"Balderdash" (Tom Brier) played by Adam Swanson & Tom Brier

The story of this video starts one year ago, as composer Tom Brier played his rag novelty "Balderdash" for a gathering of pianists after the 2008 West Coast Ragtime Festival in Sacramento, California, which you can see here:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=J7s9SQC7rPo

You'll see that one of the pianists watching intently is Adam Swanson. He liked this rag so much that he asked Tom for a copy of Tom's handwritten manuscript so that he could learn it. Studying that video and the manuscript (which had to be transposed, because it's written in G but Tom plays it in G-flat), Adam was able to learn the piece himself, and he performed it at a warmup concert for the World Championship of Old-Time Piano Playing in Peoria, Illinois, in May 2009. You can see that performance here:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=E-ja19RzzQA

Back together in November for the 2009 West Coast Ragtime Festival, I suggested that they try a two-piano duet of the tune, and they did on Saturday night. Sunday night after the festival, Adam said he wanted to do it again, because it surely would be even better the second time around. This is that second run-through.

Balderdash was composed in 2001. It is Brier's 138th ragtime composition.

Category:

Music

Tags:

• ragtime
• piano
• duet
• rag
• brier
• swanson
• wcrf

[F0rCe77]

did somebody notice that Tom is not playing the same - he is improvising a second piano, lol :D

[Keeper1st]

@F0rCe77 They're both doing that. They trade off taking the melody vs adding accompaniment. Adam takes the melody first time through each strain, then Tom takes it on the repeats.

[flguym1]

I need to hear this in person! This is a great piece... Tom plays with feeling! Is there sheet music?

[Keeper1st]

@flguym1 I'm not sure if Tom has put this one into sheet music yet. Adam learned it from Tom's hand-written manuscript, which was written out in G. Tom later realized it was kind of hard to play in G, so now plays it in G-flat as you can see here. Adam had to transpose down a half step as he learned the piece.

[KawhackitaRag]

I never thought this would actually be as good as it is, but it works really well! What a great tune and they sound great here!

Five stars! This is a tough one to play as a duet and they do it right - I like the tremolo bits that Tom puts in when Adam solos, and then (near the end), the high treble fills that Adam does when Tom has the melody.

[Keeper1st]

This was their second time doing as a duet. I had recorded their first time the night before, but Adam thought they could do better and wanted to record another rendition. So they had one go-through to work from, which helped this performance for sure.

[DaveyYzermans]

Tom Brier is such a wonderful player (and person). His playing brings me in such a good mood.

(say hi from the Netherlands to him for me please. =))

[RagtimeJustin]

I'm in awe. What a wonderful piece with superb piano players. :)

[flguym1]

Interesting that I watched both play. I like both players. Tom is feeling felt when playing. As I can not play anymore due to an injury, I would love to see this piece on sheet music.. Thanks for posting

[jimoaklandu]

Adam Rocks too!!  ;-)

[AceWissle]

Wonderful!