Greg & Liz on March 2, 2011 A fan had a little fun with our recording of Libertango by double-timing it, and we love it! It sounds a bit like a "groovy dance mix." This is just a musical joke, so no fair getting any undies in a bunch; you can purchase the original on iTunes. :-)
Libertango, humor, recording Greg & Liz on January 12, 2011 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!
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!”
Liz on December 30, 2008 Dear Greg and Liz,
I was just sent your wondrously passionate Libertango from someone I want to love but has a long-distance (American) lover. I'm assuming she (a Koren) and I (a Canadian) will become special friends. But as the 'other' man, I want to seek those remote possibilites. I've just spent an hour trying to decifer every important word by the 'narrator' but missing the complete. Would you kindly send me the proper wordage. I can, at least, give it (plus your CD) to her as a friend's Christmas present. Please hurry, if you can, 'cause time is running out on a move to win her over.
- Alun Josef Seguin
Dear Alun,
Thanks so much for your interesting question!
Here is the wording of the "Libertango" video. Contrary to what one might expect, the script is not from an actual textbook or lecture; this brainy yet fictitious jargon was written exclusively for this video by a friend who has a science degree! It is simply a pseudo-scientific soliloquy filled with double entendres:
"...the force between two oppositely charged masses depends on the magnitude and distribution of charge in each body and the distance between them. The force is inversely proportioned to the square of the distance between the two bodies, resulting in moderate attraction when removed from one another but exponentially greater attraction when in close proximity...."
*performance*
"....towards one another and collide in a cycle whose duration depends on the elasticity of the collision. The bodies ultimately will come to rest together with the initial potential energy of their electrostatic attraction having been dissipated through the kinetic energy of their collision."
Enjoy and good luck with all your endeavors! ;)
Cheers and Happy New Year!
Libertango, music videos Greg on June 6, 2008 We receive a hefty number of wonderful emails, both positive and negative, and we thank everyone who takes the time to share their thoughts with us.
I admit, however, to taking offense when our artistic integrity is called into question. Our websites and videos have never been about show-biz, nor are they simply about virtuosity. They were not created as gimmicks or to be clever.
They were born out of an innate necessity.
Our websites, videos, performances, and compositions are an outcome of the spirit and joy inherent in music-making. They are the result of our desire to create real and authentic links with our audiences.
Our videos are not intended to be clever or “rock-style;” they are designed to enhance the meaning of the music performed. The "Pas de deux" video, for example, aims to intensify the intimacy and nostalgia already inherent in the music. Similarly, our video of the New Account of the Blue Danube Waltzes intends to visually dramatize what the music already conveys: as we wrote in our album’s liner notes, “our kaleidoscopic Blue Danube Fantasy takes the elegance of the Viennese waltz as a point of departure and plunges headlong into the passions that undulate beneath the dance's restrained facade.” We created the "Reimagine" trailers to represent, in a few short minutes, the impact and drama of the entire album and to encourage viewers to invest in the full production, just as a movie trailer intends to do.
Our compositions and arrangements are not pianistically challenging merely for the sake of virtuosity. For example, we wrote the hand crossings into our Libertango arrangement to visually communicate an element of danger: the racing heartbeats, the physical friction, and the charged chemistry between a pair of tango dancers. Many of our compositions and arrangements for four-hands are designed to withstand the demands of a 2000-seat concert hall, unlike so many works from the four-hand repertoire more suited for a living room; this also changes the way we approach the compositional process.
We do not select repertoire to be sensational; we select music that speaks to us, music that we love, and music that makes a statement. When asked to replace John Williams as composers for a Juilliard centennial concert, we chose to use the iconic Star Wars music as our source material for a very simple reason: we love the music. We really do. And we found great joy in making this music our own.
Our presence on the Internet is not simply about self-promotion; we maintain a strong presence on the Internet because we feel it is an effective way to share and discuss music with people, especially young people. It is an exceptional tool with the power to galvanize new classical music listeners. The questions and answers on our website, and the polling booth for that matter, are designed to give us an opportunity to communicate directly with our audiences (we hope to relate to our audiences as real people and not some aloof automatons on stage).
Everything we do is a result of our mission:
To connect with others; to engage, provoke, illuminate; to serve as a conduit for the composer’s voice; to authentically express our inner lives; to share the joy and fulfillment that only music can elicit. …to free the world from the constraints of sleep-inducing concerts. …to demonstrate that classical piano music can serve as a relevant and powerful force in society.
All that we do as musicians is geared toward these goals, is inspired by these goals, and is fueled by these goals.
If we were doing it all for gimmickry or attention, we wouldn’t have accomplished nearly as much (in fact, we’d be downright bored), and we’re confident it wouldn’t be nearly as good.
Liz on February 28, 2007 In the middle of December 2006, we devoted three frenzied days to the process of filming our own music videos. 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 pushing the boundaries!
Equipped with my mom’s modest camcorder, various “costumes,” no budget, and a few awesome friends as extras/cameramen/bemused spectators, we set to work on our first video. (Watch it below!)
The music: our own arrangement of Astor Piazzolla’s spicy Libertango
The location: Sudler Hall, Yale University (New Haven, CT)
The scenario: This was largely circumscribed by our location. We were fortunate to have a venue at our disposal on a busy weeknight. However, since an Ivy League university lecture hall doesn’t normally conjure up the agitated passion and élan of the tango, we were forced to construct a storyline that would fit the music. The basic plot is that Greg falls asleep during a boring class and then proceeds to fantasize about playing a scorching tango with yours truly. ;-)
The process: Embarrassing moments abounded throughout this experience, and I’m quite mortified that most of them were captured on tape for posterity! (Mortified or not, the outtake reel—which is full of our mistakes and silly comments—is posted on our site for all to see. Enjoy!) The embarrassment usually resulted from us trying to act “sultry.” First of all, I must mention that we are neophytes in the art of acting (though Greg has actually appeared on Broadway!). It was really difficult keeping a straight face after prolonged guises of sexual tension, so we ended up bursting out into uncontrollable laughter take after take. Also, it’s worth noting that Greg has a uniquely penetrating glare when he assumes the role of seducer; it was definitely a challenge to maintain eye contact with such an intense, glazed-over stare while executing virtuosic passagework and remaining in character. Yet even with all these amusing challenges, we had a blast making musical sexytime!
All in all, we thoroughly enjoyed our brief stint in the realms of acting and filmmaking. And as Oscar Wilde said, “Life is too important to be taken seriously.”
Hope you enjoy the vids!
- EJR
Anderson & Roe perform their own arrangement of Astor Piazzolla's Libertango.
Click here to watch the outtakes!
Libertango, artistic process, music videos