Brad Mehldau at the Wigmore hall, June 4th 2010

A fantastic solo concert at the Wigmore hall.

Pre Concert:

I arrived in London, making my way to the hall early to make sure I knew where I was going, I walked up to the auditorium doors and could hear the concert Steinway being played, sounded like classical/romantic repertoire, I opened the door for a quick look and sure enough there was Brad Mehldau wearing glasses putting the instrument through it’s paces! Upstairs in the dressing room of the Wigmore, the artistes have a Bosendorfer upright piano to warm up on, and with half an hour to go before the concert, I could hear that Piano being played too, again similar repertoire.

The Concert:

The concert was everything I expected and a whole lot more. I was sat in row B right by the Piano, I knew that I was in row B as I had obviously booked the ticket, but was amazed at how close I was. A very appreciative audience was treated to a set of seven numbers, book ended by two songs from his recent album ‘Highway rider’.

Set list:

John Boy, Club Med (a new piece  by Mehldau), Get happy (“I think I played the tune somewhere in there” quipped Mehldau), I’m Old fashioned, Dream brother, My Favourite things and Old West.

I had read that Brad usually does a couple of encores in his solo concerts, and the appreciative audience were treated to Six encores! Amongst the six encores were three pieces he had played in his solo concert CD ‘Live in Tokyo’.

From this moment on, How long has this been going on, Things beyond the sun.

Hearing him playing pre-concert it is easy to understand his choice of practise material, his improvisations are infused with the classical/romantic styles and he quotes Brahms and R.Strauss as big influences on his work in his liner notes to his albums. The trademarks of Mehldau’s piano style was all there, the independance of the two hands, how good was his left hand??! (Club Med, started with a tricky chordal rhytmic accompaniment which came in and out of the piece frequently).

Post Concert:

I am pleased that I made the effort to stay afterwards and meet Brad. Most interesting were the conversations he was having with other people, I understand that there may be a DVD recording with ‘My favourite things’ on within the next two months? He also spoke about the difference between the Bosendorfer upright and the Steinway grand, the Steinway, being very powerful, particularly in the acoustic of the Wigmore hall. As for Brad Mehldau’s own practise regime? ‘I like to start the day with a Bach Prelude and Fugue’!

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