- 498Recommend It!
- 6,664views
Live Reviews
Francois Bourassa: Quid Pro Piano
Robert J. Lewis
Robert J. Lewis is the editor of Arts & Opinion. He writes the Six Degrees of Jazz Column.
And just as suddenly and purposefully, the groove would morph into a strikingly original but highly formalized classical sequence where there was no settling into a delineated space other than that defined by perpetual invention, like Bach, or Mozart. It wasn't always clear where the work—or a particular section of the work under consideration—was going, but at the end of the day Bourassa left no doubt that he is a serious and significant composer who has all the tools—exquisite touch, effortless right hand left hand independence—to satisfy the most complex demands of a quick and fertile imagination.
Since both classical and jazz enthusiasts are fiercely devoted to their preferred genre, Bourassa's most pressing challenge is to fashion appreciative audiences equal to the demands of his distinctly original classical-jazz fusion. At the behest of an irrepressibly creative musical mind, Bourassa has dared to go where the less madly inspired have feared to tread. In consideration of the inevitable lag between listeners and any brave new musical form, the composer might consider staying with his exquisitely gorgeous and architecturally more accessible shorter pieces, allowing audiences to ease their way into the interval and invention that is François Bourassa.
Photo Credit
Denis Beaumont
This article first appeared in Arts and Opinion
