RobsHouse.net [Arichive] - Open Goldberg

100 Goldberg Variations - The Unboxing

robertDouglass — Fri, 18 Jan 2013 09:35:25 +0000

On a cold winter day in Germany, I received two boxes full of music. These are the last Open Goldberg Variations scores to be delivered to the project's backers. They're quite beautiful. You can order yours directly from the GRIN website.

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Kimiko's Goldberg Variations CD

robertDouglass — Mon, 03 Sep 2012 22:04:51 +0000

It's official - the Open Goldberg Variations Double CD, played by Kimiko Ishizaka, is available on Amazon. The final physical manifestation of this project has turned out beautifully, featuring many great photos of Kimiko, the dedications for all of the variations from the Kickstarter backers, and liner notes from both Andrew Melck and Kimiko herself. It looks quite nice on the CD rack and fits perfectly in those vintage machines that most of us still have lying around from the early days of digital music.

Buy one now, and you support Kimiko in her goal to record Bach's Well Tempered Clavier next. If you like it, give it a good review, and help others discover this music.

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Kimiko Ishizaka

Making Radio History with Wisconsin Public Radio

robertDouglass — Sat, 23 Jun 2012 15:47:23 +0000

Radio listeners in Wisconsin will have a special treat tomorrow (Sunday, June 24, 2012). They'll be the first-ever radio audience to experience a new score-following technology developed by MuseScore and SampleSumo. Wisconsin Public Radio is going to broadcast the entire 83 minutes of Kimiko Ishizaka's Open Goldberg Variations, and at the same time, invite listeners to watch the score by visiting the website opengoldberg.wpr.org. The score that appears in the browser is the new edition of the Goldbergs that was produced by Werner Schweer as a part of the Open Goldberg Variations project. I was interviewed by Norman Gilliland on WPR's "The Midday" show, discussing the new possibilities that MuseScore scores and score-following technology brings us. Here is that interview.

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Open Goldberg

I love Kimiko Ishizaka's Goldberg Variations!

robertDouglass — Mon, 28 May 2012 16:42:21 +0000

Today was an exciting day, as we released Kimiko's recording of the Goldberg Variations to the general public. For the past 20 months, this piece has consumed my existence, musically. Not only have I heard its many stages of development in Kimiko's hands, through numerous concerts, long hours of practice, and the five-day recording session in Berlin, but I've also scrutinized over a dozen other recordings of the piece by the great masters of the ages. Barely a day has gone by in more than year where I haven't listened to someone playing this marvelous work.

So what can I conclude from it all? First, it's an amazing creation. My love for Bach, and for this piece in particular, is overwhelming. The structure and nuance are endlessly fascinating, and the music is robust enough to support a broad range of interpretations. I have also concluded that more thought and precision went into Kimiko Ishizaka's recording than most of the other recordings on the shelf. She has taught me to listen for the small details, such as consistency of articulation, integrity of the line and voicing, and the urgency of making each repeat in each variation special in its own way, but without recomposing the music, drowning it in ornaments, or bending the expression gratuitously.

In short, I really love Kimiko's recording. It has become hard for me to listen to some other famous recordings because they sound aggressive, athletic, obvious, and untrue to Bach. They leave me wanting to go back and erase the memory by listening to Kimiko one more time.

Well, I know I'm biased. But that's OK, right? =)

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Music

Open Goldberg and MuseScore presenting at Classical:NEXT

robertDouglass — Sat, 07 Apr 2012 18:14:00 +0000

Classical:NEXT is a new music conference that will take place in May, in Munich. The movers and shakers of the classical world will be there in force, and it is being called "the big news in the classical music world". Kimiko Ishizaka, MuseScore, and I will be featured as a special presentation during this conference. In fact, we were given own category, and will be featured on the main stage of the Gasteig. Kimiko will one of only four solo artists to perform on the conference program. Naturally we're very honored and excited.

The presentation will be the public unveiling of the digital score and recording of Bach's Goldberg Variations that we've made together over the past 18 months. We will then do a special technical presentation of a new score following technology, provided by MuseScore and SampleSumo. Kimiko will play a section of the Goldberg Variations, and everybody in the room will be able to watch the score (the one we've created with MuseScore) as it follows along with her playing. The score will not only be projected onto the large screen, it will be available to everyone in the room with an internet capable device (granted the wifi is adequate). This amazing technology is only possible because we made the MuseScore version of the Goldberg Variations.

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Open Goldberg