Bennet Gedan http://www.gedan.net Project Engineer, Web Addict (Frankfurt/Main, Germany) Sat, 13 Feb 2010 20:37:20 +0000 en hourly 1 Back again http://www.gedan.net/2010/02/13/back-again/ http://www.gedan.net/2010/02/13/back-again/#comments Sat, 13 Feb 2010 20:37:20 +0000 bgedan http://www.gedan.net/?p=828 My blog is back online again with the great all new modularity lite theme. I’ve added a new service to my website, wich you can find at lounge.gedan.net and visit me via online messaging, as long I’m avaible at my computer.

Related Posts

]]> http://www.gedan.net/2010/02/13/back-again/feed/ 0 New Blog Feature: Meebo Bar http://www.gedan.net/2009/12/22/new-blog-feature-meebo-bar/ http://www.gedan.net/2009/12/22/new-blog-feature-meebo-bar/#comments Mon, 21 Dec 2009 23:27:29 +0000 bgedan http://www.gedan.net/?p=810 I recently installed the Meebo Bar plugin to my blog. If you’re using instant messaging like ICQ, Yahoo, Jabber, Facebook Chat or anything like that, you can now sign in to that network directly on my website, while browsing my blog or listening to my piano recordings. Enjoy and have fun.

Most Commented Posts

]]> http://www.gedan.net/2009/12/22/new-blog-feature-meebo-bar/feed/ 0 Robert Schumann, Bunte Blätter Op. 99, V. Langsam. http://www.gedan.net/2009/12/11/robert-schumann-bunte-blatter-op-99-v-langsam/ http://www.gedan.net/2009/12/11/robert-schumann-bunte-blatter-op-99-v-langsam/#comments Thu, 10 Dec 2009 22:31:53 +0000 bgedan http://www.gedan.net/?p=765 I recorded this piece long time ago, but never uploaded it to my website. Schumann’s ‘Bunte Blätter’ are rich and colorful musical gems, of wich I love the fifth one the most, but listen yourself:

Schumannn, Bunte Blätter Op. 99, V. Langsam.

My father has written beautiful variations on it for a small orchestral ensemble: J. Gedan, 21 Variations by a theme of Robert Schumann, Op. 21.

Related Posts

]]> http://www.gedan.net/2009/12/11/robert-schumann-bunte-blatter-op-99-v-langsam/feed/ 0 Apologies http://www.gedan.net/2009/10/28/apologies/ http://www.gedan.net/2009/10/28/apologies/#comments Tue, 27 Oct 2009 22:12:36 +0000 bgedan http://www.gedan.net/?p=726
  • first for all the spam around in the comments
  • second for long-time not posting anything

    • I’m currently running through active and pending comments and trying to get rid of spam messages; there has been a huge flood of spamming in the last few days.

    I’m rather short on time, there might be a longer lasting lack of new posts. As spare time grows, there will be a revival of new posts.

    Most Commented Posts

    ]]>     http://www.gedan.net/2009/10/28/apologies/feed/ 0     Anonymous, Impromtu B flat major http://www.gedan.net/2009/09/18/anonymous-impromtu-b-flat-major/ http://www.gedan.net/2009/09/18/anonymous-impromtu-b-flat-major/#comments Thu, 17 Sep 2009 23:04:03 +0000 bgedan http://www.gedan.net/?p=637
  • Anonymous, Impromptu B flat major

    • I love this piece. The composer wants to stay anonymous however. The piece was written at an age of sixteen. I did the recording some time ago, but never put the file up.

    Related Posts

    ]]>     http://www.gedan.net/2009/09/18/anonymous-impromtu-b-flat-major/feed/ 0     Finally the files are back http://www.gedan.net/2009/09/11/finally-the-files-are-back/ http://www.gedan.net/2009/09/11/finally-the-files-are-back/#comments Fri, 11 Sep 2009 21:15:18 +0000 bgedan http://www.gedan.net/?p=616 Recently I lost some files from my webserver and got lot’s of mails like this one:

    There appears to be a broken link on the page, http://www.gedan.net. Someone was trying to get to http://www.gedan.net/wp-content/uploads/2009/06/scriab22_2.mp3 from that page. Please take a look and see if this can be fixed.

    Finally all files should be back right now. If you’re experiencing any missing files on my webpage, you should be redirected to a 404-error-page and an email should have been sent to me. However you can leave a comment here or write me an email, if you need support.

    Most Commented Posts

    ]]>     http://www.gedan.net/2009/09/11/finally-the-files-are-back/feed/ 0     Updated Wordpress, Result: New Design and Layout, Loss of Recordings http://www.gedan.net/2009/09/08/updated-wordpress-result-new-design-and-layout-loss-of-recordings/ http://www.gedan.net/2009/09/08/updated-wordpress-result-new-design-and-layout-loss-of-recordings/#comments Tue, 08 Sep 2009 09:04:41 +0000 bgedan http://www.gedan.net/?p=594 As you might have seen allready, I’ve changed the layout and design of my website. This was due to an update to a more decent wordpress version and the incomaptibility of the old theme.

    In combination with this update, as you might have seen too, mostly all of my recordings have been removed from the server by accident. I’ll bring them back up as soon as possible. Please give me some time to compensate, what went wrong during update.

    I’ll also try to do some details work on layout and design and experimenting with plugins, as far my ideas will reach. If you’re experiencing anything unexpected, it’s most certainly me playing around.

    Related Posts

    ]]>     http://www.gedan.net/2009/09/08/updated-wordpress-result-new-design-and-layout-loss-of-recordings/feed/ 6     Claude Debussy, Prélude Livre 1, No. X “La cathédrale engloutie” http://www.gedan.net/2009/09/07/cathedrale-engloutie/ http://www.gedan.net/2009/09/07/cathedrale-engloutie/#comments Mon, 07 Sep 2009 06:49:48 +0000 bgedan http://www.gedan.net/?p=556
  • Claude Debussy, Prélude Livre 1, No. X “La cathédrale engloutie”

    • La cathédrale engloutie (The Sunken Cathedrale) is a prelude written by Claude Debussy (1862 – 1918) as the tenth prelude in a series of 24 (split into two volumes).

    I beg pardon for the bad sound quality and distortion, but I currently have some problems with sound recordings with linux’ pulseaudio-system.

    A problem playing this piece on an electric piano like I’m doing is the technical difficulty of making it sound right. Normaly you would use a combination of all three pedals (una corda, sostenuto and sustain pedal) and a technique called “half-pedal” to achieve the “underwater effect”, Debussy intendet with his composition.

    La cathédrale engloutie (The Sunken Cathedrale) is one of the more popular Debussy preludes alongside La fille aux cheveux de lin (The Girl with the Flaxen Hair). La cathédral engloutie comprehends many characteristic for the musical impressionism Debussy is generally referred to. Most significant are the parallel harmonic cords in the bright fortissimo passage of the piece.

    The name cathédrale engloutie is originated by an ancient Breton myth, the Legend of Ys, an ancient mythical city. Gradlon, the King of Cornouaille, had a daughter, Dahut, who loved the sea so much, that she requested her father to build a city below the sea level. The City was built with the name Ys, and had a dike for protection, whose gate was controlled by a key held by the king.

    Ys rised to the most beautiful and impressive city in the world.
    Dahut had the habit of celebrating orgies and killing her lovers at the break of dawn. Under her influence Ys rapidly turned into a pool of sin. Dahut had been warned of God’s punishment by saint people, but had ignored all of them.

    One day, a red-dressed knight came to Ys. Dahut took a shine on him and one night asked him to come and spend the night with her, wich he agreed. In the middle of the night a storm broke and waves surged, smashing against the city gate. The red knight, who was no other then the devil himself, convinced Dahut to steal her fathers key to the city gate, and opened the city gate.

    The indruding water engulfed Ys. King Gradlon and Dahut flew away On Morvarc’h, the kings magical horse. Saint Winwaloe stopped Gradlon and asked told him: “Push back the demon sitting behind you!”, meaning Dahut, the kings daughter. Gradlon refused but finally gave in and pushed his daughter into the sea.

    It is said that the bells of the churches of Ys can still be heard in the sea calm. A legend says that when Paris will be swallowed, the city of Ys will rise up from under the waves (Par-Is meaning, in Breton, “similar to Ys” ).

    Hearing of this legend has influenced Debussy to write his La cathédrale engloutie. The church bells of Ys can be heared initially, highly muted by the deep sea. As the piece goes on you can literally hear, how the church emerges from the deep sea, hearing both the increasing waves and the sharpness of the clear church bells, rising above the sea.

    As the cathedral fully emerges, the great organ is heared in full fortissimo, represented by parallel harmonic cords, marking the climax of the piece. Finally the cathedral sinks back down into the ocean and the organ is heard once more, but from underwater.

    The narrative character of the piece is directly linked to the musical instructions Debussy gives: Peu à peu sortant de la brume (Emerging from the fog little by little), Augmentez progressivement (Slowly growing), fortissimo and Sonore sans dureté (sonorous without durability).

    Related Posts

    ]]>     http://www.gedan.net/2009/09/07/cathedrale-engloutie/feed/ 3     Aleksandr Nikolaevič Skrjabin, Prélude Op. 22 No. 2 http://www.gedan.net/2009/06/12/aleksandr-nikolaevic-skrjabin-prelude-op-22-no-2/ http://www.gedan.net/2009/06/12/aleksandr-nikolaevic-skrjabin-prelude-op-22-no-2/#comments Thu, 11 Jun 2009 23:15:32 +0000 bgedan http://www.gedan.net/?p=531 Prélude Op. 22 No. 2, c# minor

    Aleksandr Nikolaevič Skrjabin (1872-1915) was a russian composer and pianist. Skrjabin’s compositions are heavily influenced by the music of Frédéric Chopin. The Préludes for solo piano are evident for this influence. Given here is a recording of the Prélude Op. 22 No. 2. You can find the sheet music on imslp.org (Préludes Op 22, sheet music)

    Related Posts

    ]]>     http://www.gedan.net/2009/06/12/aleksandr-nikolaevic-skrjabin-prelude-op-22-no-2/feed/ 0     Fedora 11 Leonidas, How to Upgrade http://www.gedan.net/2009/05/24/fedora-11-leonidas-how-to-upgrade/ http://www.gedan.net/2009/05/24/fedora-11-leonidas-how-to-upgrade/#comments Sat, 23 May 2009 23:14:31 +0000 bgedan http://www.gedan.net/?p=448 Please make sure to backup important files before starting the upgrade process. The upgrade should work without problems, but for your own safety: Backup your datas!

    Update 2009-05-24: Please read the comment from Paul W. Frields (Thank you, Paul!) regarding the upgrade process before following this tutorial. I recommend you to wait until Leonidas is officially released and to not use the Rawhide-branch. (The procedure will be the same as mentioned here, but without the “Display unstable test releases above” check box setting.)

    As you may have seen from the banner I’ve installed on the upper right at my webpage, Fedora 11 Leonidas will be here in the next few days.

    All of you using Fedora 10 right now and who can’t stand the wait to upgrade to Leonidas there is a way to upgrade today to the last snapshot of the yet unreleased version of Fedora 11 Leonidas.

    First of all you’ll need the tool preupgrade, which can be found in the official repos and installed via

    sudo yum install preupgrade

    Start preupgrade via pressing F2 entering ‘preupgrade’ and pressing enter. You should be greeted with this window:

    'Preupgrage startup message

    Preupgrade startup message

    In the following diaogue you’ll have to select “Display unstable test releases above” and select “Rawhide” from the dropdown list. Again, make sure you’ve backup’d your important datas before applying your selection.

    Preupgrade Release Selection

    Preupgrade Release Selection

    After the official release of Fedora 11 you will install a fedora-release transition package, which will change the release name from Rawhide to the general Leonidas release name. So you’ll not longer fetch Rawhide (beta/testing) packages unless you want it. (Make sure to update your system on time after the official release date, unless you might miss the fedora-release transition package and stay at the Rawhide-repositories — don’t panic: you can still disable them by hand in /etc/yum.repos.d/* or via the graphical package manager)

    If you’re not using Linux or Fedora at now, Leonidas may be a great oppertunity to test it. There will be Live-CDs avaible after Leonidas is released, so you can test it without actually installing it on your machine.

    Follow either the official Fedora Website for the release date or the counter at my site to be informed about the arrival of Fedora 11 Leonidas.

    Web resources

    Related Posts

    ]]>     http://www.gedan.net/2009/05/24/fedora-11-leonidas-how-to-upgrade/feed/ 8