Piedmont Piano Company hosts a presentation on the Fazioli Piano featuring Paolo Fazioli followed with performances by Duo Biondi Brunialti and Geoffrey Keezer
2015-01-26
Piedmont Piano Company
1728 San Pablo Ave, Oakland, CA
8:00 PM, Monday, January 26, 2015
Back to the previous event! ☸ Up to the 2015 yearbox! ☸ Up to the 2015 event list! ☸ On to the next event!
[6:42 PM lights down, announcements by Jim Callahan]
[8:11 PM lights down, introduction by JC]
After a brief talk by Paolo, we heard a very loud, clangy piece by the Italian piano Duo Biondi Brunialti. Clearly a modern work, it was hard for me to hear all that much that was beautiful coming from the piano. Certainly the instrument had great sustain, and likewise, the damped glissando runs tailed off with undue resonance, but it was hard for me to discern whether or not the piano could be used to play softly, for the primary experience with the demonstration was loud, louder and extra loud. Kind of odd, really. When the girls knocked or tapped on the piano to introduce percussion effects, it responded with a solid, resonance free thunk, making it clear that this is a very solidly built instrument, built to last! And the surprise encore, introduced as the first movement of a Poulenc piece, didn't come off much better. I'm inclined to pin the blame on the performance style of the duo, mistaking muscularity and force for the only virtues worth exploring. Probably should have taken the opportunity to ask the duo more about the works they played, but that took more initiative than I could muster…
It was nice to be served chocolates and prosecco at set break, though a little surprising that the house seemed unprepared for getting started with the service…you'd think that they do enough shows to have a party routine to follow, but maybe not. Anyways, it was pleasant having a glass of bubbly to stop while browsing the sales floor, even if the prices – mostly I'm the tens of thousands – were way out of my league.
Keezer's set was the advertised highlight of the night, and he came through in spades, offering a fine set of cover tunes, as well as a few standards. Given that most of the covers came from post 80's rock, it shouldn't be surprising that the set seemed a little light on blues or jazz content, but Keeper was quite affable, and framed the issue as his exploration of “future standards” as opposed to the more hackneyed reliance on Tom pan alley his from the or for generations ago. Fine with me, it made for an interesting night!
For the final tune, Geoff called Kenny Washington up from the audience to sing and scat on Old Devil Moon, what a treat! It was really interesting to me how Lesser immediately shifted his style to better play the role of accompanist – laying down a thick walking bass with his left hand, for example – but shifted back into solo mode when the tune called for it. Very cool!
After the show, my ears were ringing a bit, If I'd had been more conscious of it, I would have inserted my earplugs. I'm guessing that the problem here was more of a sustained high volume rather than particular bursts of sound, as the only time during the show that the volume got to me was during the short duo section in the first set. who knew that a grand piano could be played so loud!
A bazillion thanks to Jim Callahan, Paolo Fazioli, all the performers, and everyone else who helped put this evening together, it was a really fun night!
Back to the previous event! ☸ Up to the 2015 yearbox! ☸ Up to the 2015 event list! ☸ On to the next event!