Tubular Bells, On Piano(s)

It is perhaps unfortunate that when I think of Mike Oldfield's Tubular Bells I picture the album cover: a giant pipe twisting and hulking unattractively against a cloud filled sky. Others have more positive associations, for instance Calgary pianist Marcel Bergmann, whose teenaged passion for the music led him to arranging some of it for four-pianos.

You can hear some of this music tonight on Canada Live (8 p.m.), as part of a collaboration, commissioned by One Yellow Rabbit, who annually host the "High Performance Rodeo," a multi-disciplinary theatre fest. Bergmann's arrangement is performed by The Bergmann Duo and Jeroen Van Veen from the Netherlands, and Hong Xu from China -- on four Steinway grands. They also play other works on piano that were inspired or connected to bell music.

And the second concert on the show, also from Calgary and One Yellow Rabbit's High Performance Rodeo, is called Garden Cities Of Tomorrow, the name of featured singer Lullaby Baxter's most recent CD. Here she collaborates in a musical with Lily String Quartet. It tells the story of a couple who have issues about dishes, dishwashing, and the need to have dirty dishes. (Sound like your house? Don't worry, it's everyone's house.) As described on Baxter's website, it's a mix of fable, farce, and domestic drama -- "think Threepenny Opera meets Mary Hartman, Mary Hartman."