New video of Rachel Flowers playing Tarkus

She's always superb, though I find this particular performance to be a bit uninspired and lacking the soul of her other Tarkus forays, and to the original recording.

  excellent performance

I think the hard thing to see here, that most rock fans I'm not sure can really appreciate, is how Keith Emerson, was not only a great keyboard player, but in the end he was a magnificent composer more often than not. 

When you hear this piece, in its entirety, done on piano as Rachel has done, you find out right away what a great composition it was ... although I'm sure he knew that the piece of music would not survive as a piano concerto, instead of something of a rock piece of music, done by hands that were also adept at various instruments and sensitive to their sounds, and how they could be used instead of the piano concerto. A modern rock song in the fashion of classic music!

Every time I hear these things, I almost cry ... ELP was probably the first "progressive" band I got into mostly because they also did classical music, which was also the case with The Nice. I thought that it was the next logical conclusion for electric music, though it got sidetracked by the fame and rock song routines.

But, really, when listening to these things, I get the same feeling I do with Beethoven, Mozart and many others ... I just simply melt away at the visuals and thoughts from the music ... and even though the lyrics used are fine, the whole piece is better without the lyrics ... even though I get the feeling that a piece of music without "lyrics" can not be "progressive" ... too many folks will say it's just meandering and wasting time on a song!

I always wondered what music would have been like the last 500 years without all the meandering and orchestral excursions to everywhere ... but I sincerely bet that Keith would have tears in his eyes if he could ever hear these things now ... 

One of the greatest 20th century composers ... only he had to adjust to a rock idiom ... an idiom that has a tendency to take the music down to the lowest level sometimes ... all riffs and learning level stuff being given music status, when a piece like this gets ignored and left behind.

My total appreciation and love for Rachel Flowers, for having done Keith right ... specially in front of a bunch of folks that would appreciate it all .... instead of just a "progressive" music and "prog" bunch of fans, that in the end can not stand up when the whole thing is more than just a stupid song for the top ten lists on PA and other places. 

That's when you know it's not about the music at all!