ClassicalMusic
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Google’s Piano Genie lets anyone improvise classical music
Google has taken the idea of Rock Band and Guitar Hero and pushed it one step further, creating an intelligent controller that lets you improvise on the piano and makes it sound like you actually know what you're doing, no matter how unskilled you are. The controller is called Piano Genie, and it comes from Google's Magenta research project. Powered by a neural network trained on classical piano music, Piano Genie translates what you tap out on eight buttons into music that uses all 88 piano keys.
Apple Music's latest visual album is a full-length opera
Apple Music has added a new visual album, and it's one classical music fans would love. Cupertino has teamed up with Deutsche Grammophon, one of the biggest classical music labels, to launch a curated channel that highlights the company's best recordings. One of the portal's first offerings is the 2008 Salzburg Festival staging of Gounod's Roméo et Juliette featuring star tenor Rolando Villazón -- and, yes, the service is making the full-length performance available as a 32-track visual album. You can watch them all at once or just choose parts to play if you can only stomach specific arias. Apple Music has other visual albums you can stream, most notably, Frank Ocean's Endless, but this is the first time the platform is offering a full-length opera in the format.
Classic FM to host weekly show on orchestral video game music
Final Fantasy. Skyrim. The Legend of Zelda. These and so many other video game franchises offer beautiful, sweeping scores for players to get lost in. Unfortunately, however, they're not always known or appreciated by people outside of the gaming community. Recognition is improving through live concerts and awards, but there's still a long way to go. The latest effort to champion and broaden its appeal is a new radio show on Classic FM. It'll be hosted by Jessica Curry, co-founder of British game studio The Chinese Room and composer of Everybody's Gone to the Rapture, and focus on symphonic video game music in particular.
'Rapture' game soundtrack pulled from out-of-touch UK charts
Everybody's Gone to the Rapture is a post-apocalyptic game with a difference. Instead of a nuclear wasteland, you're tasked with exploring an idyllic, but empty town in the middle of the English countryside. There's little dialogue, but the sweeping soundtrack sets a wonderfully melancholic tone. Composed by the game's director Jessica Curry, these original tracks are excellent examples of modern classical music. And clearly they've resonated with people -- earlier this month, the soundtrack placed eighth in the UK's "Official Classical Artist Albums Chart." Curry and the rest of her studio, The Chinese Room, were delighted. That is, until it disappeared from the chart the following week.
Just about everything you'll want to know about Beethoven's 9th on your iPad
Beethoven's 9th Symphony (free plus in-app purchases) is an epic iPad app that lets you explore one of the greatest symphonies ever written in a unique, compelling way. Classical music lovers will definitely want to check it out. Beethoven's 9th Symphony uses every trick in the multimedia tool box. For starters, you can listen to four different performances of the work, taken from the well-known DGG catalog. As you listen, follow along with the the score in real time. The original manuscript displays each page as the music plays, but with modern notation. An interesting feature called the "BeatMap" offers an overhead view of the orchestra, complete with symbols of the various instruments that glow as they are played. The app also features several interviews, both contemporary and historic, with notable people like Leonard Bernstein and Gustavo Dudamel. The four included performances date from 1962, with the most recent from 1992 played with period instruments. The Leonard Bernstein 1979 recording contains video of the performance, that you can watch in full-screen mode. It's interesting to compare the four concerts, and you can instantly switch between them, hearing how recording technology has advanced, and how performances differ. Having the four concerts in sync for comparison is unique and valuable. This app is a great experience for adults and young musicians. I can't think of a better way to share this musical treasure in such depth. %Gallery-188990% On to some negatives. The app does not directly support AirPlay, which is a mistake. You can certainly listen on headphones, but one should be able to hear this on a nice sound system. You can force AirPlay output with video mirroring by double-clicking the Home button and using the icon bar AirPlay tool, but the sound output stutters at times, and the video struggles to remain in sync. Beethoven's 9th Symphony is not cheap. While you can download the app for free, you only get two minutes of each movement. A $13.99 in-app purchase unlocks the complete works. While the app is relatively expensive, it's less than the price of the four performances on separate CDs, and you wouldn't get the videos, the interviews or the full scores. Even if you opt for the free version, you download everything, and this is a large app at 1.53 GB. I had to do some housecleaning before I could run it. I previously took a look at the first offering in this series, called The Orchestra. It was also excellent, but the Beethoven app is superior because it goes into great depth on a single work. If you're interested in classical music, I think this is an app you will return to again and again. There's a lot of information, as well as the visual and sonic joys. I'd also suggest you take a look at some parallel and less expensive apps if Beethoven appeals to you. Beethoven Symphonies ($1.99) has some nice selctions and performances. I also liked the free, ad-supported Beethoven Symphony Collection which also includes the scores to view. Beethoven's 9th Symphony requires an iPad and iOS 6.
Weezic for iPad, an augmented sheet music app for classical musicians
Weezic, an iPad app for classical musicians, is a relatively new sheet music app. In essence, Weezic displays sheet music, but with some interesting pedagogic features to help you learn and grow in your music reading and playing. As is customary with most apps that display sheet music, Weezic utilizes MIDI to illustrate the different instruments in the music with a complete virtual orchestra. A cursor moves through the score as it plays, too, making it easy to follow the music. Instruments can be soloed or muted and volume levels are adjustable. Tempo and pitch are customizable, too. Even the pages will turn automatically for you! One of Weezic's best features is its Evaluation Mode. When playing through a score, Weezic will "listen" to what you're playing using the iPad's built-in mic. In real time, Weezic will analyze your performance and indicate which notes you got wrong or were out of time -- helping you focus on areas to practice -- giving you a final score at the end of the piece. It's actually quite fun. Weezic comes with 14 free demonstration pieces, but their full catalog will be updated to the app in the coming weeks. Weezic is available now for free on the iOS App Store.
Daily iPad App: The Orchestra for iPad is a home run for classical music fans
If you love classical music you really need to think about getting The Orchestra for iPad from Touch Press. The US$13.99 app is about the best use of multimedia audio and video I've seen on any computer platform. The Orchestra allows you to experience eight classical selections, from Haydn to contemporary composers like Lutoslawski. You pick your music, and on screen you see a window with conductor Esa-Pekka Salonen. Another window shows the Philharmonia Orchestra, and a third window presents a diagram of the orchestra seen from above. More on that later in this review. You can also see the score scrolling horizontally synched to the music. In addition, there are chapters on each selection performed, and conductor Salonen offers a commentary on the music you are hearing in real time. %Gallery-174341% One unique feature lets you touch any section of the orchestra to hear its instruments isolated from the rest of the orchestra. By default, this feature is available in Beethoven's 5th Symphony. To unlock it for the other seven selections requires a $0.99 in-app purchase. I don't think I've seen any other app utilize the power of a computer in a better or more compelling way. The app is not a series of performances, but contains many insights into the selections, and the composers. Having said that, I have a few nits to pick. Charging an additional $0.99 in an app that is already $14 seems very Scrooge-like. It should just be thrown in. The selections themselves are excerpts, not complete works. I realize complete symphonies would take a lot of space, and hearing a movement is just not the same as getting the whole performance. There are links to the iTunes Store to download the complete works. This is the kind of app that should support Apple AirPlay so it can be seen on a big screen with better audio. Sadly, the app doesn't appear to fully support it. I could see an image of the orchestra on my Apple TV-powered display, but the music never started playing. It did work in mirror mode, but the aspect ratio isn't right. The audio is pretty good, and is in stereo if you listen on a headset or an external source. The iPad speaker is no way to experience this app. The Orchestra is an extraordinary way to show off what a great app can do. Classical music lovers will enjoy this app very much. This app is, not surprisingly, a big one. Almost 2 GB without the in-app purchase, and I had to do a bit of house cleaning to make it fit. This app requires iOS 6.0 or above, and works on the second-, third- and fourth-generation iPad, and iPad mini.
All-classical music concert HD channel in the works
Poised to take advantage of the dearth of classical music television stations in the U.S., Unitel Classica is planning a worldwide classical channel formatted for HDTV. The German production company already supplies HD concerts via satellite in Europe on SES Astra, and the Classica standard definition opera and classical channel in several countries. The new channel will launch in Germany first in the fourth quarter, before potentially making the jump over here. With that much experience behind them, and the enthusiastic response to opera and classical broadcasts already available, Unitel should be ready to give the classical fans what they've been waiting for sometime in 2009.
Import impressions: Nodame Cantabile
Hey, you guys like rhythm games, right? Maybe just a little? They seem to be kinda popular. Just a guess. Game|Life's Chris Kohler got his hands on the latest non-Ouendan rhythm game to hit Japan, Nodame Cantabile, and served up some melodic stylings on the manga-based title. Unfortunately, it seems Nodame's classical music studies can't quite compare to some of the other rhythm games, but there's some good news to balance the bad. Nodame Cantabile seems somewhat import-friendly -- from the sound of it, you can skip a lot of the dialogue and just run around and hit the performance spots instead. Better still? The price is dropping like a rock, so it may be cheaper to import when compared to certain other hot Japanese titles. The interface changes up some of what we've learned to expect with Ouendan and Elite Beat Agents as well; rather than hitting fixed points, the input circles move, which adds a little more challenge to the mix, but not enough to make it a stand-out. Still, with the possibility of budget prices, this one may be a nice choice for fans of the manga or the rhythm game explosion.
BlizzCon will get back to the classics
Blizzard fans can expect to get an earful at their visits to the World Wide Invitational and BlizzCon this year. The classical orchestra Video Games Live will be performing at both live events in and Anaheim, at no additional cost to attendees. I guess we can call that more bang for your $100 bucks of BlizzCon admission. As nifty a backdrop as this will be, particularly for the WWI and for what I am betting will be a great new Starcraft announcement, I can't help but feel disappointed. I was hoping to be able to hair metal out with my friends to another rendition of "I am Murloc." Level 60 Elite Tauren Chieftan, I miss you. I guess I will have to watch my TBC behind the scenes DVD and be satisfied with that. [via Joystiq]
Get serious with new DS Style screens
We're expecting a load of news when the Square Enix Party starts. For now, we've got new screens from the DS Style series, which is obviously too serious for parties. Specifically, new screens were released of Flower Blooming DS: Gardening Life, Shall We Listen to Classical Music on the DS?, and three World Walking map programs: Italy, France and Taiwan.We could kind of see picking up a DS map program instead of a guidebook when we go on vacation, since we tend to take the DS with us anyway. We are definitely feeling a strong urge to buy the classical music "game" as well, since it's being developed by iNiS. Smart move, Squeenix.
DS Style details emerge-- screenshot-style
The first screenshots of Square Enix's DS Style series of nongames have shown up, and they look ... well, functional. The problem with nongames is that it's impossible to build hype for something that is used just for looking at a map of France, or teaching yourself yoga, even if the software in question is extremely well-designed.These screens answer the biggest question we had about the series: how could a game about listening to classical music possibly fill two screens meaningfully? The answer: dog animations and quizzing you on your feelings about the music.
Square Enix brings lifestyle titles to DS
Continuing its praiseworthy support for the Nintendo DS, Square Enix has announced DS Style, a new line of software for the casual gaming audience. According to the latest issue of Famitsu, the company is venturing away from its RPG franchises for a moment, focusing instead on leisure activities like yoga, classical music, and gardening. It might not sound as exciting as SRPG battles or Chocobo mini-games, but different strokes for different folks.Square Enix will also be releasing DS travel guides based on the popular World Walking tour book series in Japan. These guides will provide maps and other useful information for sightseers visiting countries like France or Thailand. Check past the post break for the full list of destination guides and verbose titles from Square Enix's DS Style lineup. [Via NeoGAF]
Maestro Classical Music Player for audiophiles
If you're going to take the time to listen to classical music, you might as well do it right, and there doesn't seem to be much of a better way than with Fortuna's new Maestro Classical Music Player. The unit is basically a Hush fanless PC running an iTunes-like interface which can be displayed on your TV or computer monitor via DVI, VGA or Component outputs. The interface is specially designed to sort through your collection by composer, conductor, artist, ensemble, genre and period, and also has jazz and pop modes for when you're not feeling in a classical mood. The system can rip your CDs into lossless WMA or lossy MP3 files onto its 400GB HDD, and syncs to Fortuna servers for digital booklets and other album information as long as you pay $10 a month for the privilege. Of course, it all comes down to the audio output, and the Maestro doesn't disappoint with analog, S/PDIF coax and S/PDIF optical outs. Sadly, none of this comes cheap, this glorified CD player goes for a whopping $5000, but at least that includes professional preloading of your music collection, and the peace of mind in knowing that yes, you are an audio snob.[Thanks, Ross]
