Andy's Pick of the Year !

It's almost the end of the year. Although this year ends with the unlucky number 13, I must say that it's not been a bad year at all. With the things that I absorbed this year, there were some really inspiring works of art. So, here's my pick of the year 2013. .............................................................................................................................................. This year is especially fruitful for me in consuming great writings by Indonesian writers. Of course Shakespeare's Romeo & Juliet and Julius Caesar, Ovid's Metamorphosis and Plato's Symposium still remain my "bible", keeping them beside my bed the whole year, but for the new ones, I should pick my favorites of this year (the order is random, neither alphabetical nor a ranking of what I think is the best since it's difficult to say which one is better than the other) : Leila S. Chudori : Pulang , Budiman Sudjatmiko : Anak-anak Revolusi , Laksmi Pamuntjak : Amba , Okky Mandasari : Pasung Jiwa , and I enjoy so much the collection of Fira Basuki's tweets in her book "140 karakter". .............................................................................................................................................. The only foreign book that impressed me deeply this year is Paolo Coelho's Manuscript Found in Acra. I must admit that I haven't read that many books in other languages this year, I dunno why. .............................................................................................................................................. In classical music, although we could claim that technology has made it possible to listen to things almost immediately, I just heard recently some pieces written a few years ago, due to the inavailability of the recording on CDs. In fact, I heard them first through youtube. Those that have moved me deeply this year include : John Williams' Cello Concerto (from the 1990s !), Andre Previn's Harp Concerto (from 2007) and Lera Auerbach's "Icarus". The first two have been my favorites all my life, and am so glad that in their old ages (Williams is 81 and Previn is 84 and now quite frail) they remain so prolific in their musical productions. Lera Auerbach is a new discovery for me, I befriended her through facebook and have always listened to all her music posted in her facebook.The really new ones written this year I should mention Robert Zuidam's Bosch Requiem and Santiago Lanchares' 3 pieces from "Castor & Pollux" for orchestra (the latter is the only one that I heard through the radio at the moment of its premiere last November). .............................................................................................................................................. Of course I am really delighted that pianist Henoch Kristianto has released a CD of many of my piano music; it's been a highlight for me this year. I would certainly pick that CD for the high quality of PERFORMANCE, but with the music, I wish I could produce at least 10% of artistry of those composers mentione above. My music (especially the 6 numbers of Rapsodia Nusantara) is not easy at all, and I must admit, sometimes so unpianistic, but Henoch's playing was just admirable. I am glad that the whole CD is now also available on iTunes, and both the CD and the iTunes is enjoying a good selling. If you wanna have it through iTunes (which is much cheaper than the CD, almost 50%, but you can't read my amusing program notes. Oh well, mostly they are taken from this blog anyway) the link is : http://itunes.apple.com/album/rapsodia . .............................................................................................................................................. Movies ? Well, I don't really like Hollywood movies, but I could mention Richard Linklater's Before Midnight, The Hunger Games: Catching Fire and of course as a faithful Trekkie I should mention the last Star Trek : Into Darkness (my God, Benedict Cumberbatch's acting is so impressive! He should do some Shakespeare!). Anyway, I am not a movie freak, so I should limit my movie pick into just 3. .............................................................................................................................................. This might be my last entry of this blog this year, since starting the 26th I will be busy in preparing the Jakarta New Year Concert 2014, which will take place on January 5th, 2014. I am performing on the piano in the first half, and will conduct the Nusantara Symphony Orchestra in the second half. I am excited to accompany the best young Indonesian soloists of today; they are all under 20 years of age. They are : violinist Amadeus Giovani Biga, pianist Randy Ryan (winner of Ananda Sukarlan Award Int'l Piano Competition 2012) and vocalists Nikodemus Lukas and Isyana Sarasvati (both winners in different categories of Kompetisi Tembang Puitik Ananda Sukarlan voice competition). In fact, the theme of the concert this time is JUVENUM, and not only the soloists are young, but the music is about youth as well. To end this entry with a light spirit, let me invite you to enjoy one of my last pieces, the short n humorous piece with a very loooong title (you can check my last entry in this blog). Here's the link : http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3c-32i6fOqQ. I am very much looking forward for more great artistic creations in 2014 !