Tuesday, September 29, 2009

PianoMarvel by Rain - Please Vote!

Some good friends of mine are finalists in the Adobe Max competition for building an educational tool that looks like a great resource for beginner through early intermediate pianists. You'll definitely want to look at this great advancement in the world of piano education. You can click here to view the contestants - they are listed as "PianoMarvel by Rain" under the "Education" section. If you like what you see, then by all means please vote for "PianoMarvel by Rain"!

Good luck guys! I voted for you :)

Monday, September 28, 2009

2 MILLION Downloads! Celebrate with a little Bach

Lisztonian reached over 2 MILLION downloads this evening! That means we're currently providing free classical piano music to about 6,000 new people every day. If only I received a nickel for every download, then I'd already have a new piano by now :) !

To celebrate this grand event I've decided to release another recording. This recording is Bach's Prelude No. 22 from The Well-Tempered Clavier Volume 1. This prelude is in the unique key of B-flat Minor and is a fabulous piece to pull out once in a while and meditate to. It is highly introspective and evocative.

You may download this recording to your computer by visiting this page of my website. I also encourage you to subscribe to my free podcast so that you never miss a new release! You may also use the embedded media player found below to listen online.

Monday, September 14, 2009

Lisztonian Featured on iTunes!

I opened up iTunes today and was greeted with a very pleasant surprise - my Lisztonian podcast was featured right there on the home page for audio podcasts! Here's a screenshot, you can see the Lisztonian (SignMyPiano) podcast on the bottom right of the featured thumbnails.



I must admit that this brought a nice smile to my face. It also makes me wonder exactly how they choose what podcasts to feature. In any case, I certainly won't turn down the little extra showcasing.

For all of you who have subscribed to my free iTunes classical music podcast - THANK YOU! If you haven't yet, then please consider subscribing; it is the easiest way to download all of my recordings and to be notified of new releases.

Happy listening!

Jeremiah Jones

Tuesday, September 8, 2009

Next Release - Help Me Decide!

I will be releasing a new recording this weekend and I've narrowed it down to two choices - please help me decide which one should be next!

1) Another Bach Prelude
2) Liszt's "Hymn of a Child on Awakening"

Just add a comment to my blog or Facebook page to let me know which one you want to hear first! I'll make the decision based on the number of votes that I have by the weekend.

All the best,
Jeremiah

Friday, September 4, 2009

"Somewhere In Time" but not "Somewhere In Lisztonian"

Most people know Rachmaninoff's 18th Variation on a Theme of Paganini from the popular movie, "Somewhere in Time." It is a beautiful piano/orchestra piece that is distinct and very memorable. I used to have a two-piano recording of this work posted on my website (my mother played the orchestral part while I performed the piano part), but I recently received a "Cease and Desist" order from Boosey & Hawkes, who apparently renewed the copyright to this work in 2004. The work was published in 1934 and so I naturally assumed that it was no longer protected by U.S. copyright, having exceeded the 70-year limit. Apparently I was wrong. In addition to having to pay an infringement fee I also had to remove this recording from my website.

So for those of you searching for a recording of Rachmaninoff's famous tune from "Somewhere In Time", you will now have a hard time finding it "Somewhere In Lisztonian". Very sad day... very sad indeed :(