Tyshawn Sorey

Adelaide Festival

Her Majesty’s Theatre

2 March

****

Tyshawn Sorey is certainly versatile, the previous night to this solo performance he was leading the musicians as musical director of “Perle Noire”. On this night he left his usual drumsticks behind and sat at the piano and performed solo, improvising one work for about 50 minutes.

To be clear, he is not a Keith Jarrett or a master classical pianist, he has his own style and unique take on solo piano. This was a very intimate performance with the piano positioned so that his face was facing the audience, no part of the audience could actually see his hands working the keys. For this reviewer, this placement of the piano in a solo performance was a first.

The music was very sombre, slow paced and with, unusually, a heavy emphasis on the lower register. On occasions he would work the bass notes into a frenzy such that he conjured up sounds that I did not know could come from a piano, incredible deep rumblings at volumes not thought possible, filling the theatre with thunderous sound.

In contrast, his minimalist approach in the upper register revealed slow moving themes which were then explored in depth before moving on to the next idea, often leading to another excursion into the depths of the piano and this included the inside of the instrument as well.

A concert unlike any this reviewer can recall and all the better for it.