Piano World Home Page Forums Our Most Popular Forums Pianist Corner Gabriela Montero wows in Houston

I just returned from a totally marvelous concert featuring Gabriela Montero playing the Rachmaninoff Paganini Rhapsody. It was fabulous playing in every way and she was deftly accompanied by guest conductor Juanjo Mena. She played (improvised) an encore based on a theme drawn from the audience (La Donna e mobile) and that was stupendous. I thought I was briefly transported to the late 19th century. She is the female equivalent of John Bayless but from the southern hemisphere. If she shows up in proximity to any of you, she is NOT to be missed.

I agree that she's phenomenal. I know some that aren't so enamored with her, but she's an incredibly talented pianist with an amazing ear.

wow.. she is just amazing. Thank goodness for you tube. I need to buy some of her music. I just love it. I would love to be able to play like her. I do hope she visit Kansas City.

(just for the sake of balance, i'll add that as someone who does some classical improvising (granted, not nearly at her level of accomplishment), i have always been unimpressed...)

I saw her play live a couple of years ago and I agree that she is very impressive and plays with great musicality.

She did an all-improvisation recital in Seattle a couple years ago. Much of it was amazing. But an entire concert of improvising is a bit much. I bought one of her CDs of improvisations that were nearly all quite good, to my ear.

I've also heard some of the world-class classical organ improvisors. Daniel Roth is one example. Now that is uber impressive!

huh.. for some reason, improvising on the organ is easy -
I guess having that extra manual or two covers up any mistakes or hesitations. I have great difficulty improvising on the piano altho I can enhance the written page easily.

I listened to Gabriela play the first part of the 3rd concerto of Rach in the Bach style. That was great. I wish she published music of her playing.

i wrote a review of her album Bach & Beyond on Amazon and she contacted me; we now correspond infrequently. also met her at her concert at Ravinia. she's the bomb.

so how did you like Bach and Beyond?

here's my amazon review:

Bach, Mozart and Beethoven Would Be Delighted...

It's an often neglected fact that Bach, Mozart and Beethoven were master improvisers, and I often wonder how they would feel about 'classical music' having become so exclusively addicted to reproducing the notes on the page. It seems that the latter of the three important legs of a musician's stool -- technique, interpretation, and improvisation -- has been forgotten in lieu of endless variation on the former two legs.

Efforts like Ms. Montero's (e.g. Walter/Wendy Carlos' S-OB, Corea/McFerrin's Mozart Sessions, Keith Jarrett) seem generally received by the cognoscenti as a bit of an oddity, falling outside established parameters of classification. But to the degree that music should incorporate spontaneity, Ms. Montero's prodigious talent shines a bright light in a dark corner of a musical genre in desperate need of being revitalized. This is a wonderful effort not to be missed -- musician or music lover should delight -- as I believe the Masters would -- at spontaneous creativity being breathed into these masterworks.

It should have been called "Bed, Bach, and Beyond"!

(That's not to say anything about the quality of her playing... I haven't even heard the CD yet.)

I know you're not asking me, but I love it.

Very cool!

Haha! I like it!

I really like her improv on Rach's 3rd concerto.. it was just brilliant. I am wavering

Try improvising on the piano with an apple:
Chico plays with an apple