All knowledge? Go on then

[tamaranth]

1. What is the correct name for the vertical bit behind the keyboard of a piano? (Not the fall, which is apparently the bit that comes down to cover the keys: not the soundboard, which is inside ...)

2. Does anyone know where I might find a free download of an audio performance of A Midsummer Night's Dream?

edit to add: 2a. Would anyone like to recommend a torrent-tracker now that ThePirateBay has been gobbled by the Kraken?

3. Can anyone recommend a recording of Beethoven's Kreutzer sonata on period instruments? (Especially one that is available via eMusic...)

4. Have any of you ever tried playing a violin in a corset?

Google has failed me, or possibly my google-fu is on the wane! Though I do now know the mechanics of the world's first automatic door ...

Comments

[lamentables.livejournal.com]

#1 I googled 'piano anatomy' and found this (http://www.classicpiano.com/howtto.html), but the one part without a label seems to be the part you're interested in?

[tamaranth.livejournal.com]

that's the one! (I have been watching the reflections of pianists' hands in highly-polished [thing] at recent RFH concerts.)

[shui-long.livejournal.com]

I thought that was the inside of the fall (or keylid) - but if the fall is removable, what you would then see is apparently the "case cornice". At least according to this Steinway diagram:
Steinway schematic (http://www.steinway.com/technical/schematic.shtml)

[tamaranth.livejournal.com]

Hmm. You might be right but I'm honestly not sure: I don't get to see pianos often enough and I'm usually watching (the reflection of) the pianist's hands!

Example of what I mean: the photo here (http://www.belairmusic.com/mira%20yevtich.htm), the very highly polished area that's reflecting keys and her hands. I can't make out whether it's the inside of the fall or not -- it seems too low and too flush with the keys.

[shui-long.livejournal.com]

I'm fairly sure that is the inside of the fall. She's resting her elbow on the curved top of the fall, which when closed covers the front of the keys.

(And thank you for the links to what's on in Cambridge - I think I shall take an hour off next time I visit the UL, in a couple of weeks' time, and go to Kettle's Yard.)

[lj_stowaway]

Re #4: Why would you put a violin in a corset? *runs away and hides*

[tamaranth.livejournal.com]

So that it stood up straight! obviously!

*hunts you down and plays classical music at you*

[bugshaw.livejournal.com]

I have a viola and a corset, and if you helped tighten my lacing I could experiment...

[shui-long.livejournal.com]

The Radio 3 performance of Midsummer Night's Dream in the Temple Hall, with Mendelssohn's incidental music, is still available on BBC iPlayer at:
Mendelssohn Dream (http://www.bbc.co.uk/composers/mendelssohn/dream.shtml)

... which may not be exactly what you wanted, but it is well worth listening to.

A free downloadable set of audio files of the Shakespeare play is available at:
archive.org (http://www.archive.org/details/midsummer_nights_dream_0806_librivox)
... but trying to stream this crashes Firefox, so I don't know if it's any good.

[tamaranth.livejournal.com]

I *think* I'm downloading the free audio files -- that's exactly what I wanted, thank you! (Just want audio of play for MP3 player.)

Also well worth listening to and watching -- the ENO production of The Fairy Queen. Not exactly Shakespeare, but Oberon is very pretty.

[nils.livejournal.com]

2a. mininova.org and btjunkie.org are both okay. Or there's always google. ;-)

[tamaranth.livejournal.com]

Google! How retro!
(No, honestly, I just didn't think of them for torrent-searches.)

[andrewducker]

Pirate Bay still works - they just don't run their own tracker any more.

[tamaranth.livejournal.com]

Hmm, interesting: I couldn't get into the site at all earlier, so assumed it was totally dead, but it's there now.

[nils.livejournal.com]

Maybe they were just too busy? I've been having problems with the pirate bay trackers for a while now, but manually adding more trackers to a torrent isn't all that difficult. ;-)

[owlfish]

If you don't end up satisfied with answers to your piano question, I can email my-friend-the-musical-instrument-maker. Last I visited her, she was working on an upright harpsichord.