Caturday felid: CatCerto

April 14, 2012 • 5:24 am

Nora the cat is famous for playing the piano.  Here’s a video in which some of her noodlings have been set to orchestral accompaniment, and it comes off pretty well:

In April of 2009, Lithuanian conductor, composer and music educator Mindaugas Piečaitis contacted Philadelphia musicians and artists Betsy Alexander and Burnell Yow! by email regarding creating a children’s concert piece using footage of their cat Nora. Nora had taught herself to play piano after watching Betsy teach for about one year. At that time, Nora’s YouTube video had already been viewed by millions of people all over the world. Intrigued, Betsy and Burnell worked with Mindaugas to set up an online account to exchange existing and new video footage of Nora’s unique talent. After he created a multimedia piece by splicing various sections of Nora’s playing into one continuous musical piece, the composer created an orchestral accompaniment.

To the enormous delight of many children in the audience, CATcerto was premiered in June of 2009 by the Klaipėda Chamber Orchestra. Nora The Piano Cat, as guest soloist, was projected onto a large video screen behind the musicians. News of the concert was broadcast around the world, and a video of the performance was uploaded to YouTube. Since it’s successful debut, the full orchestral version has been published by C. F. Peters corporation and can be performed  with the chamber orchestra and video. For more information please visit http://www.peters-edition.com.

You can see some of the score and more information here, more information on Catcerto here, and Nora’s own website is here.

19 thoughts on “Caturday felid: CatCerto”

    2. You jest, of course, but I couldn’t help but think of Cage as I listened. Cage would have absolutely loved this. It’s a perfect example of his passion for discovering the music in our surroundings. That was the whole point of 4’33”, after all: no performance of it actually ever has been or ever will be silent.

      And, I might add, this catcerto was superbly well done.

      Cheers,

      b&

    3. I believe that 4’33″ requires the pianist to open and close the key lid. So I’m guessing that your gerbil can’t do that, unless you create some sort of Rube Goldberg mechanism tied to an exercise wheel.

      While not technically strenuous, 4’33″ was a significant and meaningful experiment in composition, and extremely provocative at the time. And don’t I wish I had thought of it…

  6. Who says that a serious composer can’t make it in the 21st century?

    What thinks you, M. Beef?

    1. Of course, though composers writing for the concert halls are struggling, they nearly always have.

      Mozart made it as an opera composer, the popular large-scale entertainment medium of the day…in the exact same way that John Williams made it as a movie composer.

      The secret to that kind of success isn’t just talent or even brilliance. It’s being brilliant while pandering to the masses.

      b&

  7. Thanks for posting one of my favourite videos. This is actually a much clearer version than the one I’ve seen. It must be an original recording.

    Now, see here…. see how the one other cat stays still and listens attentively. What baby or puppy (or uncooked squid :P) would do that?

    1. thank you, CatWoman, for all the nice cat and duck etc. links you intersperse. You truly have a good eye for finding the best videos!

      My university professor used to tell us that we all needed cat paws to play our keyboard instruments better. Here’s proof – it’s true! No piano mastery without cat paws!

  8. Surprisingly beautiful! Nora plays her notes so elegantly instead of just hammering them out like a human child would.

  10. Great! I also loved Burnell Yow!’s [is that correct?] artist’s statement http://ravenswingstudio.com/about/artist-statements/ :-

    After nearly sixty years of sometimes following rules and sometimes ignoring them, I have come to the realization that “there are no rules, only materials.” Art, after all, is a leap into the dark. I am an intuitive artist in that I work from the heart, not the head. The unforeseen event, the “accident,” the unexpected all play a very large part in my creative play. Seldom is anything planned. I prefer to let the materials suggest the direction of a work. As far as materials go, I work with just about anything: paint, wood, glass, plastic, fabric, etc. I use a lot of “found” and “altered-function” objects in my work. And I frequently scan them for use in my digital works. What I would suggest to anyone making art is to trust your intuition, your inner knowing; to allow yourself to be immersed in the process of creation as a joyous and sacred dance of materials; to neither listen to critics nor be one; and finally, to leap into the dark secure in the knowing that wherever your feet touch down will be the right place at the right time

    Who needs theology & flim flam in this beautiful world Dammit?! [that’s my own statement]

  11. Strangely moved by it – not just a kitten on the keys. Another gift from the cat meister.

  13. It’s probably my fault but I do not see the artistry in Cage’s 4:33, or in the idea of splicing this cat’s “piano playing” into this piece. And my musical tastes are not exactly conventional.

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