Brad Mehldau thrilled a full house at Zellerbach Hall on the U.C. Berkeley campus with the Bay Area debut of “Fourteen Reveries” and other selections on Saturday night (Feb. 10).
He performed the diversely appealing piece — which was co-commissioned by Cal Performances (the same organization presenting the concert) — during the first of the two equally engaging sets of this approximately 2 1/2-hour solo piano show.
Mehldau, who is best known for his work in jazz but has also draws heavily from classical and pop forms, took the stage just after 8 p.m., sitting down at the long black Steinway and quickly diving into the 14-part piece.
His playing was meticulous and breathtaking — two hallmarks of pretty much all of Mehldau’s work — as his hands moved steadily along the keys and his eyes checked in with notes/music on some type of an iPad-like tablet that Mehldau brought with him out to the stage.
The music expressed shades of solitude, according to the information that Mehldau wrote for the evening’s program. Yet, it didn’t do so in ways that one might expect — which would be to lean heavily on sorrow or loneliness. Instead, much of the music was ebullient, with the author conveying a good degree of contentment to be found in the solitude while making sure that the piece subtly and slyly lived up to its own title.
It was an overall striking suite and it was an absolute pleasure to get to be in the house for what was the first performance of “Fourteen Reveries” in the Bay Area.
Mehldau returned for the second set with “April 2020,” a 12-part suite that Mehldau explained was from the same impulse behind “Fourteen Reveries.” Not coincidentally, the two batches of music wonderfully complemented each other, coming across like two sides of the same record.
“April 2020” was penned — as one can probably guess by the title — early on during the COVID-19 pandemic, while Mehldau and his family were at home in Amsterdam. Like with “Fourteen Reveries,” this suite consisted of mainly short, concise numbers that explored a wide range of thoughts and emotions. This one, however, conveyed more of a quizzical “day in the life” sense, with Mehldau wandering through such obviously pandemic-inspired tunes as “Stepping Outside,” “Keeping Distance” and “Remembering Before All This.”
At the conclusion of “April 2020,” Mehldau put the tablet away — “get away from the screen,” he remarked — and began to explore tunes that are more typical of what one gets from a Mehldau solo piano show. That meant an assortment of pop tunes — some quite familiar, others not so much — translated in glorious jazz speak, as well as a few incredibly sturdy originals.
He kicked off with Elliot Smith’s “Color Bars,” which hails from the singer-songwriter’s “Figure 8″ album,” and then paired that beauty with “Optimistic” from Radiohead’s “Kid A.” Chalk up the latter as further proof that nobody does a better job interpreting Radiohead than Mehldau — listen to his version of “Exit Music (For a Film)” from 1998’s “Songs: The Art of the Trio Volume Three” for just one exemplary example.
He then entered into Fab Four territory and delivered the John Lennon-helmed “She Said She Said” and the George Harrison composition “If I Needed Someone,” both of which can be found on 2020’s excellent “Your Mother Should Know: Brad Mehldau Plays The Beatles.”
He followed up with two of his originals — “Resignation” from 1998’s “Elegiac Cycle” and “Paris” from 2000’s “Places” — before returning to the Beatles for a gorgeous version of Paul McCartney’s “Golden Slumbers” to close the main set.
He’d then return for two encores — the McCartney solo triumph “Maybe I’m Amazed” and then the Bob Dylan gem “Don’t Think Twice, It’s All Right” — sending the fans home with smiles on their faces.
