Disklavier

Good morning, everyone.

I am delighted to announce that all of the recent Disklavier MIDI files from 
the 2004 International Piano-e-Competition are now available.

The Disklavier MIDI files came from various rounds that where held in this 
order:

(1) Disklavier Screening   Auditions
53 pianists recorded 25-minute programs on a Disklavier Pro in Hamamatsu, Los 
Angeles, New York, or Paris in December 2003. These Disklavier recordings 
were played back on a Disklavier Pro concert grand along with synchronized video 
for the screening jury at Hamline U. in January 2004.

(2) Recital Round
24 pianists were invited to perform 60-70 minute recitals in person at 
Hamline U. in late May 2004. (Two pianist had to drop out due to injuries.) These 
performances were recorded on a Disklavier Pro concert grand. In addition, video 
was recorded and streamed live over the Internet.

(3) Schubert Sonata Round
9 pianists advanced to this round and performed a Schubert Sonata at Hamline 
U. on May 30, 2004. These performances were recorded on a Disklavier Pro 
concert grand. In addition, video was recorded and streamed live over the Internet.

(4) Chamber Music and Concerto Rounds
6 pianists advanced to these next two rounds which took place at Hamline U. 
in St. Paul and Orchestra Hall in Minneapolis during the first week of June 
2004. Performances took place on a Disklavier Pro concert grand but were not 
recorded in MIDI form because the other instrumentalists could not be recorded in 
this way. In addition, video of the Chamber Music was recorded and streamed 
live over the Internet.

(5) Gala Concert
The 6 finalists participated in a Gala Concert on June 5, 2004, at Orchestra 
Hall in Minneapolis. These performances were recorded on a Disklavier Pro 
concert grand but video was not recorded or streamed live over the Internet.

You can find the available Disklavier MIDI files and the archived video files 
in the following manner. Go to:

http://www.piano-e-competition.com/

This page will probably be redesigned by the new webmistress in the near 
future. For now, click the link that says, "listen to archived performances." This 
will take you to:

http://www.piano-e-competition.com/24ContestantsSelected04.htm

This page lists the 22 contestants who recently participated in the Recital 
Round. 

Unfortunately, this page no longer contains a complete listing of all 53 
pianists who participated in the previous Disklavier Screening Auditions. However, 
I believe that the listing of the other 31 pianists will be restored in the 
near future. 

Meanwhile, you can proceed to get the most recent recordings by clicking the 
link on any contestant's name. This will take you to the contestant's 
individual page where you will find all available Disklavier MIDI files and video 
files.

NOTE 1: You can download individual MIDI files as "Enhanced Standard MIDI 
files." These are the normal Type 0 SMFs that you would expect to get when you 
record on a Mark IIXG or later Disklavier or when you record on a Pro in 
Enhanced mode. At the bottom of the page, you can download complete packages of 
E-SEQ, Enhanced, and XP MIDI files. The E-SEQ files will work on any Disklavier but 
are intended for early model Disklaviers that do not recognize SMFs. XP MIDI 
files are larger than the rest and are intended for playback on a Disklavier 
Pro.

NOTE 2: A few of the early recital round performances were not recorded in XP 
mode. Therefore, XP files are not available for these pieces. Also, MIDI 
files are not available for 2 pieces played by Marouan Benabdallah.

NOTE 3: Each candidate's page lists all of the pieces that he/she WOULD HAVE 
PLAYED if he/she had participated in every round. If you don't see a file for 
the Schubert Round, for example, that means that the contestant did not make 
it to that round.

NOTE 4: Many of the complete zip file packages include directory files. If, 
after unzipping these archives, you can copy the complete bundle of song files 
to a floppy disk including these directory files, you will enjoy the display 
of disk titles on your Disklavier. In the absence of the directory files, you 
should still see proper song titles on the Disklavier screen. These same song 
titles should also show up in most MIDI programs on your computer.

Lastly, I would like to point out that if you missed the recordings from the 
2002 competition, you can find them by going to:

http://www.piano-e-competition.com/

and clicking the link that says, "2002 Highlights." Follow the obvious links 
from there.

As you might imagine, making hundreds of files available in 3 formats is a 
lot of work. I would like to give special thanks to list member John Q. Walker 
for providing software that automated many of the processing tasks.

Regards,
PianoBench