On the Bench: A&R conversation with Lara Downes

We chatted with pianist Lara Downes by Skype a few weeks ago in preparation for our upcoming release party in Brooklyn. (Don't miss it! May 22nd.) The conversation was fun and unique -- since she, herself, is a pianist, it was different than the usual newspaper interview. In any case, she has posted the chat on her blog for all to enjoy.

In Lara's words,

Anderson & Roe is not:
1) A law firm
2) A figure skating pair
3) Married (to each other)
4) Your typical piano duo

And they don't wear "matching dresses." (Glad we got that out of the way!)

Enjoy the interview here!

"Driven"

Greg is one of the six artists profiled in Nick Romeo's new book, "Driven" (-- and by default, Liz is profiled too!). Check it out! (And yes, that's Liz on the cover.) 

"Two is Company" - A&R featured in Clavier Companion!

We're on the cover of this month's "Clavier Companion." The corresponding article is spot-on: Nick Romeo (the author) actually "gets" us, our mission, and our artistic pursuits, and he swirls it all together into a mighty read! Kudos to Nick!
 

We need batteries, duct tape, and a flashlight,” said Greg Anderson, a doctoral candidate in the piano department at Yale University. Greg and I were walking to a thrift store in downtown New Haven with Elizabeth Joy Roe, Greg’s friend and partner in the Anderson & Roe Piano Duo. “Are we going to be destroying anything in slow motion?” Liz asked, in a serious voice. “We can bring that lamp I don’t want,” Greg said. Arriving at the New Haven Salvation Army, they fanned out and searched the aisles for flared jeans, bell bottoms, tapered shirts with pointed collars, anything reminiscent of the 1970s. Greg found a marigold shirt with a brown floral pattern and a pointed collar that fit him perfectly. He made for the register. “I haven’t seen one of these in a long time,” the cashier said as he counted out change.

 

In a few hours, Greg and Liz were shooting footage for a music video of their two-piano paraphrase of the Bee Gees song Stayin’ Alive.

... Greg and Liz take an iconoclastic pleasure in smashing through the stereotype of classical music as a tame and harmless anachronism. They want audiences to have powerful, visceral reactions to their music. After hearing their exuberantly virtuosic take on Strauss’ Blue Danube Waltz at a concert in Oregon, one woman in the audience leapt to her feet and shouted “Now that’s a waltz!”

Read the entire article here.

"Liz, my friend, is not my lover..."

Whaaaa?? 

I mean, "Billie Jean is not my lover." :-)

Michael Jackson's "Billie Jean" provided Liz and me with endless amounts of fun. I know, I know; it sounds like a terrible idea on paper -- "Billie Jean" for a classical piano duo?!? My older brother suggested the idea in 2007, and I tossed it around for a few years before deciding to give it a go. I knew a direct transcription of the original would almost be disrespectful... nothing could ever fully recreate Michael Jackson's legendary performance. Instead, we decided to follow our own artistic path, using Jackson's wonderfully fertile musical material as inspiration.

I'm quite thrilled with the result! It's at once modernist, rhythmic, offbeat, and "classical."

We had a blast conceiving and producing the music video. Anna Whistler, our incomparable camerawoman and friend, turned the stage into a dance floor, and before we knew it, we had fantastic footage of our dancing shadows to splice into the final cut. Ultimately, however, we decided on a more understated tone for the video (in contrast to some of our others)... keeping it classy for MJ. Also, a special shout out to Smith College and Yale alumniVentures for helping to make the music video possible.
 

Austin's Question

Dear Greg & Liz,
I love your playing. You inspired me to write a duet! So how long did it take you to write Libertango? Did you guys just sit down one day and say, "Let's rewrite a song," or what? I JUST bought the Browns' new CD [with Greg's compositions and arrangements] by the way. Love your vids!
Austin

Dear Austin,

Thanks for all your kind words! It's always nice to hear that other people love watching and listening to us as much as we love playing together.

"What prompted us to start 're-writing' music?" The answer isn't so simple, but it stems from a desire to take a piece and make it our own. Sometimes we re-imagine music to help keep that which we love relevant to audiences today. Sometimes we do it because there isn't much music our there that suits our distinct style. Sometimes we do it to showcase our personal strengths. Sometimes to give audiences a sense of our personal relationship with the music. Sometimes it's the simple desire to perform music not originally intended for piano that leads us to arrange music.

"How long does it take to compose our music?" The Libertango arrangement was created pretty hastily. We started writing on a Sunday, started practicing the next Thursday, and we performed it two days later, on Saturday. Our Star Wars Fantasy is essentially an original composition based on a few familiar themes, and as such, it took much, much longer to compose. We started composing in February of 2006, didn't sleep for two months, and finished composing the piece on the day of the performance in early April that same year. Greg will tell you that composing (and arranging) for five pianos takes even longer. His Fantasia on "Dives and Lazarus" took six solid months to compose!

Be sure to watch for our CD release (featuring many of our original compositions and arrangements!) later this November!

reimagination, obsession

The time has come: our debut album "Reimagine" is finally here! We are proud to unveil Trailer #1:

Being immersed in the CD release process has prompted me to think about what drives Greg and me as performers and creators. The other day I was reading The New York Times and I came across this article on Keira Knightley. Something she was quoted as saying struck a chord with me:

“ 'Sorry,' she said. 'But if you’re going to be part of this business, I think you have to be a little bit like this. You have to be a bit obsessed.'”

In my opinion, her comment totally applies to a life in music (or in any of the arts) as well: if you're going to be a musician, you have to be a bit obsessed. Though I generally believe in balance and moderation, there is no denying that the creative process has this unique, ineluctable power to overcome, enthrall and consume me. And this always happens when Greg and I work together.

For instance, last night we stayed up until the wee hours of the morning finishing up the trailer video. As I took care of various CD release matters I couldn't stop glancing over at Greg's computer and laughing gleefully at the creation emerging before our eyes. While marveling at Greg's brilliant movie-making skills, I continuously offered my own two cents (which probably annoyed him!). And when we looked at the clock and noticed that it was the hour when most decent citizens of the world start their day, we were too wired to care; time really does fly when you're having fun!

So yes, we're obsessed with music and with bringing our artistic ideas to life, but really, we're just like two kids who are having such a great time playing that time and worries and limitations just fade into oblivion. EJR

P.S. Greg really does want to write to all of you, but since he's been busy with the videos and other pieces of business, I have been the resident blogger of late. We both hope you enjoy our new album—buy it now at CD Baby!

Jennifer's Question

Dear Greg & Liz,
I'm curious about your upcoming debut album! Why did you guys choose Reimagine as your album title? What is its significance and what messages would you like your album to convey? I'm really excited about the album and can't wait to hear more information about it! :)
- Jennifer

Dear Jennifer,

We're really excited about the album too! We poured vast amounts of energy, time, expense, and love into the album and we are proud of the result.

The title, "Reimagine," was inevitable. We've reimagined virtually everything we do as a piano duo, and we wanted our album to convey our unique approach to classical music.

Most notably, we've reimagined the music we play: everything on the album is composed or arranged by us (other than our intense rendition of The Rite of Spring, which is itself a reimagining of the orchestral version). This reimagining of music occurs in a variety of ways. For example, consider our two versions of Danse macabre: the CD begins with our "Remix" of Danse macabre; it's a complete departure from the original and an entirely new work in our distinctive musical language, although it employs the familiar motives from Saint-Saëns's Danse macabre and Fossils. The CD concludes with a much more traditional approach to the piece; we honor the spirit of the original but recreate the music according to the strengths of our instrumentation.

Of course, we haven't just reimagined the music we play. We've reimagined the concept of four hands at one piano; we treat one piano/four-hands as not only something suited to domestic life, but as something with huge potential for the grand concert stage. We've reimagined our approach to the presentation of classical music (view our music videos for an example of this!). We've reimagined the nature of a piano duo relationship. Unlike most piano duos, our relationship is not defined by family or romance, but by friendship -- a friendship that shapes our collaborations as composers, performers, and creators -- a friendship that yields awesome adrenaline and joy. And finally, we reimagined our concept of a classical music album. We approached our album as independent producers (without the backing of a record label) so that we could retain complete artistic control over the album's content, design, and marketing. The album contains exciting repertoire that we love (and that we composed ourselves!), a bonus DVD featuring several of our YouTube videos, expansive and beautifully designed packaging, and short commentary written by us about our approach to music ("reimagine!"), about the nature of music listening, and about the beauty of collaboration. Heck, we've even prepared action-packed, movie-styled trailers to help publicize the album!

What is the significance of the album and what messages would we like it to convey? This album will defy your expectations on all levels; it is shocking, exciting, revolutionary, and sophisticated, and it will resonate with you in a personal and powerful way. What is the music about? It's about the human experience, it's about racing heartbeats and physical friction, it's about the passions that undulate beneath the restraint of daily life, about the timelessness of dreams, the manic states of being, the unrest of our current times...

The official release date is January 15, 2008. Subscribers to the mailing list will be able to purchase the CD earlier.

recording madness

Hello, readers—I'm back from my blogging break (which elapsed not out of neglect, just sheer busyness!). I hope you're all having a snazzy autumn thus far. I love the vibrant colors and melancholic mood of the fall season, but not the shortening of daylight!

Despite our separate commitments this fall (Greg with his doctoral courses/dissertation work/composing, me with my solo recitals/Ensemble ACJW concerts/teaching), Greg and I have been consistently and painstakingly working on our forthcoming album. Greg and I are going indie-style with this whole recording thing. It's great to have nearly complete autonomy over all elements of the production (the repertoire, editing, design, etc.), but it's also a time-consuming, creatively-challenging process. In any case, it's really fitting that Greg and I are going the independent route with our "debut" CD because we're free-spirited individualists at heart, and we've always been fully involved in all aspects of our professional output, whether it be the website, YouTube videos, programming, or compositions. This recording has given us the opportunity to take artistic chances, and we've had a lot of fun (well, stress-laced fun!) along the way: spending hours on end with our fabulous recording engineer Joe Patrych in his Bronx studio; writing about what this music means to us (while trying to stay within a word limit—a nightmare for me!); filtering through photo after photo of us atop a mountain; sharing design concepts; either being impressed, dismayed, or surprised at what we sound like on record!

The recording process is a highly collaborative one, and it is our hope that this album embodies the nexus of our ideas and ideals, our imaginings and efforts, our intensity and joy. EJR

(#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!