Plink plink plink: Margaret Leng Tan at the Castro

So sad I wasn't able to go with SFist Rita to this screening at the SF Asian-American Film Festival of Sorceress of the New Piano, a documentary about toy pianist Margaret Leng Tan:

Margaret Leng Tan, called "the diva of avant-garde pianism" by the New Yorker, [...] worked closely with John Cage on his pieces for prepared piano (where screws, nails, and plates are inserted in the strings of the piano to affect the sound), began playing the works of Menlo Park's Henry Cowell (who wrote pieces not just for the fingers but for the whole arm, where the arm presses down on long spans of the keys—like when a cat sits down on the piano), performed pieces where the piano lid is closed and the pianist drums on parts of the piano, and performing works by George Crumb, involving strumming, pulling, and bowing the strings of the piano. [...]

Margaret Leng Tan swished on stage, [...] settled in on a tiny bench and played her toy pianos—one complicated tarantella, a cover of Eleanor Rigby, a piece for toy piano on one hand and wood blocks on the other, and two pieces for two toys. [...] Then Tan walked off stage and up the aisle, her upright toy underneath her arm, and the movie started up. [...]

[The movie] is one of the most accessible introductions to contemporary classical music we've seen—no boring conversations about tone rows, just a sense of "what can we do next?" [...] Cut throughout are interviews with Tan's family, colleagues, music critics (including our own Joshua Kosman and irritating reactionary NY Times critic Edward Rothstein, reluctantly admitting, with a look of disgust, that Tan's a good pianist even though he hates that modern crud they call music these days), and adorable scenes with Tan's four doggies.

Heather, were you there?

Comments

[Heather]

No, I couldn't go, either! I was pretending to be a harpist and playing Brahms and Holst with a women's chorus in Berkeley. I do wonder how I might get to see the film...do we have to wait for the DVD?

[M. C-]

I suppose so, unless you have an "in" with someone... I've been poking around the web and can find no mention of any future screenings. The film isn't on the director's website or even on IMDB! I don't think I've ever not found a film on IMDB.