Monday, August 24, 2020

The Bleeding Edge: 8/24/2020

Readers probably noticed the absence of a Bleeding Edge column last week. Some weeks are quieter than others. This week is slightly busier, but some of the activity involves revisiting archival material. Events that have already been reported are those taking place throughout this week as part of the San Francisco International Piano Festival (SFIPF).

The most adventurous of these will be Nicholas Phillips Presents #45 Miniatures Project: A Musical Protest. Phillips initiated a “Call for Scores” through Facebook. As described on the Festival events Web page, Phillips invited composers “to use anything related to our 45th President (tweets, speeches, etc.) as source material to create a miniature, or small collection of miniatures, for solo piano. These serve as commentary on, or reaction to, words, attitudes, policies, and general behavior that they find amusing, unacceptable, confusing, disturbing, and so on.” Phillips will present his results in a live-streamed performance that will begin at 7:30 p.m. on Tuesday, August 25. A YouTube Web page has already been created as the streaming site. Hopefully, the program of the works that Phillips will perform will be embedded on that Web page (but Phillips may simply announce each composition before playing it).

There are also two other programs that will be “synthesized” from archival YouTube sources. The first of these is a solo “recital” by Eunmi Ko entitled Night Music. The program consists of two video sources that were uploaded to YouTube on different occasions. The first half of the program was uploaded this past June 15; and it features “Nocturne after Stella by Starlight,” recently composed for Ko by John Liberatore. This portion of the program will begin with David Liptak’s “Star Light” and will conclude with “carambola” from Tyler Kline’s Orchard collection of miniatures, which was given its first performance by Ko on October 24, 2018. The program will also include Frédéric Chopin’s very first nocturne composition, the first of the three Opus 9 pieces, written in the key of B-flat minor. The second half of the program, uploaded on October 7, 2019, will be devoted entirely to Liptak’s nine-movement Constellations suite, each movement named for a constellation in the night sky that is not part of the zodiac. Both of these videos may be viewed at any time convenient to the viewer; but the “recital” has been “scheduled” for tonight, August 24, beginning at 7:30 p.m. Deal with it as you wish.

The other “synthesized” concert will revisit the program that Bobby Mitchell performed for the third annual SFIPF season. This took place almost exactly a year ago when Mitchell played at The Freight and Salvage in Berkeley on August 16, 2019. He played a single composition slightly longer than an hour in duration, the Songs of Insurrection collection by Frederic Rzewski. The video recording of this performance was uploaded to YouTube this past January 6 and can be viewed at any time. This “recital” has been “scheduled” for this coming Thursday, August 27, again at 7:30 p.m.

The one event that is not part of SFIPF will be the next live-stream from Bird & Beckett Books and Records. This will be a jazz duo gig, bringing keyboardist Scott R. Looney together with drummer André Custodio. This performance will be live-streamed through YouTube, and the Web page for the streaming site has already been created. The program will begin at 7:30 p.m. on Friday, August 28, and will last for about 90 minutes. There will be no charge for admission, but donations will be appreciated. Bird & Beckett has created a Web page through which online donations may be made.

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