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Annual program at UA is nothing like typical recital
By Elaine Guregian
Published on Monday, Mar 31, 2008
Driving up to E.J. Thomas Hall on Sunday afternoon, I saw a throng of people in the nearby parking lots. I took a look at the crowd and wondered what other event could be happening.
When I saw the crowd in the ticket lobby, I realized Monster Pianos was, indeed, the draw. Some 1,600 people attended on Sunday, an increase of 300 from last year and an overflow crowd from the first event at the smaller Guzzetta Recital Hall at the University of Akron the year before.
It's incredible to get a crowd like this for piano music, though, as you might guess from the title, Monster Pianos is not anything like a piano recital.
Onstage, eight nine-foot pianos with lids removed sat nose to nose, pointed toward the center, where a conductor would stand. A big screen hung above the stage to capture the faculty, students and guests who performed, two at each piano, in images from the roving video cameramen.
The surprise of the afternoon was not how loud everything sounded, but how muted. The definitive exception was Antonin Dvorak's Slavonic Dance Op. 46, No. 8, marked Presto (very fast). The pianists locked together here. With their precise attacks, they stirred up genuine fire and volume.
The idea behind the concert is clearly just to have fun. It gives pianists, who usually toil alone, a chance to be social in their own kind of orchestra. The choices of repertoire, from the ''Happy Farmer'' of piano lessons to choral or orchestra repertoire like excerpts from Carmina Burana and the Brandenburg Concerto No. 3, is aimed at pleasing the audience.
But fun is even more fun when the quality is very high. Admirably, these pianists had worked out many of the logistical hurdles of how to play together. Still, the performances often had trouble masking the difficulties of making music in this group format.
Galen Karriker, a band director on leave from UA, forestalled a train wreck in Khachaturian's roiling Sabre Dance by stopping the group. With his cool demeanor, Karriker got things started more precisely the second time around.
A little shtick involving a surprise appearance by University of Akron mascot Zippy played to the novelty aspect of the program in a short piece called 88 Is Great. Two brief pieces by Gyorgii Sviridov and arranged by James Praznik (a pianist who also conducted some of the pieces) added percussion to the mix and brought fresh ideas.
Obviously, there's something people love about the idea of this concert, which drew listeners from an impressively wide age range and prompted a standing ovation. (The performers played Schubert's Marche Militaire as an encore.)
As pianist/master of ceremonies Philip Thomson discovered at the beginning of the concert, many listeners were there for the first time. What might bring them back? Less talking by Thomson (especially important for the many small children in the audience), a quicker pace and more surprises could keep this unusual event fresh next year.
Elaine Guregian can be reached at 330-996-3574 or eguregian@thebeaconjournal.com.
Driving up to E.J. Thomas Hall on Sunday afternoon, I saw a throng of people in the nearby parking lots. I took a look at the crowd and wondered what other event could be happening.
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