Conrad Tao

MUSIC
TUESDAY, MARCH 24, 2020
7:30 PM

92nd Street Y Livestream

Free
https://www.92y.org/archives/conrad-tao-piano

The previously scheduled live-streamed Ives/Beethoven concert by the Junction Trio from an auditorium in the 92nd Street Y shall be replaced by a live-streamed solo set by the trio's pianist, the phenomenal Conrad Tao, from his apartment.  Tao will play what I am hyperbolically going to call the greatest set of piano variations written in the 20th Century (but go ahead:  prove me wrong):  Frederic Rzewski's titanic The People United Will Never Be Defeated!  But talking about how great this piece is obscures how much fun it is to listen to (as well as how stirring it is:  surely Rzewski's agit-prop intention).  The apparent reason for this change of program is sad.  But, with all due respect to the Trio, it's hard not to be excited by this new program.

MAKE A NIGHT OF IT:  "The People United Will Never Be Defeated!" is of course a Chilean revolutionary air.  And the big news on the accompanying-cocktail front is that the version of the Pisco Sour that people drink in Chile is A LOT easier to make (albeit, if I may say, not as good) as the famous version from Peru.  So let's go Chilean and put three parts Pisco (Chilean Pisco is a little different from Peruvian — but good luck finding any here in New York; I'm sticking with the Peruvian Pisco that's readily available here) into the ice-filled cocktail shaker, add one part lemon juice and some sugar, shake like your life depended on it, pour into a chilled glass, and Robert's your uncle.