All By Ourselves

To wrap up this challenging year, we present a new music video that captures 2020's states of loneliness, heartache, and longing: ALL BY MYSELF, a mash-up of Rachmaninoff's Second Piano Concerto and Eric Carmen's song "All By Myself" (famously covered by powerhouse pop diva Celine Dion in the 1990s).

 All by myself / Don’t wanna be / All by myself / Anymore ...

In isolation and separated from each other by nearly 3,000 miles, we couldn’t have said it better! We hope our mash-up resonates with you during this age of anxiety. Beyond the obvious relevance of the title and lyrics, the recognizable nature of this song coupled with the sweeping romanticism of Rachmaninoff’s textures feed our craving for comfort and connection. Please feel free to sing along with our performance; music like this invites a much-needed collective catharsis, and we hope it carries you forward into the new year with a resurgence of hope.

(Keep an eye out for our dream venue Carnegie Hall. ✨😉)

#peaceout2020

The Cascades

The second of our Portland Piano Virtual Extravaganza events kicks off with our new cover of “The Cascades” from Fleet Foxes, one of the 21st century’s premier indie rock bands. The band was formed in the Pacific Northwest and its culture, environment, and sensibilities play an integral role in the band’s earthy, folk-inflected sound.  

“The Cascades” captivated us from our first listen. The celestial interplay of the melody gave us the feeling of soaring above the trees with the wind rushing upon our faces, and the subtle harmonic changes evoked the image of light and shadow dancing upon distant mountaintops. We hiked the Cascades in 2015, experiencing for ourselves the wild beauty we aim to capture in our two-piano arrangement and simple, hearty, Old Fashioned-inspired cocktail.

Portland’s Freeland Spirits makes their rich, velvety bourbon uniquely Pacific Northwestern by giving it a final rest in Oregon’s Elk Cove Pinot Noir barrels. The wine barrels impart a smoky berry layer to the Bourbon that pairs perfectly with Oregon’s famous marionberries (blackberries are a suitable substitute for those of you elsewhere). Marionberries have a complex, earthy flavor that is both sweet and tart, nicely accenting the caramel and vanilla inherent in Freeland’s exceptional bourbon. Orange bitters and zest add bright citrus notes and draw out a hint of marmalade hidden in the bourbon’s spicy aroma. We invite you to experiment with more/less sugar or soda water to find the perfect Cascadian cocktail for you.

The Cascades

(A Marionberry Old Fashioned)

Yield: 1 cocktail

Ingredients:

• 2 oz Freeland Spirits Bourbon

• 1/2 teaspoon granulated sugar

• 1-2 dashes Angostura bitters

• 1-2 dashed orange bitters

• 5 fresh marionberries (or substitute with blackberries)

• Ice cubes

• Orange peel strip

• Club soda (optional)

Instructions:

Combine the sugar, bitters, and three marionberries in a cocktail shaker. Muddle the mixture until sugar is dissolved, then add the bourbon and ice cubes. Stir well and strain into an Old-Fashioned glass. Top with soda (if so inclined), add a large ice cube, and garnish with an orange peel and two berries on a skewer… a cocktail umbrella will do in a pinch pandemic.

Cheers!

Everyone is welcome to participate with an alcohol-free, Cascadian creation.

Marionberry Lemonade

Yeild: 1 drink

Ingredients:

• 1/2 cup simple syrup*

• 4 marionberries

• Juice of one lemon

• 1 cup water or soda

• 3/4 cup ice

Instructions:

*Simple syrup is even parts sugar and water heated in a saucepan over medium heat until the sugar dissolves. 2 cups sugar and 2 cups water make about a quart of syrup which can be stored in the fridge and used for several lemonades.

Muddle three marionberries in a cocktail shaker, then add the lemon juice, simple syrup, and ice cubes. Stir well and strain into an appropriate glass. Top with water or soda, add a large ice cube, and garnish with an orange peel and a berry on a skewer.

The Corona Meditation

Our upcoming Portland Piano Virtual Extravaganza program will feature Corona Mediation, a new work written in April 2020 by Austrian composer Gerd Kühr in response to the COVID-19 pandemic. Expansive and reflective, the piece provides a compelling musical commentary on the time we’ve all spent in quarantine together, yet isolated apart. Blossoming forth then collapsing, brilliantly clear then seemingly disordered, Kühr’s Corona Meditation creates a quietly cosmic play of opposites and inspires a cocktail redolent of a stroll in a mystical garden.

Wishing to feature local ingredients in our cocktail, we selected a deliciously fragrant gin from Portland’s Freeland Spirits as the perfect base for our meditative cocktail. At once earthy and light, its quintessential herbs and spices are brightened by a crisp citrus pop. We leaned into the gin’s citrus notes by adding fresh lemon and tied the botanical hints together with a delicate floral layer of St. Germaine elderflower liqueur and our divine chamomile syrup. An egg white froth adds an extravagant texture and the perfect finishing touch to our cocktail. When experienced with Gerd Kühr’s Corona Meditation, we’re instantly transported to a garden blooming with sounds, flavors, scents, and textures to delight and soothe the senses and the soul.

We recommend a warm, calming cup of chamomile tea to our friends who wish to participate, but prefer not to consume alcohol. 😌🍵

The Corona Meditation

Yield: 1 cocktail

Ingredients:

• 1½ oz Freeland Spirits Gin

• ¾ oz fresh lemon juice

• ½ oz white tea syrup*

• ¼ oz St. Germain elderflower liqueur

• ½ oz egg white, lightly beaten (substitute with aquafaba for a vegan cocktail)

• slice of lemon peel (optional)

Instructions:

*Prepare the white tea syrup by bringing six ounces of water to a boil. Add two bags of your favorite chamomile tea and steep for 5 minutes. Discard tea bags and add 3/4 cup of granulated sugar (or 12 ounces sugar by weight) and stir over heat until clear. Bottle and chill your syrup until ready for use.

Combine all the ingredients in a cocktail shaker with ice, shake until very cold, then fine-strain the mixture into a chilled cocktail glass. Express the oils of a lemon peel over the surface of the drink, discard the peel, sip, and savor in bliss. 🧘🧘‍♀️

P.S. Special thanks to Jeffrey Morgenthaler and Freeland Spirits for the creation of this recipe!

Lark's Song

On May 7, we celebrated our beloved Johannes Brahms’ 187th birthday quarantine-style, isolated apart cross-country. Enjoy our brand new arrangement of his ethereal “Lark's Song” ("Lerchengesang").

This project came together at the last minute. We knew we wanted to create something special to send our dear friend Michael Hawley (to whom we dedicated the video). Mike has been an ardent supporter of our work from the very start, blessing us with career-boosting opportunities and life-changing introductions, and it was high time we thanked him properly.

We had just arranged the work for our spring concerts, and Brahms’ birthday, our friend Mike, and the desire to pursue our mission all inspired us to try our hands at a quarantine-style “performance.” Filmed and edited in only a few hours, it was considerably less work than our usual music videos, though we had to be crafty to get the synchronization just right.

For those interested, you can find the sheet music here.

The magic and grace present throughout this experience is a testament to our incredible muse. We love you, Mike!

Lark’s Song

Ethereal distant voices,
Heavenly greetings of the larks,
How sweetly you stir
My breast, you delightful voices!

Gently I close my eyes,
And memories pass by
In soft twilights,
Pervaded by the breath of spring.

Group Meditation ☮️

We were approached recently by our friends at Graz’s Styriarte Music Festival to participate in the world premiere of Gerd Kühr’s “Corona Meditation.” The highly reflective piece is designed to be performed by any number of pianists meditating at once, creating “an effect of expansion similar to the expansion of the cosmos.” Our stars aligned and the first performance took place on April 30th 2020, 20:20 p.m.

It was a truly wonderful experience. We’re beyond grateful to have shared that cosmic musical moment and thrilled to be able to share it with you!