Brad Mehldau received the Wigmore Medal on Friday, becoming the first jazz musician to do so. Wigmore Hall Director John Gilhooly, presenting the medal at Mehldau's concert at the London hall, said: "Brad Mehldau has forged a unique path which embodies the essence of jazz exploration." His Wigmore concert program last week earned five stars from the Financial Times ("remarkable"), and four stars in the Guardian ("a powerful and thought-provoking gig") and The Arts Desk ("a beguilingly beautiful set").
Brad Mehldau received the Wigmore Medal on Friday, December 18. He was presented the medal by Wigmore Hall Director John Gilhooly at the second of two consecutive nights of Mehldau concerts at Wigmore Hall in London.
"Brad Mehldau has forged a unique path which embodies the essence of jazz exploration," said Gilhooly in the citation for the medal. "He made his debut at Wigmore Hall in 2004, and in 2009 became the first artist to curate Wigmore Hall's Jazz Series. Brad Mehldau is the first-ever jazz musician to receive the Wigmore Medal."
The Wigmore Medal, inaugurated in 2007, recognizes major artists and significant figures in the international music world. Awarded at the discretion of the Director of the Hall, the medal honors figures who have made a significant contribution to Wigmore Hall over many years.
The concert program featured the UK premiere of his new work Three Pieces After Bach. Thursday's concert earned four stars in the Guardian. "[A]s conversations between jazz, classical music and pop have grown ever more fluent, Mehldau’s eclecticism has turned him into a major star," writes the Guardian's John Fordham. On Thursday, "the balance of space and intensity was almost perfectly struck in this powerful and thought-provoking gig."
The Arts Desk gives four stars to Friday night's performance, calling it "a beguilingly beautiful set." Reviewer Thomas Rees says "Mehldau's touch was sublime throughout. He thought about the weighting of every phrase and it imbued the music with the kind of subtle detail you rarely hear in a jazz piano gig. Though his three pieces raced back and forth across the years, all the way from 1720 to 2017, they never felt hurried and were never less than engrossing."
The Financial Times gives both nights perfect five-star reviews, calling them "remarkable."
Brad Mehldau's latest release, 10 Years Solo Live, is culled from live recordings made over a decade of the pianist's European solo concerts and is available in eight-LP, four-CD, and digital editions in the Nonesuch Store. The set was named Jazz Album of the Year by the Irish Times.
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