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Kimiko Ishizaka

Wildly popular on YouTube: Kimiko Ishizaka's "Goldberg Variations" and MuseScore

on Mon, 05/25/2015 - 15:31

Two things to learn about the success of Kimiko Ishizaka's YouTube video "Goldberg Variations Complete (J.S. Bach BWV 988), with score, Kimiko Ishizaka piano":

  1. People love using YouTube to listen to music. This can be seen in the video's analytics: while it accounts for 44% of the roughly 20,000 monthly views the channel gets, that number goes to 84% of the minutes watched. People watch 125,000 minutes of the video each month - that's 86 days and 21 hours of viewing, every month!
  2. Both the length and the video score are attractive features. Surfing YouTube is hard work. Why not sit and watch something entertaining and educational for an hour or more? Plus, the appeal is broad. People who know the Goldbergs can simply listen, maybe with the video on in the background. People studying piano, or trying to get a visual sense for how the music is put together can see then notes going by, clearly marked in realtime on the MuseScore.

Gramophone Magazine Reviews: The Well-Tempered Clavier by Kimiko Ishizaka

on Sun, 05/24/2015 - 18:17

The June 2015 issue of Gramophone Magazine features an interview with Kimiko Ishizaka, and a review of her March 2015 release of J.S. Bach's Well-Tempered Clavier, Book 1. Apparently it is only available to readers in the USA and Canada. Why Gramophone made this decision is anyone's guess; perhaps because the label, Navona Recordings, is located in the USA?

The Open Well-Tempered Clavier is here

on Thu, 03/26/2015 - 01:19

For several years, the recording I wanted to hear the most was Kimiko Ishizaka's Well-Tempered Clavier, Book 1. Now, after several world tours, a successful Kickstarter campaign, and an enormous amount of hard work and perseverance, it is here. You can download and enjoy this public domain creation, and share it with the people you love. I hope that you will find joy in the music, as I have.

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