o Bangkok Classical Music Events: a Burlesque and a Night Club Act

In Bangkok, one never knows what one will find at an event advertised as a classical music recital.  Two recent examples will explain what I mean.

Much of the recital was about the pianist's hair.

Pianist Julian Gargiulo.  Siam Ratchada Auditorium.  Bangkok, Thailand.  June 9, 2013.  This piano recital was presented as part of the “International Piano Festival 2013.”  Italian-American pianist Julian Gariulo, began his recital by talking about his hair.  With microphone in hand, he explained that he had tried to get a haircut in Bangkok, but no one would cut his hair.  He continued talking in detail about his hair, and then continued on to talk about his baby, five-months old today, about his marriage, his in-laws, and his impending move from NYC to Paris, among other personal details.  Eventually, he sat down at the piano and opened his recital program with a Chopin nocturne, which immediately made me wish that he had never stopped talking. 

To put it as kindly as I can, Gargiulo, who seems like a very nice person, is just not a classical pianist.  Yes, he is trained and has a technique that many pianists could admire, but he just bangs the pieces out, producing during this evening, the worst performances of Chopin and Scarlatti I can remember hearing in public.

But, it is not clear to me whether Gargiulo considers himself to be a performing pianist or a comedian.  His publicity quotes a Greek newspaper as calling him “a marvelous non-stop flow of pure Woody Allen-ish wit.”  While Gargiulo did attempt humor between each number, it was only mildly amusing at best.  Two examples:  “Scarlatti wrote more than 500 sonatas.  I guess he didn’t have much of a social life.”  Or, in commenting on the title of a piece he played as an encore called “Oblivion,” Gargiulo said that it reminded him of a recent flight he took on Eastern China Airlines. 

I wish Gariulo well.  He’ll never make it as a pianist, but he does have possibilities as a comic, provided he gets new writers.

Brazillian Pianist Paulo Zereu & Thai Violinist Paye Srinarong.  Thailand Cultural Center.  Bangkok.  July 3, 2013.  Here the problem was different.  Both musicians played well, but the format they selected was all askew.  This event was sponsored by the Embassy of Brazil and was attended by the Brazilian ambassador and several other ambassadors.  The publicity preceding the event indicated that it was to be an evening to introduce the Thai public to Brazilian music, as well as to cement friendship between the two countries.  Since the only Brazilian composer I know is the famed H. Villa-Lobos (1887-1959), I welcomed this opportunity to broaden my knowledge and familiarity of the music of Brazil.  Alas, this was not to be.

Thai violinist Paye Srinarong apparently fancies himself as a clever and entertaining public talker.  From the start, he grabbed the microphone and talked, and talked, and talked, stopping only to play some short pieces, accompanied by Paulo Zereu on the piano, and to lead a sing-a-long with the audience.  Although Paye made frequent references to the fact that he was talking too much, as well as announcing that he couldn’t help himself once he had a microphone in his hand and an audience, it didn’t help.  He joked (not so funny) that his boss, who was in the audience, would be mad at him for not shutting up.

I felt sorry for the dignified Brazilian at the piano, who looked at least bored with what his co-musician was doing on the stage, but I had one up on him:  I could get up and leave, which I did about two-thirds through the program.