Ever since it opened 10 years ago, Barbès has had an upright piano next to the mantle in the back room: an old oak thing that, while perhaps not up to concert-hall standards, always sounded far better than it looked. So, it was a surprise to see a polished black upright onstage when I arrived there on Tuesday night for Upright Piano Brigade: a new weekly series put on by Concert Artists Guild, the same folks that host the ongoing monthly Barbès Classical series.
The series, which began in May and runs through July, includes a full recital by a string of young up-and-coming pianists. This past Tuesday featured William McNally: a graduate of Mannes, Tanglewood and Aspen, and a current PhD candidate at CUNY, where he's studying with Ursula Oppens. Reflecting Ms. Oppens' interests in the Romantic and Contemporary repertoire, McNally's program included Ligeti's "White on White" etude, Busoni's "Fantasia After JS Bach," and a sparkling performance of Elliott Carter's Catenaires, which had McNally's hands flying all over the keyboard. I was blown away to hear such a difficult piece played so perfectly in my backyard bar just four 1/2 years after Pierre-Laurent Aimard premiered it at Zankel.
In between, McNally mixed things up by playing a pair of rags he composed himself: the "Blue Donkey Rag" and "Sedalia Queen." An award-winning player of ragtime music, McNally recently released an album of rags on Rivermont Records called "Chickens 'n Kittens," including music from contemporary composers such as William Bolcom and Leopold Godowsky, as well composers from ragtime's golden era, such as Scott Joplin and Zez Confrey.
The second half of the program was given over to Max Reger's "Variations and Fugue on a Theme by JS Bach": a work completely unfamiliar to me, and apparently to most in the audience. (McNally told us he picked the score out of an egg crate at the Oberlin music store.) A sweeping work of late-romanticism, it began somewhat mundanely before gradually becoming more and more feverish. About 20 minutes in, McNally decided to put the score aside and attempt to play this monstrous piece from memory. He eventually took back the score, huffing his way through the Fugue that closes the work. Seeing McNally's struggle only made you appreciate just how effing hard it is to play this work; he later told me that this was the first time he'd ever attempted to play it in public.
Next week's concert (7pm) features Jacob Greeberg, playing music by Busoni, Janacek, Debussy, and Beethoven. More info about the series on the CAG website.
Ever since I always love to learn how to play piano. I just don’t have enough time. But I swear I’ll learn someday. I’m starting playing keyboard now.
Ever since I always love to learn how to play piano. I just don’t have enough time. But I swear I’ll learn someday. I’m starting playing keyboard now.
Ever since I always love to learn how to play piano. I just don’t have enough time. But I swear I’ll learn someday. I’m starting playing keyboard now.
Ever since I always love to learn how to play piano. I just don’t have enough time. But I swear I’ll learn someday. I’m starting playing keyboard now.
Ever since I always love to learn how to play piano. I just don’t have enough time. But I swear I’ll learn someday. I’m starting playing keyboard now.
Ever since I always love to learn how to play piano. I just don’t have enough time. But I swear I’ll learn someday. I’m starting playing keyboard now.
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This is a great read for me so far and whatever I was blown away to hear such a difficult piece played so perfectly in my backyard bar just four. Thanks mate.
This is a great read for me so far and whatever I was blown away to hear such a difficult piece played so perfectly in my backyard bar just four. Thanks mate.
This is a great read for me so far and whatever I was blown away to hear such a difficult piece played so perfectly in my backyard bar just four. Thanks mate.
This is a great read for me so far and whatever I was blown away to hear such a difficult piece played so perfectly in my backyard bar just four. Thanks mate.
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