Monday, August 16, 2010

Kitten on the keys, or Nora the Explorer

Somehow I missed hearing about Nora, the piano-playing cat, who first surfaced on YouTube in 2007. A man in Lithuania, where the nights are long and there is apparently very little to do, has now composed an astonishing piece of music that uses video clips of Nora. Here it is:

CATcerto by Lithuanian composer Mindaugus Piečaitis, conducted by Mindaugus Piečaitis, soloist: Nora the Cat

The world premiere was performed in the Klaipėda Concert Hall in Klaipėda, Lithuania, on June 5, 2009. A second performance of CATcerto occurred earlier this year at the Hot Springs Music Festival in Hot Springs, Arkansas, on June 14, 2010. We can only hope that our blogging friend Pat, an Arkansas stamper, was in attendance that evening. Perhaps, if you begin a letter-writing campaign now, Catcerto will come soon to a town near you.

To learn more about the sort of person who could or would write a catcerto, click here.

Actually, I think the cat, the composer, and the composition are all remarkable.



12 comments:

  1. I wouldn't tell too many people (fortunately you don't have too many followers ;-)) about Nora. You might lose your new job to her.

    She seems to have a very relaxed attitude towards playing the piano. And quite a soft touch.

    So... remarkable is the new synonym for lunatic?

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  2. Nora the explorer has different connotations in Yorkshire, Bob. It used to be that school children were subject to regular inspections by a nurse. The children would stand in a long line whilst the nurse looked inside their mouths, behind their ears and rifled through their hair. She would,none too discreetly,hand out bottles of lotion for scabies and headlice to offending pupils. The school nurse was always referred to as 'Nitty Nora, the bug explorer'.

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  3. My sincere apologies, Robert; forgive my mis-placed familiarity there...I must have been tired and didn't realise until later. x

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  4. May I assume that your own keyboard skills are slightly more advanced than Nora's?

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  5. Carolina, Obama is the new synonym for lunatic.

    Elizabeth, (1) I didn't know about the Yorkshire Nora. In the U.S., there is a children's television program called Dora the Explorer; that is what I was thinking of. (2) No apology needed; everyone calls me Bob. It's practically my name.

    YP, you may assume anything you like; I have no control over what you choose to assume. In this case, you assume correctly. And thanks for the vote of confidence.

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  6. You find the most interesting things to share with us, RWP! I, too, found it remarkable, and enjoyed it. The link you provided is one I will share with my cat-lover friends. On second thought, I'll just send them the link to your post!!!

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  7. Wonderful. Thank you for finding this!

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  8. I sent the video to my daughter-in-law. She's a cat lover :)

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  9. I hadn't heard of it either, but then I can't remember the last time I attended a concert in Lithuania.

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  10. Thanks to all for your comments.

    I must tell Snowbrush that Nora the Cat is from Cherry Hill, New Jersey. Her owners interacted with the composer, who is from Lithuania. And you could have attended a concert in Hot Springs, Arkansas, this past May, perhaps on a visit to Mississippi.

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  11. I must tell Rhymes that I know a Lithuanian concert hall when I see one, and that I had reference to not learning about the work in a timely manner as opposed to learning about it only after the rest of the world thought of it as old news.

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  12. P.S. I never go to Mississippi. It's hot and, besides there are redbugs, also roaches, not to mention fireants and Baptists.

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<b>Always true to you, darlin’, in my fashion</b>

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