Brad's understanding and mastery of musical langauge and form allows
him to create music that is both fun and engaging. But more
importantly, as seen on June 20th at Carnegie Hall, music that
reflects the Sublime.
(Editors note: The thoughts presented in this blog were given as a
lecture to two gentlemen from Germany who presented me with the
question directly following his piano recital at Carnegie Hall: "What
separates Brad Mehldau from other pianists?"
The posts here (Part I and II) is a small excerpt from my discourse
to these two gentlemen that took place informally on the street corner
of 57th and 6th avenue.
Interestingly enough, in the liner notes of Brad Mehldau's new album
entitled "House on a Hill" he mentions form in the 2nd paragraph of
essay. I simply just opened my mouth wide and said "wow!" I was right
with my assessment that Brad takes the matter of form seriously,
though this doesn't make me a genius. I didn't even finish reading his
essay since I wanted to post my own thoughts here on Art Comments
first about Brad and this subject of form since it was actually
something I stressed and something I spoke about precisely on the
night of the performance.
My observations come from listening extensively to his recorded
output, much of which I own, hearing him live on several occassions
both in the context of solo and trio, reading some of his past
writings and even from a brief but deep discussion with him regarding
music and philosophy. Finally, I will now read the notes written in
his new CD!)
-PD
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