The Piano

[thing47]

Is anyone watching the third series? (Apologies if there is already a thread, I couldn't see one).

I'm still enjoying the concept but it seems to have moved quite a long way from finding talented street musicians to focusing either on prodigies or much older people who are having another bash. Plus the new judge is really irritating, his American style of OTT enthusiasm is driving me bonkers 🤐

Agree, it's not so much piano playing now, more as an accompaniment to singing. What was the point of the childrens choir?
And don't get me started on Jon Batiste, annoying man, just sit still and listen, stop dancing around like an idiot. Where's Lang Lang when you need him, he was delightful, calm, measured and with useful critiques.

It was definitely much better with Lang Lang. His dynamic with Mika was a joy. John Batiste is so irritating!

I watched the first series, and sort of enjoyed it, though I wish that te judges would just SHUT UP and stop talking while the person was playing. I gave up after that as it seemed to be more about people singing along instead of just about the piano.

I think Mika and John Batiste are too similar! It also frustrates me that they choose just one person per location.

They chose two when they picked that young kid who's an astonishing jazz pianist and the old guy who plays frankly annoying bar-room/music hall stuff. My theory is that Jon Batiste had a hissy fit because he wanted the young guy and Mika didn't, so they compromised by picking another one who neither of them particularly wanted but didn't object to.

I agree it's not the same as when Lang Lang was on. He was so sweet and unworldly (always having to have pop songs explained to him ) and I loved his brotherly, teasing relationship with Mika. John Batiste clearly knows his stuff, but having a concert pianist gave it another dimension.

Having said that, I'm still enjoying it; some of the talent and the stories are just incredible. I am quite bitter that they didn't pick the guy in, I think, Brighton who played Rachmaninoff – he was jaw-dropping.

It's a shame about this programme. Classical "art" music in general is difficult to get into and difficult to make a living from, despite requiring a lot of skill and commitment. Grass roots funding and resources have been drastically cut and fewer people from disadvantaged backgrounds are coming through than at any time since the 1970s. A programme that truly concentrated on nurturing, fostering and providing a platform for talent and hard work would have been wonderful. Instead we have yet another montage of "journeys" and witless emoting, with piano as the vehicle/angle, and it's barely distinguishable from bake-off/dance-off/pot-off or whatever. A waste of everyone's time and I'm not surprised Lang Lang is stepping away.

Well, Brad Kella has his debut album out and a single from it was co-written by someone who's worked with Noel Gallagher, Adele and Michael Kiwanuka. So he's done OK.

I don't disagree, though, that music provision is sadly lacking. The music teacher who performed with the kids' choir (who someone sneers at on this thread), made a point, very gently, about how music can help children to communicate and express themselves if they have trouble doing it in other ways. It's so valuable and it should be available to everybody.

Lang Lang can no longer make appearing on the show work with his own performance schedule.

I loved it when it featured undiscovered 'street' talents, like that Liverpudlian lad who didn't have the faintest idea how good he was. A 20-year-old student at the Royal Academy of Music is the very definition of 'discovered'. 😁

I love it mainly because I'm a huge Mika fan. I went to the final concert in Gateshead (it was filmed last October) Was strange to watch all the finalists perform before we even knew who they were as the programme hadn't been broadcast yet.

I had begun to wonder if anyone else was watching!

I agree with most of what @JesusOnAYamaha says - it’s becoming far too ‘dead gran’. And while I appreciate they need to put together a concert programme I don’t think everyone should be chosen for their superficial appeal. I was bitterly disappointed in their choice for Episode 4 last Sunday. (Wanted Angel.)

However, after initially finding him a bit … loud, I think I’m slowly falling in love with John Batiste. It’s kind of hard to care what he actually thinks of the pianists when he’s just so unbelievably beautiful. His openness to everything is wonderfully refreshing, and he obviously is a serious musician.

But yes - I don’t want the must important things on the show to be his bone structure and Claudia’s wardrobe …

I don't really agree about the 'dead gran’ thing; on programmes like Strictly, yes, dead relatives/dogs/guinea pigs are wheeled out and shoehorned in with monotonous regularity and with little seeming connection to what the contestants are doing on the show. On this, though, most of their stories are actually about how music was or is integral to their relationships – like Pearl, who they chose over Angel this week and who wrote that music for her late husband. I honestly think you'd have to have a heart of stone not to have been moved by her performance.

I’m also not convinced that she has any less/very different 'superficial appeal' than he does; a live audience would love his energy and his playing style, as well as his personal story, but Pearl’s story, playing, and the fact that she composed her piece herself are also remarkable.

It's easy to profess cynicism about programmes like this, but I think this one stands out as being genuinely humane.

I agree. I love it. And I remain astonished by these young men in a time when music has become increasingly middle class who have learnt piano whilst on the streets . That to me is just awesome inspiring. I don't know why this seems to be a man thing.

Sheffield was a good episode, the Brighton one weak. Newcastle in between.

I did like Pearl but found her piece a bit boring.

Unlike MN lore, I love a sob story. Without then it's just a show deconstructing musical ability. It's not Young Musician of the Year.

I don't know for sure but maybe more men, and more young men, find themselves victims of homelessness?
It is pretty incredible, the fact that they've done it.

Late edit - it’s Jon Batiste. My phone is an ignorant fool …

The whole thing shines a light really on how music (and the Arts) used to be so much more working class. I'm reading a book about the IRA and loads of them, boys form the Falls Road , brought up in poverty, wrote plays, poems, recited works off by heart, went to Art School, played instruments.

It's noticeable that the young children on the show tend to come from more identifiably middle class backgrounds.

I also loved the lad from Leeds in the Sheffield week.

I wasn't sneering at the children's choir, merely asking why they were on there. I don't dispute that music can be a lifeline for some, but choral singing is an entirely different thing.
It's just that the programme is called 'The Piano', and the focus should be on that.

I think they’re looking for a variety, of both performances and backgrounds/stories. She was definitely playing the piano, anyway, and that’s the main point really.

The guy they chose for the concert? He’s so exciting, isn’t he?

Yeah, I loved him. He made me laugh. I liked his really supportive friend too. The stuff he said about Chopin blew my mind.