Thank you so much for sharing this wonderful live performance of Paul Schoenfield's 'Cafe Music' on your TH-cam channel, Cole. I have read that 'Café Chantant" style music is seen as usually light-hearted, sometimes risqué and even bawdy, though different to the 'cabaret tradition' in that it is not particularly political or confrontational. Erin Dawson, writing in the 'Barista magazine' (!), notes the benefits of "soundtracking public spaces: in the same way that alcohol lubricates conversation, music allows coffee-shop dwellers an easy semblance of concealment. The combination of white noise and music affords us the kind of vulnerability we need when using a public space to do delicate things. A breakup, say, or essay writing, or just answering emails benefit from music because, somehow, music makes doing these things feel natural. A sense of flow pervades the space." Well, I would have been hard pressed to do anything but pay 100% attention to this music if I was listening to it in a café! Witty, sophisticated, multi-layered and technically demanding for the performers, this is anything but 'incidental' music: it is pure entertainment. BRAVO!
When I saw the title and the upload date I was expecting to get trolled by some Satiesque furniture music, but instead you treated us with a hidden gem. Unrelated to that, I’ve heard you mention Medtner and Scriabin a couple times now. Do you plan on doing videos on them and if so what speciic pieces do you have in mind?
Glad you liked it! I totally didn't even think of April fools this year... Yes definitely Medtner and Scriabin will make it on to the channel soon. I have a few larger works in mind to start with, such as Medtner's Sonata Reminiscenza, and Scriabin's Sonata no 5, but open to other ideas as well.
@@TheIndependentPianist Ah somehow I completely missed this comment, or just as likely I just forgot to respond. I love both sonatas to death, especially Scriabin’s 5th for all of it’s atrociously difficult depiction of flight and ecstasy. I look forward to them, I have no doubt that your comments and performances will give me new insight into the pieces. As far as suggestions I’ll start with Medtner. There are the two piano sonatas Op.53 and Night Wind Op.25 No.2, although with your busy schedule they would take a long time to put together due to how dense they are, especially the latter with its length and challenges putting Liszt’s sonata to shame. You could select a handful of pieces from his forgotten melodies and skazki, especially since you’ve already settled on a sonata from the former. Honestly there are very few pieces from Medtner I wouldn’t be thrilled to see, his music is horribly overlooked in favor of a certain fellow Russian romantic composer. For Scriabin, the two dances Op.73 are a standout from his lesser known late miniatures. Then there are the piano sonatas and Vers la flamme. Again any of them are worth a go, but the ones that stand out to me aside from 5 are 8 9 and Vers la flamme. Sonata 9 is possibly the most demonic sounding out of the 10, Vers la flamme is the gradual accumulation of heat leading up to the death of the planet. I’ll put emphasis on sonata 8, it’s by far the most enigmatic and complicated piece he wrote for solo piano, almost like a living organism or being in a dream like state. Finally you’ve probably heard the 4th sonata, it’s right at the start of his transition into his more mystical and harmonically ambiguous language and rivals the 5th in terms of sheer ecstasy and flight.
Awesome!!! 👏👏👏 Thank you for sharing, Cole. My daughter (violin) thoroughly enjoyed collaborating with you on the Franck last summer. My son (cello) is looking forward to attending Center Stage Strings this summer.
th-cam.com/video/m48SXVICa6o/w-d-xo.html
hear the composer play it!
Thank you so much for sharing this wonderful live performance of Paul Schoenfield's 'Cafe Music' on your TH-cam channel, Cole. I have read that 'Café Chantant" style music is seen as usually light-hearted, sometimes risqué and even bawdy, though different to the 'cabaret tradition' in that it is not particularly political or confrontational. Erin Dawson, writing in the 'Barista magazine' (!), notes the benefits of "soundtracking public spaces: in the same way that alcohol lubricates conversation, music allows coffee-shop dwellers an easy semblance of concealment. The combination of white noise and music affords us the kind of vulnerability we need when using a public space to do delicate things. A breakup, say, or essay writing, or just answering emails benefit from music because, somehow, music makes doing these things feel natural. A sense of flow pervades the space." Well, I would have been hard pressed to do anything but pay 100% attention to this music if I was listening to it in a café! Witty, sophisticated, multi-layered and technically demanding for the performers, this is anything but 'incidental' music: it is pure entertainment. BRAVO!
This so lovely!! Very Cathy:) made my day as always!👋💃🏽
When I saw the title and the upload date I was expecting to get trolled by some Satiesque furniture music, but instead you treated us with a hidden gem. Unrelated to that, I’ve heard you mention Medtner and Scriabin a couple times now. Do you plan on doing videos on them and if so what speciic pieces do you have in mind?
Glad you liked it! I totally didn't even think of April fools this year... Yes definitely Medtner and Scriabin will make it on to the channel soon. I have a few larger works in mind to start with, such as Medtner's Sonata Reminiscenza, and Scriabin's Sonata no 5, but open to other ideas as well.
@@TheIndependentPianist Ah somehow I completely missed this comment, or just as likely I just forgot to respond. I love both sonatas to death, especially Scriabin’s 5th for all of it’s atrociously difficult depiction of flight and ecstasy. I look forward to them, I have no doubt that your comments and performances will give me new insight into the pieces.
As far as suggestions I’ll start with Medtner. There are the two piano sonatas Op.53 and Night Wind Op.25 No.2, although with your busy schedule they would take a long time to put together due to how dense they are, especially the latter with its length and challenges putting Liszt’s sonata to shame. You could select a handful of pieces from his forgotten melodies and skazki, especially since you’ve already settled on a sonata from the former. Honestly there are very few pieces from Medtner I wouldn’t be thrilled to see, his music is horribly overlooked in favor of a certain fellow Russian romantic composer.
For Scriabin, the two dances Op.73 are a standout from his lesser known late miniatures. Then there are the piano sonatas and Vers la flamme. Again any of them are worth a go, but the ones that stand out to me aside from 5 are 8 9 and Vers la flamme. Sonata 9 is possibly the most demonic sounding out of the 10, Vers la flamme is the gradual accumulation of heat leading up to the death of the planet. I’ll put emphasis on sonata 8, it’s by far the most enigmatic and complicated piece he wrote for solo piano, almost like a living organism or being in a dream like state. Finally you’ve probably heard the 4th sonata, it’s right at the start of his transition into his more mystical and harmonically ambiguous language and rivals the 5th in terms of sheer ecstasy and flight.
@@tonphammusic Thanks for these! I will definitely take your recommendations into account as I am planning repertoire for the future.
Awesome!!! 👏👏👏 Thank you for sharing, Cole. My daughter (violin) thoroughly enjoyed collaborating with you on the Franck last summer. My son (cello) is looking forward to attending Center Stage Strings this summer.
Just had dinner at Murray's 2 days ago with a composer friend who told me about this piece and the origin of its conception.
Beautiful performance!:-):-)
A joy, thank you.
🙏🌹🙏