Italian Pianist Marco Grieco Plays in Bangkok

Marco Grieco (left) receives flowers following his Bangkok recital.

Goethe Institut Auditorium. Bangkok, Thailand. September 6, 2012. Italian pianist Marco Grieco attracted an audience of 30 to his Bangkok recital, exactly double the size of last night's audience for Japanese pianist Atsuko Seta. Still, the Bangkok audience for piano recitals is pathetically small, except for the very occasional appearance of a superstar such as Yundi, Adnes or Barry Douglas. Grieco is a large and handsome man, but his playing was uniformly bland. His technique allowed him to play all the notes, but his performances never went beyond the routine. He played Beethoven's "The Tempest" more like "The Calm Before the Storm."