Vicki Ray ended her Piano Spheres recital last Tuesday with Julia Wolfe’s My lips from speaking, a piece for recorded sound and live piano that did variations on the first 10 seconds of Aretha Franklin’s Think—you know: those big chunky piano chords. It was surprising, lovely, entertaining and an opportunity to show that she can really get down.
Then she topped it all in an encore, saying “Since this is Felix Mendelssohn's’s one-hundredth birthday … (the audience of piano teachers shouts “Two-hundredth!”) … I’m not going to play any Mendelssohn, but this thing I do to relive the tension.” And what would that be? I bet you didn't guess My Funny Valentine on a toy piano and mouth organ!
There was also a outstanding little Piano solo from Pocket Symphony by Frederic Rzewski. I need to know his music better. She also did a thing that was like tinted fog, Awhirl by Rand Steiger. I was suspicious at first, but she played with such conviction that she sold me. John Adams’ Eros Piano was a complete waste of time.
I
went because she was doing Stravinsky’s Concerto for two solo pianos (with
Julie Steinberg). I had never realized it is so hard. They seemed a lot of the
time to be unable to translate it into life. But then there were many moments
when they did pull it off, and it was tremendous. The thing is so lively. The
first part takes off like a shot and never looks back. It’s like the Keystone
Cops.
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