Fred Hersch at the Library of Congress

Fred Hersch played at the Library of Congress Friday night. J. and I first heard him some years ago in Arizona, when he came to ASU to do some workshops at the music department, and enjoyed it tremendously, so we were eager to hear him again. This concert was a little different, though. In addition to being a jazz pianist and songwriter, Hersch is also a composer of “formal” or “concert” music, i.e. music that does not require or expect improvisation. Music that, if it is old enough, is usually called “classical.” The Friday concert was some of each – the first half featured performances of Hersch's compositions by other musicians, while the second was Hersch playing and improvising on his own jazz tunes. As a composer, Hersch belongs in the late-Romantic/early-Modern school of Gabriel Fauré (and probably Mahler, if he wrote orchestral music), though he does push at the boundaries of that form now and then. Five works were performed on Friday.

Saloon Songs is a set of three movements for solo piano, each one derived from a popular form from the turn of the 20^th century – slow drag, waltz and rag. The piece sounded like what you would expect – fairly light program music, though in the second and third movements there were flashes of distinctly modern harmony. Little Midnight Nocturne for solo piano was, according to Hersch's program notes, was written for a project that included a variety of composers writing variations on Monk's 'Round Midnight. It's a nice piece; what was interesting is that the connection to the original was readily apparent – more so than some works that claim to be versions of the actual tune. It was the two pieces that followed that demonstrated that Hersch is more than a dabbler in classical composition.

The first, titled simply Lyric Piece for Trio, is a work in one long movement for a trio of violin, cello and piano. It was very much in a Fauré mold (Hersch admitted as much himself in the notes); it reminded me of his piano quintets I like so much. Relatively dark but not gloomy, it had a nice flow, and some cool harmonies that were tonally vague but didn't fall apart completely. Gramercy Trio acquitted itself well, except for the violinist whose intonation left a bit to be desired in a couple of spots (maybe it's just me).

The following piece, Tango Bittersweet, was equally enjoyable – a duet for violin and piano, also in one movement, it was performed by Hersch himself at the keyboard and Gramercy's violinist. It's a beautiful tune, vaguely Latin-sounding, with extensive development sections for both instruments that do some interesting things with the thematic material. The last piece – a set of 24 variations on a Bach chorale – was the evening's dud. I am sure they are fine variations. The problem was that they are way too long, and playing them after so much music has already come before made them impossible to concentrate on and made the audience restless. It would have been a perfectly good concert without them.

Hersch's solo second half was as good as I had hoped. He played five tunes, but he worked each one out thoroughly, and he really is an excellent improviser. His idea flow sensibly from one another, and each solo follows a logical arc. To my great joy, he played two tunes that I really love – At the Close of the Day and Endless Stars. I first heard them at his Arizona gig, and both stuck with me ever since. It was nice to hear them live again. All in all, a good concert, though we could have done without the variations.