Jiminy Cricket entertains

Jiminy Cricket entertains Last night to Carnegie Hall, must-see feature of Miki’s American mythscape, to hear merry Texan Randall Atcheson at the old joanna, in this case a Steinway grand. I discovered I should listen more to the honky-tonk Chopin of Scriabin’s etudes. Atcheson treated us to a Beethoven sonata and a Chopin scherzo in florid style, then reappeared after the interval having donned red socks, which you need as protective clothing when playing Liszt. I can still only take Liszt when half-asleep (him, not me) as in his Anne?s de P?lerinage, so I enjoyed the Consolation No.3. Finding his keyboard had survived Liszt, Atcheson slipped on purple trousers and a yellow waistcoat to give us five encores, including “Amazing Grace” and a Cole Porter medley. In New York, it’s all show business.