Piano Duo for the Left Hand Vol. 5

Product Information

Timbrell, Charles (1999). French Pianism: A Historical Perspective. Hal Leonard Corporation. p.148. ISBN 9781574670455. She, her dream and her love for music will live on in Shu's left hand as he learns to play the piano to find purpose in his life, but also to help the people who loved Akari to overcome her disappearance. Thank you to NetGalley, Kodansha, and Kenta Matsuoka for the opportunity to read this manga in exchange for an honest review. Piano Duo for the Left Hand, Vol. 1 by Kenta Matsuoka is an amazing shonen manga about a boy who wants to learn the piano after fatal accident. Shu is a tough guy and not inclined to the arts at all. One day, he meets Akari, a girl who is famous for being a piano-playing prodigy. When tragedy strikes, Shu finds that his left hand is being haunted by Akari's spirit. All he can do is try to fulfill her piano-playing dreams.

Wittgenstein gave the premiere with Robert Heger and the Vienna Symphony Orchestra on 5 January 1932; [3] Ravel had first offered the premiere to Arturo Toscanini, who declined. [4] Even before the premiere, in 1931 Alfred Cortot made an arrangement for piano two-hands and orchestra; [11] however, Ravel did not approve of it and forbade its publication or performance. [12] Cortot ignored this and played his arrangement, which caused Ravel to write to many conductors imploring them not to engage Cortot to play his concerto. After Ravel's death in 1937, Cortot resumed playing his arrangement, and even recorded it with Charles Munch leading the Paris Conservatoire Orchestra. [13] Roger Muraro also played this piece during the 1986 International Tchaikovsky Competition, earning him fourth place in the piano competition.

Comments

Dunoyer, Cecilia (1993). Marguerite Long: A Life in French Music, 1874–1966. Indiana University Press. p.97. ISBN 0-253-31839-4. If you were to try and describe something so insane that it felt quintessentially manga, then doubled that, you might end up with this story. This narrative takes a love of classical music and a lot of crazy and mashes it into a real jaw-dropping spectacle of a book. Shu is nothing but a delinquent with no future to speak of, until a chance encounter with Akari, a piano prodigy. They have a wild adventure together that threatens to change Shu’s life… and it does, but not as much as Akari’s… Now Shu’s left hand doesn’t know what his right hand is doing and possession might be more than 9/10ths of the law in this case.

When tragedy cuts the relationship between Shu (a high school delinquent) and Akari (a piano prodigy) short, Shu is devastated and blames himself. In the midst of this tragedy, he realised his left hand is no longer his own as he begins a journey with music, exploring hope and purpose ... It's difficult to dance around this plot without risking significant spoilers. Shu and Akari are connected in ways that most stories would never dare try. It's unique and compelling, even if it originally stemmed from tragedy. The protagonist Shu was a delinquent by circumstance, not by choice, and when he shed his rough bad boy attitude he was rather endearing. His guilt made him pitiable and his dogged determination to honour Akari’s wish was honourable. Really, he was a good guy and a protagonist to root for. His character design was a little questionable. He looked much too big to be a middle schooler and his ridiculous trousers looked like Ali Baba pants three sizes too big for him so that any panel that featured his full frame had him looking like a mushroom cloud. If anything, it was amusing to see. In May 1930 Ravel had had a major disagreement with Arturo Toscanini over the correct tempo for Boléro (he conducted it too fast for Ravel's liking, who said he should play it at the slower speed he had in mind, or not at all). [8] [9] In September, Ravel patched up the relationship and invited Toscanini to conduct the world premiere of the Piano Concerto for the Left Hand, but the conductor declined. [10] Throughout the piece, Ravel creates ambiguity between triple and duple rhythms. This example highlights one of the more notable instances of this.Although at first Wittgenstein did not take to its jazz-influenced rhythms and harmonies, he grew to like the piece. When Ravel first heard him play the concerto at a private concert in the French embassy in Vienna, he was furious. 'He heard lines taken from the orchestral part and added to the solo, harmonies changed, parts added, bars cut and at the end a newly created series of great swirling arpeggios in the final cadenza. The composer was beside himself with indignation and disbelief.' Later Wittgenstein agreed to perform the concerto as written, and the two men patched up their differences, 'but the whole episode left a bitter taste in both their mouths'. [7] English translation and facsimile of French original in Sachs, Harvey (1987). Arturo Toscanini from 1915 to 1946: Art in the Shadow of Politics. Turin: EDT. p.50. ISBN 88-7063-056-0.

Piano Duo for the Left Hand surprised me by being very interesting! I'm not usually a fan of music manga, since capturing sound on a paper hardly ever works. Shu's a delinquent and he ends up in fights all the time. He meets Akari, a fellow student and a piano virtuoso, and listens to her concert although not enjoying it that much. Due to circumstances they both end up late and thus they pedal to the concert place together, so that Akari won't be late. But, there's a car crash and Akari dies and Shu gets injured. Oddly enough Akari lives on now in Shu's left hand and Shu decides to continue the girl's dream. The whole thing is quite dramatic and happens very fast, but the idea is surely something else. There a sports manga feeling to this and I surely want to know how the series evolves, since the plot is constructed well and the flow is great. Thanks to Kodansha Comics and #NetGalley for making this book available for review. All opinions expressed are my own.Zank, Stephen (24 May 2013). Maurice Ravel: A Guide to Research. Routledge. note B206. ISBN 978-1135173517 . Retrieved 25 February 2014. This whole section is a lot of fun and Shu and Akari have a simple, straightforward chemistry and we’re getting set to see several volumes of Shu learning to love music and turn his life around and the two of them learning to love each other. The second half was a lot stronger. I enjoyed seeing the switch in our protagonist as he finally takes control and has something he wants to work for. I would have liked to see more passion on his part though, and more of the determination after he finally finds something *he* wants to do, rather than just focusing on doing it for Akari. Again, I feel this switch in his character would have been stronger as well if we just had more time with him in the beginning. Nevertheless, I had a really good time reading this part, and quite enjoyed the banter and kinship between Shu and Akari. Once we properly got into the plot, the writing had more clear direction and was less muddled (was a bit fast for my taste though). The piece was commissioned by Paul Wittgenstein, a concert pianist who had lost his right arm in the First World War. [1] Paul Wittgenstein at the piano The art is beautiful, and especially the scenes where we have Shu and Akari playing together. In general, the composition was always creative and compelling, and the art style was just a treat to look at. However, one of my favourite things about music manga is how the art represents the sound. Aside from with Shu and Akari, I feel the art could have done a bit more to aid us in picturing how the music sounds and should make us feel.