Am I the only pianist...

...who likes Peter Nero? He's dismissed as 'schlock' by everyone I know, but I think he's great!

<< Am I the only pianist... ...who likes Peter Nero? He's dismissed as 'schlock' by everyone I know, but I think he's great! >>

Anyone who dismisses him as schlock, has not heard his incredible technical proficiency and ability to communicate very effectively through piano music. Concentrating on a few of his successful recordings is to miss the essence of his abilities. Make your friends listen to some of his less mainstream recordings or catch him live sometime. If they have any common sense at all, they'll moderate their assessment.

Just because someone is 'dissed' by the critics doesn't mean that time won't prove otherwise.

Critics 'panned' the first performance of Beethoven's Choral Symphony (#9), so you might not be in bad company......................

but peter nero IS schlock. Richard Galassini Cunningham Piano Co Phila,. Pa. 1 (800) 394-1117 URL:http://voce88.tripod.com/richspianopage

I caught the Nero bug from my father (another fan of 'Mountain Greenery' but I do tend to prefer his earlier, pre-1980 works. I recall reading in one of (David Dubal's?) books that Horowitz has nice things to say about him at a piano competition.

Eddie Duchin was infinitely greater.

The guy is a BRIILIANT jazz pianist, if you hear him live. Most of the more technical jazz he keeps off his mainstream recordings, but some of it gets through. Even though he's made zillions, I can't help but think he's been underrated by his peers.

A sell out, maybe, but schlock, no.

Whats frustrating about seeing people like 'Tesch', which is pure schlock, is probably 95% of the pianists in this newsgroup could outperform him technically. That's not true about Peter Nero.

However, whenever folks see all the Nero in my music collection, they

A very wise musician once told me that you can play any style well and I have profited by that realization. Therefore I dont diss anybody who can play any style professionally regardless of whether I like the style or not. TS

I can't judge that (not being familiar with much Peter Nero, though I think I heard him perform 'Rhapsody in Blue' 20 years ago), but I also like Eddie Duchin, and his dance band recordings (I have a number of them from about 1932-35). Some of them have a style which looks forward to the 'sweet' music of the 50s...

Wasn't there a movie made about him, with Tyrone Powers playing him?

Patrick L.

Hello, and we've been through threads on Nero in the ng a number of times. Personally, I think he's very talented but I think he'll be remembered by most folks for his pop piano & orchestra recordings, much like Roger Williams, Ferrante & Teicher, and more recently that Italian (hunk?) Giovanni Marradi. The piano playing style employed appears to consist primarily of note-by-note melody, arpeggios and runs that arguably sounds great with a full orchestra. I don't think this style of playing requires a high level of keyboard technique, though. Without an orchestra, the sound of a solo piano played in this manner gets monotonous rapidly, IMHO. Unlike a classical piano concerto, these pop arrangements usually have the orchestra (all or parts) playing continuously. Sincerely,

Naval Research Laboratory 4555 Overlook Avenue, SW Washington, DC 20375-5337

Which brings to mind: what do recording engineers do to get that juiced-up, pingy, supersonic piano sound on these schmaltz piano recordings