Variations on a Melancholy Theme: Reviews:
Financial Times
Brad Mehldau: Variations on a Melancholy Theme — vivid colours * * * *
The American pianist evokes the strong emotions of a Hollywood score across this detailed recording
By Mike Hobart
Brad Mehldau’s Variations on a Melancholy Theme is an orchestral synthesis of jazz harmony and classical form inspired by the idea that “Brahms woke up one day, and had the blues”. Rigorous writing and a melodious opening theme bear this out, but the blues is a late show and classical references range far and wide.
The work begins with the American pianist and composer unaccompanied, stating the theme with a pristine touch. The melody is clear, the waltz tempo gentle and there is a hint of syncopation in Mehldau’s left hand. The orchestra enters with woodwind and flute, oboe and bassoon add darker shades, there’s a burst of piano and then the theme is done.
In all there are 11 variations, with each one sounding further removed from that gentle opening waltz than the last. Stravinsky and Bernstein are conjured, but the overriding impression is of the strong emotions and vivid colours of a superior Hollywood score.
Thus, the first variation intertwines Mehldau’s piano with lush strings as though setting the scene for a Hitchcockian drama or torrid romance, the second delivers melodic violins and the third rhythmic woodblocks and panoramic strings.
As the piece progresses, solo piano gets an orchestral response, moods change from revelry to menace and hints of discordance add a sense of unease. The last variation returns to the original waltz with a swaggering gait, “Cadenza” delivers an influx of blues and the composition ends with “Postlude” and a soothing final chord.
Mehldau performed his variations in 2013 with the Orpheus Chamber Orchestra that commissioned the work — this album comes from a performance at the Mechanics Hall in Worcester, Massachusetts, in October that year. Some reviews of the piece’s Carnegie Hall premiere were rather sniffy, but eight years on the music stands up for the wealth of detail in both Mehldau’s playing and the written score.
The famously democratic orchestra’s discipline and verve deserved the encore they won on the night of the recording, though “Variations ‘X’ and ‘Y’” were played by the pianist alone.
‘Variations on a Melancholy Theme’ is released by Nonesuch
Kolt Komplott
June 11, 2021
Brad Mehldau's first official album, simply titled “Introducing”, was a bit of a sensation. Recorded in two different trio formations, the then 25-year-old provided remarkable pianistic moments. "Tones of deep beauty" were attested to him. Of course, there were also the obligatory critical remarks for the newcomer, for example whether a young, technically flawless pianist would have nothing more adventurous to do in jazz than to add another similar recording to the existing inflation of piano trio recordings.
Only “Introducing” was an exciting musical adventure in itself - which should be shown even more clearly in the following recordings. Here someone was sitting at the piano who was shaking Thelonious Monkand Bill Evans up his sleeve as a matter of course, here someone almost disrespectfully took standards from Rodgers / Hart , a jazz composer duo that, like Jagger / Richards or Lennon / McCartney, wrote outstanding jazz hits, from Coltrane and Ellington and placed them next to them Mature own compositions, which gave the entire album a very individual note.
Today, well over thirty albums later, Brad Mehldau is one of the top ranks of popular jazz pianists. His music lives between the cornerstones of excessive self-confidence and poetic introversion, of abstract challenge and melodic perfection, of warmth and cutting intelligence, of rhythmic finesse and romantic simplicity.
Variations On A Melancholy Theme, his new album, does not look for intersections between jazz and classical music, as in many other recordings before. He finds it, expresses it simply and convincingly, and above all unpretentiously.
The composed basic theme was actually intended for the Russian pianist Kirill Gerstein. But then Mehldau took on the variations himself and was able to win over the democratically run Orpheus Chamber Orchestra , which deliberately worked without a conductor, for a recording . The music breathes the spirit of strictly conceived classical music as well as the freedom and thirst for adventure of jazz. The dramaturgy of the interpretation is consistent, the possible virtuosity of the pianist reduced to a minimum. In addition to all the melancholy, the different variations show a certain playfulness that extends into the serious refuge of the painful blues. In some sequences all of this is reminiscent of Gershwins" Rhapsody in Blue" – without coquettishly copying the classic at any point.
Jörg Konrad
TagBlatt
Brad Mehldau about his latest project: "Brahms woke up and had the blues"
Jazz meets classical music can go badly wrong as a tortured crossover mixture. But not with Brad Mehldau. With the Orpheus Chamber Orchestra at his side, the American pianist succeeds in building a grandiose bridge.
He is one of the best pianists of our time, and also one of the most versatile: Brad Mehldau is only 50 and he already has dozens of albums in the catalog as a soloist, band leader or companion of various genres. Now the American is not approaching the interface of jazz and classical music for the first time - with a 34-minute work on which the renowned Orpheus Chamber Orchestra supports him.
"Variations On A Melancholy Theme" pays tribute to the corona-related melancholy of this musician, which was already shown on the lockdown solo "Suite: April 2020". "I imagined it this way: Brahms woke up one morning and had the blues," Mehldau says about his new project, which could also be classified as symphonic jazz in the style of George Gershwin's "Rhapsody In Blue".
Soon back on stage in St. Moritz
Mehldau had commissioned the New York Chamber Ensemble, founded 50 years ago, which always plays without conductors, with an orchestral version of his composition, which consists of eleven variations of a theme, a short "Cadenza" and a long "Postlude" addition. This cooperation is a stroke of luck, as it avoids undecided crossover mix: Mehldau, who also performs Mozart concerts and published a song cycle with singer Renée Fleming in 2006, is the focus with his jazz origin, the Orpheus musicians accompany him devotedly. After a lively encore, the album ends with the applause of an enthusiastic audience.
The basic topic is - as the title says - characterized by melancholy, "maybe even by the feeling of resignation," explains Mehldau. If the pandemic situation improves further, however, the gifted live musician living near Amsterdam will hopefully return to the stage soon. Whether with pop cover versions from Beatles to Radiohead to Nick Drake, own solo and band compositions or a classic jazz mix.
