September 6 - Steinway "Concert Wear for Men" Release Party at Steinway Hall

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. For the most part, the performance was as much fun as it looked. However, there was one moment, a split second really, that seemed to last forever. Here's a timeline of the event:

00:00:00 Piece begins
00:32:01 Piece progressing smoothly
00:32:06 Playing from memory, one of us briefly hesitates, stalling to find a pitch
00:32:08 The other pianist notices the first pianist has stalled
00:32:09 Both pianists have horrifying, deranged visions of the piece falling apart and turning to complete musical gibberish, visions of the audience hollering foul words and throwing rotten vegetables, and visions of Schumann rising from his grave to torment the Anderson & Roe Piano duo for eternity
00:32:10 Two wrong notes are played
00:32:12 Piece continues, back on track
03:09:37 Piece concludes
03:12:04 Elated audience applauds furiously

Alas! We quickly forgave ourselves, especially considering all the distractions we were facing (a camera and a cameraman, rattling ice in martini glasses, corks popping, and a noisy, abandoned microphone). Thankfully, the biggest distraction of all was the very beautiful Steinway D piano we were playing (it was Steinway Hall after all).

September 5 - "Grosse Fuge" at Juilliard's Convocation

Beethoven's second-to-last opus, the "Grosse Fuge" for two pianists (Opus 134) ... is ... monstrously difficult. Here Liz and I trot around, thinking we've composed some pretty nasty works for piano duo. Little did we know that Beethoven had set the precedent with his thorny and intensely virtuosic fugue, culled from his late string quartet and deftly arranged to be performed by four hands on one keyboard. Beethoven gave us a run for our money; we did the best we could in the time we had, but it will take another couple years with this in our repertoire before we can really give it the justice it deserves.

Check out our duo blog, "Where Soloists Fear to Tread," to read Liz's take on the performance today.