Well I've been off the boards for a bit but I did hear a rumor that there might be some sort of gathering going up Plays & Improv's way .

MrCathys and I and our two boys made the trek up north and it was well worth it. Plays & Improv are absolutely wonderful hosts!! We got to hear some beautiful playing as always, including some cello, french horn & guitar! I didn't realize how much I'd missed hearing all the latest going ons and got some time to visit with Bernard & Jon getting caught up on all the latest goings on PianoAgain plays the cello beautifully and had a few different partners to accompany her. I was lucky to be charmed again by Maryanna & Muffin and some piano duets. Before I embarrass myself with leaving out or missing the name of pieces played I'll just post some pics.

Part of the wonderful spread


PianoAgain





Maryanna, Piano*Dad, Lori


Plays and Bernard


Maryanna & Muffin




Piano*Son





Guess Who??



Jon


Improv


Plays & Daughter enjoying



We had a fantastic dinner afterwards and then headed back south to Hampton Roads! We couldn't have asked for a better way to spend the afternoon/evening with great music and fun people! Thank you Plays & Improv!!!!

Cathys


PS - I think there was a Piano Party first with a virtual attendee via webcam, Pianolicious <sp>

Cathy, you played like an angel yesterday. Thank you for coming and sharing your music!

I think we had several piano party "firsts" -- interaction via webcam with Pianolicious (can't remember his new handle, sorry) where he played his organ for us, a lovely Bach piece which I can't remember the name of, and the piano -- we were able to watch him and listen, then he listened and watched us here.

Also, I'm not sure there's ever been a party with such a variety of instruments -- piano, cello, French horn and guitar. It was a real treat to hear them all!

Lastly, the party didn't wind down until 1:30 in the morning! I don't think Jon got a whole lot of sleep, and he's probably back in his bed at home in a coma right now.

i love piano party pictures.

How elegant everything looks!

Just the right background for a music event...

The dining room and food look delish, the LR came out perfect, the players, well...we all know how good they are!

Playsagain, the second pic with your hair (looking) 'up' flatters you. I wish I could have heard you playing your cello, as it is such a beautiful instrument.

Jon, the blue sneakers again, huh? What did you play?

Did Improv sing?

Cathy, I hope someone took pics of you too!

Sorry....who is Lori?

PD, did you play solo as well? Did PS enjoy himself?

WOW! Pianolicious, aka USAPT, what a treat that must have been. You are always up on the latest technological stuff. I am impressed!

Thanks for sharing the pics and event with us. It must have been a 'high'!

lilylady,
I'm so terrible remembering what everyone played so I'll let others answer on that note. Lori was a local friend of Plays'. It really was so much fun, definitely still a high to get to visit and hear everyone play during these get togethers!

Cathys

PS Not sure if I managed to avoid every camera, there were a lot of them out and I'm sure more pics will be forthcoming

For now here's a little video clip I got of the cello PianoAgain & Bernard

Thanks again to Plays and Improv for hosting this wonderful event. We had a great time, even if we didn't stay until 1:00 A.M.


Lilylady,

I did indeed play a couple of solo pieces. If I have time, I'll put one in the upcoming recital (my Debussy 'Girl').

One of the most surprising things for me was that Piano*Son got up and did some sight reading with Piano Again on her amazing cello! Sight work scares the heck out of me. Doing it publicly squares that feeling.

It looks like everyone had a wonderful time! I wish I could have been there.

Plays and Improv, your house looks beautiful--elegant but not stuffy. It looks like the perfect place for an event like last night.

And the 1:30am end time? That's proof of how good the party was!

quote:

Originally posted by Cathys:

For now here's a little video clip I got of the cello PianoAgain & Bernard

Cool!

quote:

Originally posted by Cathys:
lilylady,
For now here's a little video clip I got of the cello PianoAgain & Bernard

Wow - how cool is that! I've never been in a room where someone was playing a cello. Awesome!

Always good to see the kids at these parties. What did Piano*son play on the French Horn?

Plays, your house looks lovely! And the food looks wonderful!

This photo needs to be framed and displayed:

Wow! Looks like great fun. Thanks so much for posting the pix and clip. PA and Bernard, the cello/piano piece sounds wonderful.

I was a virtual guest at the party for an hour or so.

The webcam was sitting on a chair in the room behind the piano through the doorway so my vantage point was butt-level.

I could see the backs of everyone playing.

I met Bernard, and jon-nyc and Piano*Son, Piano*Dad, Plays and Improv and said hi to Mary Anna.

First of all, Piano*Son should change his name to Piano*Prodigy. Piano*Dad is just as much of a wild and crazy guy in person as he is on line.

jon*nyc, when he plays, reminds me of Demi Moore with the pottery wheel in "Ghost." It's like he's playing a theramin or charming a snake. Very into it. Although I could only see his back I could tell he was playing with his ears first and eyes second.

Bernard said Hi too. And played A LOT. He's such a cool cat.

I want to know who the gal was in the orange top with the white clam-diggers. That lady could PLAY. My goodness she was a godowsky-ette.

I kept yelling asking who she was but couldn't hear the answer.

When people were done playing, I wanted to make sure my gratitude was adequately expressed, so this is what they heard coming from the computer, which I think freaked some of the players out:

APPLAUSE TRACK

Thanks for the fun time.

WOWOW!!

This looks like it was a grand affair, fer sure! I am sorry I had to miss it. I do hope to make one in the future, though.

Great pics, great music, great friends - what more could one ask for?

Looks like it was indeed a classy and intimate event. The pics are great.

Imporv, what did you play on guitar and what is in your mouth?

What a great party! Thank you to Plays and Improv for being such hosts!


As Plays mentioned one of the great things about this party was the variety of instruments. We had lots of piano-cello duets, piano-horn, and even cello-guitar. This last was surprisingly nice - Improv and PianoAgain played some Scottish folk music followed by Norwegian Wood and even parts of Stairway to Heaven. I have pictures of them playing together but its a real shame the audio wasn't recorded.

Besides being a gracious and attentive hostess, Plays played a lovely late Schumann piece shes working on, and some Mozart and a Bach invention.


It was great seeing Mary Anna and her lovely daughter Muffin, who has a grace and charm beyond her years. They played a number of duets, including one familiar looney tunes arrangement and part of Ravel's mother goose suite.

Quick funny aside - when I was telling Rachel that Mary Anna's daughter would be there (using her real name) Rachel said - 'you mean the one who made us the muffins?' She was surprised to hear there are three forumites who's screen names can be traced back to that day.

Muffin also played a few solo pieces, including a lovely performance of an arrangement of Gershwin's Rhapsody in Blue.

Mary Anna played a Brahms intermezzo (118/2) and one of the Chopin Op. 28 preludes.

CathyS was there with her husband and sons (and that sweet Mini Cooper!), all of whom I had met at Mary Anna's in February (I'd met Cathy a couple of times before that).

Cathy played Brahms G minor Rhapsody from Op 79, and a moving performance of one of Rachmaninoff's Etudes-Tableaux.

PianoAgain showed her amazing musicianship and versatility by performing solo piano as well as duet performances with her cello. She also played the most genres - from classical to folk music to rock favorites with Improv. Kudos to Bernard and Piano*Son who were pretty fearless in their sight-reading.

It was also nice to spend time with her husband again, who I had met twice previously in New York. He's a very interesting guy.

This was the first time I met Piano*Dad and Piano*Son. They are both excellent musicians! Piano*Son played parts of Schumann's Faschingsschwank aus Wein, some Mozart and a compelling interpretation of one of the Rachmanioff Op 23 preludes. Paino*Dad played a Mozart sonata and Debussy's La Fille aux Cheveux de Lin. Its a shame they couldn't join us for dinner, I didn't get a chance to talk to PD as much as I would have liked to.

Plays invited Lori, a lovely and talented friend of hers from Richmond. She is not a forumite but hopefully can be talked into becoming one. She played Schubert's F-minor impromptu from Op 90 and a Chopin Nocturne from Op 9. She's a great pianist and a nice dinner companion - I hope to see her at future parties.

Bernard's playing was fluid and emotive as usual, he played some new pieces he's working on, including Chopin's G minor ballade and a piece by Faure, as well as some old favorites. He also proved his courage sight reading piece after piece accompanying Piano*Again. No piano party would be the same without him.

The connection with Pianolicious was pretty cool - Improv and he set up a live two way connection using net meeting. I have a picture of the setup, I'll post it later along with some others. His applause track was really funny.


I also need to mention the star of the show, Plays' 2002 Steinway L. It is a gorgeous instrument, and the stanwoodized action was smooth and light and a pleasure to play.

Thanks again to Improv and Plays - they were fantastic hosts.

I'll post some photos later.