(#3 of 3) Imagine: You're outside and the moon is out

After reading Liz's thorough blog recollecting all the humorous incidents from our last video shoot (see the video posted below), I'm not sure what I could add, but I'll give it a shot.

I'm proud of Liz. She purchased a "Hello Kitty" lunch box, pretty pink bows, and the tackiest dress you-ever-did-see with admirable courage, but she deserves an apology from me. Liz, I'm sorry I didn't help. I'm sorry I stood five feet from the cash register, pointed my finger and laughed hysterically.

Of course, Liz found herself in even more compromising situations. She spent a good 20 minutes dashing about the New Haven train station while flailing her arms and shouting, "Seriously, this is not a chain letter! It really works!" "Seriously" people, does it really work? Have any of you actually seen your crush's name appear on the screen after pasting the message into three comments?

One of my favorite scenes was the one in which Liz sat at a piano and sweetly instructed Rubinstein to put more feeling in his fingers. There was something about being there in the same room that nearly made me wet my pants. Finding myself completely unable to withhold my laughter, I silently began to pant and wheeze my way into the back room. (I didn't want to disturb her concentration or ruin the shoot!) Unfortunately, en route, Liz started to demonstrate what it meant to "play with one's fingers," playing the Moonlight sonata as if she had never seen a piano before. It was the final straw; I completely exploded. This is only one of several such examples.

A rather embarrassing situation of my own: portraying a split personality (an extremely flamboyant homosexual and a curse-laden scumbucket) in front of streams of passersby. Thankfully, we were in New York City, and very few people seemed to notice anything out of the ordinary.

Alas! The things we do for our art.

I’m going to go tend to my battle wounds - that bench in Riverside park really left a scar!

(#2 of 3) Imagine: You're outside and the moon is out.

Hello, everyone! It's Liz here to report on some of the more laughable moments we encountered while producing this video. (WATCH the video in the post below).

This video was by far the wackiest to create. We conjured up a variety of costumes, hairstyles, accents, accessories, and locations just to add some "color" to the comments. (In hindsight, most of the comments were incredible enough to stand on their own!) Knowing that this video might be regarded as controversial, we had no pretensions of portraying anyone specific; the characterizations were meant to be broad and even caricature-like in order to emphasize the over-the-top nature of the commentary.

This isn't to say that we didn't suffer for our art, however: for example, Greg actually injured himself badly during a scene (his unscripted fall is actually included in the video, if you watch closely enough!), and I had to endure stares from the constantly-streaming crowds and busy traffic at Columbus Circle as I vapidly vamped for the camera. Greg and I inserted lots of amusing and import-laden details which you may have already noticed: a wind-up Beethoven toy that plays the "Moonlight" Sonata, my own tattered Beethoven scores, a "Hello Kitty" lunchbox, a T-shirt featuring the periodic table of elements, a copy of the Village Voice tucked under my arm, our "simultaneous" appearance onscreen and on the computer screen (incidentally, the background music is a composite of our own renditions), a purposeful allusion to Peter Jackson's brilliant Lord of the Rings, and much more...

Although the comments themselves were directly quoted—with grammatical errors intact—we often ad-libbed to get ourselves into character. My personal faves to play were the Minnesotan couple (check out a selection of improv bloopers at the end of the video) and the business woman (I admit, it was liberating to escape my mild-mannered disposition and act short-tempered for once!). And of course, we had the best time making fun of the Anderson & Roe Piano Duo in a particular scene.

Was all this nonsense worth it? Well, if viewers like you get a kick out of it, then we're satisfied!

(#1 of 3) Imagine: You're outside and the moon is out.

This summer, we spent three weeks preparing to record our upcoming CD. This was all quite serious and intense, so we decided to spice things up and film a new music video. There was never a dull moment--in general, when the two of us start throwing ideas around, mischief inevitably ensues. We threw caution--and our dignity--to the wind, and we had great fun spoofing the YouTube culture that we've grown to love. (Watch the video below!)

The music: The "Moonlight" Sonata, Op. 27, No. 2, by Ludwig van Beethoven

The location: Yale University, Greg's apartment, Liz's apartment, the New Haven train station, and NYC (112th and Broadway, Riverside Park, Columbus Circle, 110th and Broadway subway stop)

Greg in grey, Liz in black:

There is a new brand of music critic thriving in today's technological world, out in full force on the millions of comment boards littering the Internet. These informative sages are changing the way we listen to music with their critical observations of some of the world's best pianists. In this video, Liz and I dramatized actual comments posted on the YouTube website by just a few of these critics, offering their valuable advice to legendary pianists such as Artur Rubinstein, Vladimir Horowitz, Alfred Brendel, and Wilhelm Kempff. (Yes, a YouTube user did tell Rubinstein that he should play slower ... I mean, I'm sure Rubinstein cares ... we can just see him sitting at his computer taking notes ...)

Now don't take us wrong. We think user interaction is fantastic (see our website if you don't believe us). We just happen to find many of the comments on the YouTube website really, really funny, and at times, completely inappropriate.

Of course, it wouldn't hurt if more people would to listen to others (and interact with others) with an open mind. All performers bring something unique to the table. Is it not possible to lack judgment, postpone criticism, and simply enjoy the wonderful differences in interpretation? Listen for what you love, not what you hate.

That said, here's the video:



P.S. The video originally began with a mockery of my solo videos (my Ligeti and Bach videos) in which I rather dramatically instructed the viewer to "Imagine: You're outside and the moon is out." It was really funny (and pretty embarrassing), but only to people who had seen my other videos. Along with a number of other scenes, it ultimately got the chop.

Quick Suggestion for Bookmarkers

We've noticed quite a few of you bookmarking our blog. In fact, we're quite flattered that you would consider keeping tabs on us on a regular basis!

For those of you who do, we'd like to offer a quick suggestion: bookmark our news page. Here's the link:

http://www.andersonroe.net/news.php

At the top of the page you'll see our most current updates, such as new responses to user-submitted questions, changes to our schedule, additions to the site (such as new videos), recent reviews, and of course, notifications of our latest blog entries.

Tuxedos by Steinway & Vodka by Chopin

Flanked by flickering shutters, members of the press, and mannequins wearing tuxedos valued at over $7,500, Elizabeth and I gave each other one of those looks ("...just how did we get ourselves into another one of these fabulously outrageous circumstances?") and plunged into our standard four-hand repertoire with our usual unassailable gusto. Steinway & Sons had invited Anderson & Roe to perform as the featured performers at their black tie event, celebrating none other than their new line of concert wear for men. The tuxes looked seriously awesome (next time, I hope they'll consider fitting me in one of those marvels of modern fashion), and Liz and I were happy to help celebrate the event at Steinway Hall.

We played at the end of the party, after the speeches took place, after the models showcased their new attire, and after the crowd had enjoyed plenty of Chopin vodka. Perhaps the timing was to our advantage because everyone was in a good mood; we certainly did our best to make the evening a little merrier.

I'll try to post a picture in the next couple days. You've got to see Liz's dress! She looked so hot!! The strongly-hued silk, the paisley-patterned sequins, the lace-covered slits, ah!!! I wasn't alone in my thinking - the emcee (some amazing football star whose name we've rather embarrassingly forgotten) thought Liz looked hot too. His speech following our performance made several references to "that hot girl over there in blue."

enGROSSEd (I love puns...)

Hey everyone,

It's Liz here, captivated by a US Open match between Roger Federer and Andy Roddick. Watching excellent tennis on TV is a nice way to finish off a day of traversing the gnarled, craggy contours of Beethoven's Grosse Fuge. Greg and I performed Beethoven's very own four-hand arrangement at Juilliard's Convocation this afternoon, in honor of Juilliard's recent acquisition of the long-lost manuscript. The manuscript itself is a fascinating document, revealing the frustration—creative and otherwise—of Beethoven as he was penning the four-hand version. As sloppy and illegible as the manuscript is, Beethoven's radical vision and genius burn through.

Regarding the performance, Greg and I did our best to make sense of the abstruseness of the score. Unfortunately we didn't have nearly enough time to rehearse due to all sorts of conflicts (i.e. travels, solo recitals, apartment business, the wedding of one of our best friends, etc., etc.). But excuses are ultimately useless because this is notoriously difficult music, and putting this together would have been challenging regardless! Despite our frantic preparation process and the complications of this version, the performance went quite well and I have to say we ended up loving the piece!