Peter Nero

The best Etincelles I´ve heard -- from the master of easy listening piano! What do you think?

Good folks, I hope you don´t look down on a pianist just because he works in another ("lower") sphere of music. Actually Nero has a classical background. An interview:

The best Etincelles I´ve heard -- from the master of easy listening piano! What do you think? It's pretty good, but "the best"? It doesn't really have the lightness or wit of an artist like Horowitz. It feels a bit "pumped out" compared to that level of control. Not that I'm saying he's a bad pianist by any means, by I didn't hear anything truly outstanding.

I always had an affection for Peter Nero from hearing him when I was a kid. I ran across this video recently, too, and I enjoyed it. I didn't know he played that repertory. Of course, you can debate whether that's the "best" performance, but clearly he can play. I think the more interesting question is how he makes it happen. This video proves that people can make all sorts of things work. Peter doesn't maintain an arch structure, yet he manages to produce the performance. The accuracy, speed, and evenness are perfectly credible even without attention to technical details we like to discuss on this forum. Would he get better results if he reworked his physical approach? If he wanted to, I suppose so. But it isn't as if he isn't cutting now. Not by a long shot. Jai Jeffryes

It's very interesting to analyze what's going on here. It's a very fine performance, really great, but what does separate it from the Horowitz performance (which I heard live in Boston 6 weeks before he played it in Moscow)? Nero's rhythmic impetus forward is mechanical and unrelenting. Horowitz has wonderfully strong rhythmic drive but it's not unrelenting - it knows when and how to breathe. That's the one thing that separates the two performances. Then you look at Nero's hands and you start to figure out how that different hand shape contributes to the handcuffed quality of his rhythm... is really fascinating! Thanks for a very revealing clip by a wonderfully accomplished pianist. AFF

Maybe one should add that, as far as at least I can see, Nero is not concertizing, just warming up. Perhaps playing this as an etude.

Yes, that's why it's so revealing. If he was in performance he would be pumped, and the underlying qualities of his playing would be hidden by his exemplary musicianship... AFF