~ Janet Lennon, Singer with the Lennon Sisters
. 1946 ~ Artemios “Demis” Ventouris Roussos (June 15 1946-January 25, 2015) was a Greek singer and performer who had international hit records as a solo performer in the 1970s after having been a member of Aphrodite’s Child, a progressive rock group that also included Vangelis. He has sold over 60 million albums worldwide.
• 1956 ~ Sixteen-year-old John Lennon of the music group, The Quarrymen, met 14-year-old Paul McCartney and invited him to join the group. In a few years, the group became The Beatles.
• 1957 ~ “Ziegfeld Follies of 1957″ closed at Winter Garden NYC after 123 performances
• 1962 ~ Alfred Cortot, French pianist, died at the age of 84
• 1963 ~ Kyu Sakamoto from Kawasaki, Japan, reached the number one spot on the pop music charts with Sukiyaki. The popular song captivated American music buyers and was at the top of the Billboard pop chart for three weeks. In Japan, where Sakamoto
was enormously popular, Sukiyaki was known as Ue O Muite Aruko (I Look Up When I Walk). The entertainer met an untimely fate in 1985. Kyu (cue) Sakamoto was one of 520 people who perished in the crash of a Japan Air Lines flight near Tokyo. He was 43 years old.
• 1963 ~ “Sound of Music” closed at Lunt Fontanne Theater NYC after 1443 performances
June 14 is set aside to observe National Pop Goes the Weasel Day. On this day people dig back into their memories to the nursery rhymes they learned as children and celebrate the day singing “Pop Goes the Weasel”.
The origins of this nursery rhyme are believed to date back to the 1700′s.
The following lyric was printed in Boston in 1858:
All around the cobbler’s house,
The monkey chased the people.
And after them in double haste,
Pop! goes the weasel.
In 1901 in New York the opening lines were:
All around the chicken coop,
The possum chased the weasel.
The most common recent version was not recorded until 1914. In addition to the three verses above, American versions often include some of the following:
All around the mulberry bush,
The monkey chased the weasel.
The monkey stopped to pull up his sock, (or The monkey stopped to scratch his nose)
Pop! goes the weasel.
Half a pound of tuppenny rice,
Half a pound of treacle.
Mix it up and make it nice,
Pop! goes the weasel.
A Piano Version:
‘Pop Goes the Weasel’ is played by the oboe while Elgar’s ‘Enigma’ Theme is performed on piano. This test of Dennis Whitten’s alleged solution demonstrates it is not a credible counterpoint to the ‘Enigma’ Theme, finishing five measures too soon while producing an unacceptably high number of dissonant note intervals.
• 1884 ~ John McCormack, Irish/American singer of Irish folksongs
• 1891 ~ Nicolo Gabrielli, Composer, died at the age of 77
• 1895 ~ Cliff Edwards “Ukulele Ike”, Singer of When You Wish Upon a Star
• 1904 ~ Benno Ammann, Composer
• 1909 ~ Burl Ives, American folk singer, banjo player, guitarist and Oscar-winning actor. His gentle voice helped popularise American folk music. He played powerful dramatic roles in movies including “The Big Country,” for which he won an Acadamy Award for best supporting actor, and “Cat on a Hot Tin Roof.” anniversary of his death
• 1910 ~ Nappy (Hilton Napoleon) Lamare, Musician with Bob Cats
• 1911 ~ Johan Severin Svendsen, Composer, died at the age of 70
• 1916 ~ Karl-Rudi Griesbach, Composer
• 1916 ~ MIT and the American Telephone and Telegraph Company attempted the largest transcontinental telephone circuit of the time at Symphony Hall!
• 1918 ~ Carter Harman, Composer
• 1920 ~ Helmer-Rayner Sinisalo, Composer
• 1923 ~ Theodore Bloomfield, Composer
• 1923 ~ It was the beginning of the country music recording industry. Ralph Peer of Okeh Records recorded Fiddlin’ John Carson doing The Little Old Log Cabin in theLane— and the first country music recording was in the can.
• 1929 ~ Cy Coleman (Seymour Kaufman), American composer of popular music and pianist
More information about Cy Coleman
• 1932 ~ Coleridge-Taylor Perkinson, Composer
• 1933 ~ Albert Ross Parsons, Composer, died at the age of 85
• 1940 ~ John Mizelle, Composer
• 1943 ~ Muff (Mervyn) Winwood, Singer, songwriter, bass with The Spencer Davis Group
• 1945 ~ Rod Argent, Keyboard
• 1948 ~ Ernst Henrik Ellberg, Composer, died at the age of 79
• 1948 ~ John Blackwood McEwen, Composer, died at the age of 80
• 1953 ~ Elvis Presley graduated from L.C. Humes High School in Memphis, TN. Within three years, the truck driver-turned-singer had his first number-one record with Heartbreak Hotel.
• 1960 ~ Vladimir Nikolayevich Kryukov, Composer, died at the age of 57
• 1962 ~ Boy George, Singer
• 1965 ~ Guido Guerrini, Composer, died at the age of 74
• 1969 ~ John & Yoko appeared on David Frost’s British TV Show
• 1974 ~ Knud Christian Jeppesen, Composer, died at the age of 81
• 1975 ~ America reached the top spot on the Billboard pop music chart with SisterGolden Hair. The group had previously (March, 1972) taken A Horse With No Name to the number one spot. The trio of Dan Peek, Gerry Beckley and Dewey Bunnell had received the Best New Artist Grammy in 1972. America recorded a dozen hits that made it to the popular music charts in the 1970s and 1980s. Though number one, Sister Golden Hair did not qualify for gold record (million-seller) status.
• 1976 ~ The Beatles were awarded a gold record for the compilation album of past hits titled, Rock ’n’ Roll Music.
• 1978 ~ Theodore Karyotakis, Composer, died at the age of 74
• 1980 ~ Theme From New York, New York by Frank Sinatra hit #32
• 1986 ~ Alan Jay Lerner, Broadway librettist, died in NY at 67
More information about Lerner
• 1989 ~ Carole King got a star in Hollywood’s walk of fame
• 1994 ~ Henry Mancini passed away at the age of 70
More information about Mancini
• 1994 ~ Lionel Grigson, Professor of jazz, died at the age of 52
• 1994 ~ Harry “Little” Caesar, blues singer/actor (City Heat), died at the age of 66
• 1996 ~ Thomas Edward Montgomery, drummer, died at the age of 73
• 2002 ~ Marvin Paymer, Pianist, composer, musicologist and author, died of cancer. He was 81. His son, actor David Paymer, told the Los Angeles Times that Paymer died in San Diego. In 1977, he co-founded and, until his retirement in 1993, served as associate director of the Pergolesi Research Center at City University of New York Graduate Center. Pergolesi was 18th century Italian composer Giovanni Battista Pergolesi. Paymer authenticated 13 Pergolesi compositions among hundreds of fakes attributed to the posthumously famous composer, who died at 26.
• 1962 ~ Eugene Goossens, British Composer (Perseus), died at the age of 69. A member of a famed musical family, he spent his later years conducting in Australia where he trained many musicians.
• 1970 ~ The Summertime by Mungo Jerry hit #1 in England
• 1970 ~ The Beatles’ “Let It Be,” album went #1 & stayed #1 for 4 weeks
• 1970 ~ The Beatles’Long & Winding Road, single went #1 & stayed #1 for 2 weeks
• 1970 ~ The song Make It with You, by David Gates and Bread, was released. It turned out to be a number-one hit on August 22, 1970. Though Bread had a dozen hits, including one other million-seller (Baby I’m-A Want You, 1971); Make It with Youwas the soft-pop group’s only number one tune.
• 1971 ~ Singer Francis Albert Sinatra made an attempt to retire from show business following a performance this night at the Music Center in Los Angeles, CA. ‘Ol’ Blue Eyes’ got a bit restless in retirement, however, and was back in Sinatra – The Main Event at Madison Square Garden in November, 1973.
• 1972 ~ Clyde L Mcphatter, American singer with the Drifters, died at the age of 39
• 1973 ~ Alvin Derold Etler, Composer, died at the age of 60
• 1973 ~ Frantisek Suchy, Composer, died at the age of 82
• 1989 ~ Jerry Lee Lewis got a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame
• 1990 ~ “Les Miserables” opened at South Alberta Jubilee Centre, Calgary
• 1993 ~ “Someone Who’ll Watch Over Me” closed at Booth NYC after 232 performances
• 2001 ~ Makanda McIntyre, a jazz musician and educator, died at the age of 69. McIntyre’s best-known album was “Looking Ahead” (1960). He taught music in Manhattan schools and at Wesleyan University, Smith College, Fordham University and the New School. He was the founder and chairman of the American music, dance and theater program at the State University at Old Westbury, N.Y. McIntyre was born in Boston. After serving in the Army, he studied at the Boston Conservatory of Music and later earned a doctorate from the University of Massachusetts. Formerly Ken McIntyre, he changed his name to Makanda after a stranger in Zimbabwe handed him a piece of paper on which was written, “Makanda,” a word in the Ndebele and Shona languages meaning “many skins.”
• 1928 ~ Vic Damone (Vito Farinola), American singer of popular music
• 1930 ~ Jim Nabors, Singer
• 1935 ~ Ella Fitzgerald recorded her first sides for Brunswick Records. The tunes were Love and Kisses and I’ll Chase the Blues Away. She was featured with Chick Webb and his band. Ella was 17 at the time and conducted the Webb band for three years following his death in 1939.
• 1938 ~ Ian Partridge, British tenor
• 1941 ~ “Chick” Corea, American Grammy Award-winning (4) Jazz musician and composer
• 1942 ~ Walter Leigh, Composer, died at the age of 36
• 1942 ~ Paul Whiteman and his orchestra recorded Travelin’ Light on Capitol Records of Hollywood, California. On the track with Whiteman’s orchestra was the vocal talent of ‘Lady Day’, Billie Holiday.
• 1944 ~ Reg Presley, Singer with Troggs
• 1947 ~ Jazeps Medins, Composer, died at the age of 70
• 1948 ~ William Tell Overture by Spike Jones (originally an opera by Rossini) peaked at #6
Original:
• 1951 ~ Bun Carlos (Brad Carlson), Musician, drummer with Cheap Trick
• 1951 ~ Brad Delp, Musician, guitarist, singer with Boston
• 1962 ~ John N Ireland, English Composer/pianist, died at the age of 82
• 1965 ~ The Queen of England announced that The Beatles would receive the coveted MBE Award. The Order of the British Empire recognition had previously been bestowed only upon British military heroes, many of whom were so infuriated by the news, they returned their medals to the Queen. In fact, John Lennon wasn’t terribly impressed with receiving the honor. He returned it (for other reasons) four years later.
• 1965 ~ Rolling Stones released Satisfaction
• 1965 ~ Sonny and Cher made their first TV appearance, “American Bandstand”
• 1966 ~ Hermann Scherchen, German conductor and music publisher, died at the age of 74
• 1966 ~ The Dave Clark Five set record as they appear for twelfth time on Ed Sullivan
• 1968 ~ Fidelio Friedrich Finke, Composer, died at the age of 76
• 1968 ~ “What Makes Sammy Run?” closed at 84th St Theater NYC after 540 performances
• 1977 ~ “Pippin” closes at Imperial Theater NYC after 1944 performances
• 1989 ~ Peter Conrad Baden, Composer, died at the age of 80
• 1992 ~ “Batman Returns”, music by Danny Elfman, was released in America
• 1993 ~ Three Little Pigs by Green Jelly hit #17
• 1994 ~ Cab Calloway suffered massive stroke at his home White Plaines NY
• 1995 ~ Arturo Benedetti Michelangeli, Italian Pianist, died at the age of 75. He was hailed as one of the greatest pianists of the 20th century.
• 1996 ~ MacKenzie John, Pipe major, died at the age of 83
• 2000 ~ Robert J. Lurtsema, a classical music show host with a sonorous voice and unique delivery who became a fixture of the Boston radio scene over nearly three decades, died of lung disease. He was 68. Lurtsema, who worked at WGBH-FM for more than 28 years, is well-known to classical music buffs as the host of “Morning pro musica”, which could be heard throughout the Northeast.
• 1964 ~ Rolling Stones recorded their 12×5 album at Chess Studios Chicago
• 1966 ~ The BeatlesPaperback Writer was released in England
• 1966 ~ The Beatles recorded Rain, first to use reverse tapes
• 1966 ~ Janis Joplin’s first live concert in the Avalon Ballroom, San Francisco
• 1966 ~ The Mamas and The Papas won a gold record for Monday, Monday
• 1968 ~ Yury Sergeyevich Milyutin, Composer, died at the age of 65
• 1972 ~ Elvis Presley recorded a live album at NY’s Madison Square Garden
• 1972 ~ The Rolling Stones double album Exile On Main Street went to No.1 on the UK chart, the band’s seventh UK No.1 album. In 2010, the re-released album entered the UK chart at No.1, almost 38 years to the week after it first occupied that position. The Rolling Stones are the first act to ever have a studio album return to No.1 after it was first released.
• 1972 ~ Sammy Davis, Jr. earned his place at the top of the popular music charts for the first time, after years in the entertainment business. His number one song, The Candy Man, stayed at the top for three consecutive weeks. The Candy Man was truly a song of fate for Sammy. He openly did not want to record the song, but did so as a favor to MGM Records head Mike Curb, since it was to be used in the film, Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory. Davis said he would give the tune one take, “and that’s it!” Sure enough, in that one-time recording, Sammy nailed it. The Candy Man stayed on the pop charts for 16 weeks. The best the legendary performer had done before was 12 weeks for Love Me or Leave Me in 1955 and 11 weeks for I’ve Gotta Be Me (from Golden Rainbow) in 1969. After TheCandy Man became a hit, Davis included it in his stage shows and concerts — and collected huge royalties from it.
• 1976 ~ Paul McCartney and Wings set a record for an indoor concert crowd as 67,100 fans gathered in Seattle, WA to hear the former Beatle and his new group.
• 1982 ~ Addie “Micki” Harris, American singer with the Shirelles, died at the age of 42
• 1985 ~ Nineteenth Music City News Country Awards: Statler Brothers, BarbaraMandrell
• 1990 ~ “Meet Me St Louis” closed at Gershwin Theater NYC after 253 performances
• 1992 ~ Hachidal Nakamura, Composer, died at the age of 61 of heart failure
• 1996 ~ Thirtyth Music City News Country Awards: Alan Jackson
• 2001 ~ Pianist Yaltah Menuhin, last of three famous siblings whose musical talents brought them fame at an early age, died at the age of 79. Yaltah, the youngest, and her sister Hepzibah, also a pianist, did not achieve the international renown of their brother, the violinist Yehudi Menuhin. But they often appeared with him in concerts around the world, including the Bath Festival in Britain, where Yehudi was artistic director in the 1960s. Yaltah Menuhin was born in San Francisco, to Russian-Jewish parents. Like her siblings, she began studying music as a child, and moved about the world performing. Her brother was astonishing audiences with his virtuosity by the age of 7. Yaltah Menuhin and her husband, pianist Joel Ryce, often performed together as a duo in the United States, and she also performed with violist Michael Mann.
• 2001 ~ Harold S. Grossbardt, a founder of Colony Records, the famed record collector’s store in Manhattan, died at the age of 85. Grossbardt founded the store in 1948 with his partner, Sidney Turk, and the shop quickly became popular with music lovers. Hundreds of musicians, including Frank Sinatra, John Lennon and Michael Jackson, shopped at the store. Grossbardt worked at Colony Records until his retirement in 1988.
• 2004 ~ US singer, songwriter Ray Charles died aged 73. Glaucoma rendered Charles blind at the age of six. He scored the 1962 UK & US No.1 single ‘I Can’t Stop Loving You’ plus over 30 other US Top 40 singles and the 2005 US No.1 album ‘Genius Loves Company.’ Charles who was married twice and fathered twelve children by nine different women appeared in the 1980 hit movie, The Blues Brothers was also the winner of 17 Grammy Awards.
• 1361 ~ Philippe de Vitry, French Composer and poet, died at the age of at 69
• 1656 ~ Thomas Tomkins, Composer, died
• 1717 ~ Louis Le Quointe, Composer, died at the age of 64
• 1810 ~ (Carl) Otto (Ehrenfried) Nicolai, Composer
More information about Nicolai
• 1828 ~ Carlo Marsili, Composer
• 1829 ~ Gaetano Braga, Composer
• 1832 ~ Manuel Garcia, Composer, died at the age of 57
• 1849 ~ Joseph Vezina, Composer
• 1849 ~ The term recital used for the first time to describe a solo performance by an instrumental player. The first recitalist was Franz Liszt
• 1865 ~ Carl Nielsen, Danish composer and conductor
More information about Nielsen
• 1865 ~ Alberic Magnard, Composer
• 1870 ~ Erik Drake, Composer, died at the age of 82
• 1879 ~ Oscar Back, Austrian-Dutch viola player
• 1886 ~ Kusaku Yamada, Composer
• 1888 ~ Hugo Kauder, Composer
• 1890 ~ The opera “Robin Hood” premiered in Chicago
• 1891 ~ Cole Porter, American composer and and lyricist for the musical theater. His many famous musicals include “Anything Goes”, “Kiss Me Kate” and “Can Can”.
More information about Porter
• 1892 ~ Friedrich Wilhelm Langhans, Composer, died at the age of 59
• 1900 ~ Fred Waring, Musician, conductor and inventor of the Waring Blender
• 1991 ~ Max van Praag, Dutch singer, died at the age of 77
• 1992 ~ Clarence Miller, Blues/jazz vocalist, died at the age of 69 of a heart attack
• 1993 ~ Arthur Alexander, Singer/songwriter, died at the age of 53
• 1995 ~ Frank Chacksfield, Conductor/arranger, died at the age of 81
• 2000 ~ Jazz bassist Burgher “Buddy” Jones, who played in big bands behind Peggy Lee and Frank Sinatra and toured with Harry James and Tommy Dorsey, died at the age of 76. A native of Hope, Ark., Jones was a childhood friend of the late Virginia Kelley, mother of President Clinton. At 17, Jones went to the University of Kansas City, where he met and befriended saxophonist Charlie Parker. Jones later introduced Parker to his wife, Chan. Jones played in the Elliot Lawrence band, when its arrangers included Al Cohn, Tiny Kahn and Johnny Mandel. As a staff musician for CBS in New York in the 1950s and 1960s, Jones played for the Jack Sterling radio show and in bands behind Lee and Sinatra. In 1996, Jones was inducted into the Arkansas Jazz Hall of Fame.
Renowned pianist and conductor Daniel Barenboim has unveiled a new type of piano, which he says is a “sound alternative” to the standard concert grand piano that has not undergone much change over a century.
Barenboim, 72, launched the instrument at the Royal Festival Hall here on Tuesday, in advance of his Schubert recital series.
Declaring the new piano a “sound alternative”, Barenboim said: “I’ve fallen in love with it and I want to spend as much time with it as possible.”
The exterior of the new piano looks much the same as any other modern concert grand piano, but inside, there are some dramatic differences, The Guardian reported.
Designed by the Belgian instrument-maker Chris Maene, the Barenboim has straight parallel strings instead of the diagonal-crossed ones of a contemporary piano. The wooden soundboard veins go in different directions. The bridges, ribs and bracings are specially designed and the hammers and strings have been repositioned.
Barenboim, currently heading Berlin’s flagship opera house, the State Opera, said he intended to perform the entire series on the new piano.
Modern pianos have become highly standardised, with few changes to their fundamental design over the past 100 years.
They are largely cross-strung, with the bass strings crossing over the middle and treble strings in an “X” pattern, allowing the sound to be concentrated on the centre of the soundboard.
He developed his idea with Belgian instrument maker Chris Maene, with support from Steinway & Sons.
As well as the straight strings, the Barenboim-Maene piano features a double bridge and horizontal soundboard veins.
According to a press release, the piano “combines the touch, stability, and power of a modern piano with the transparent sound quality and distinguishable colour registers of more historic instruments”.
Pianist Gwendolyn Mok, who plays an 1875 straight-strung Erard piano, has said that such instruments possess superior clarity.
“If you look inside your own piano, you will notice that the strings are all crossing each other,” she told the San Francisco Examiner in 2013.
“With the straight strung piano you get distinct registral differences – almost like listening to a choir where you have the bass, tenor, alto, and soprano voices.
“It is very clear and there is no blending or homogenizing of the sound. It therefore gives you huge opportunities in experimenting with colour.”
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