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Andrew Tyson - The Willy Wonka of Pianists · The Piano Maven with Jed Distler

• 0:07
  This is Jed Disler, and welcome to The Piano
• 0:11
  Maven, your friendly podcast guide to piano recordings.
• 0:14
  We are about to celebrate one year since I started
• 0:18
  this podcast back in 2024, and I've planned something
• 0:23
  special for the occasion, but... Most importantly,
• 0:26
  I want to thank all of you for listening and
• 0:30
  for joining me on this journey this past year.
• 0:33
  And I give a special shout out and a big thank
• 0:36
  you to our paid subscribers who've helped me
• 0:40
  keep this podcast in production. I invite you
• 0:43
  to consider taking out a paid subscription if
• 0:47
  you haven't already, and you can find a link
• 0:50
  to do so through my Substack page. This link
• 0:53
  is in our episode description. You get free downloads
• 0:57
  at the beginning of each month if you're a paid
• 1:00
  subscriber, and you get some other perks as well.
• 1:03
  So do consider a paid subscription. A few years
• 1:07
  ago, I reviewed a disc on the Alpha label that
• 1:11
  featured pianist Andrew Tyson, whom I think is
• 1:15
  one of the most individual and articulate and
• 1:18
  interesting pianists around. We met once, only
• 1:23
  once. believe. I don't think we've met more than
• 1:27
  once, but it was in a Zoom meeting quite a few
• 1:29
  years ago. And that was only after I had given
• 1:33
  several of his CDs decidedly mixed reviews. But
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  what was really cool was that he graciously took
• 1:43
  my critiques in stride, I have to say. And he
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  actually liked at least one line that I came
• 1:51
  up with in a review, which I will mention later.
• 1:55
  I have revisited a disc that's titled Landscapes
• 2:00
  with Andrew Tyson. And although I still blow
• 2:04
  hot and cold over it, I cannot. help but be fascinated
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  by the music making on this disc, not to mention
• 2:13
  Andrew Tyson's superb pianism. So basically,
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  I'm going to read you what I wrote in my review,
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  and I've posted a link to access the music as
• 2:25
  well. So I wrote the following. The headstrong
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  temperament characterizing Andrew Tyson's previous
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  two CD releases reaches effectuoso heights throughout
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  this latest release called Landscapes on the
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  Alpha label. Andrew Tyson can't let two or three
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  measures go by in almost any piece without spring
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  interpretive graffiti like a prolonged tenuto
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  here on this note, or sudden dynamic dip on that
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  note, or all kinds of unpredictable gear shifts,
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  phrases that lurch like a capsizing canoe, or
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  that wind down like a sputtering auto fresh out
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  of gasoline. But yet, and this is a big but yet,
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  Genuinely musical impulses nearly always govern
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  Andrew Tyson's transgressions, in contrast to,
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  say, the calculated and self -aware Ivo Pogorelich,
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  or the cynically mannered Simon Borto, or the
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  restless vapidity of Katya Bunyastashvili. Excuse
• 3:44
  me, I have to figure out how to pronounce her
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  name. Katya Bunyatishvili. Bunyatishvili. I cannot
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  say her name without having to rehearse it a
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  million times. Imagine Cyprian Katsaris fueled
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  by extra caffeine, or imagine John Cleese's wild
• 4:05
  comedic brain welded to Benjamin Grosvenor's
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  staggering... utterly inborn keyboard gifts,
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  and you'll understand what Andrew Tyson is all
• 4:18
  about. You listen to his Scarlatti sonatas not
• 4:22
  for grace and insouciant style, but rather to
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  ponder just what Tyson will do next. Then again,
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  you can sort of predict the dynamic gradations
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  in the Scarlatti -Tausig E major sonata. Purists
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  may cringe at the quote -unquote little Schubert
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  A major sonata's petulant accentuations and thrill
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  -a -minute voicings, but Tyson's irreverence
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  seduces you just as much as Sviatoslav Richter's
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  antipodal austerity. In the Albanus Iberia book
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  one, Tyson exchanges El Puerto's stylish quote
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  -unquote duende for giddy recklessness, and it
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  totally works. The unusually meditative Evocation
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  takes unfettered wing with the kind of rubato
• 5:19
  you'd associate more with Frank Sinatra than
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  Alicia de la Rocha. Now, even in the best of
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  hands, the Fete Dieu a Sevilla and its extended
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  climaxes wear out their welcome, but not in Tyson's
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  supple, light -fingered, and playful reading.
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  Perhaps the sensuous Montpeu pieces on this disc
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  benefit most from Tyson's free -spirited style
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  and boundless tonal resources. I will go out
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  on a limb to call Andrew Tyson the Willy Wonka
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  of pianists. And best of all, you don't need
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  a golden ticket to enter his artistic realm,
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  just the price of this CD. So that's basically
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  my review of this disc. And I think it was that
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  line that I wrote, the Willy Wonka of pianists
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  that Andrew Tyson particularly liked. And you
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  know that song that Gene Wilder sang in his portrayal
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  of Willy Wonka, you know, in that movie, the
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  song Pure Imagination? I love that song. God,
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  that's a gorgeous song. Anyway, Pure Imagination.
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  could have been the subtitle for this release.
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  And you'll just have to take my quibbles and
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  my carping in stride and listen for yourself.
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  If anything, this is one of the most entertaining
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  piano releases I have in my collection. And I
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  mean entertaining in a positive way. I mean,
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  all the best art, I think, should be entertaining.
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  That doesn't mean it cannot be illuminating or
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  serious in purpose. But do check out Andrew Tyson's
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  Landscapes. I think you will find it as fascinating
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  as I do. Definitely give it a listen. This is
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  Jed Disler, and you've been listening to The
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  Piano Maven, your friendly podcast guide to piano
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  recordings. Take good care, and I look forward
• 7:22
  to being with you for our next episode.