The mistery of "Piano Man"

[bernhard]

Here is an interesting story I read on the papers yesterday:

“The identity of a man found wandering on a beach in an evening suit and who will not talk but who expertly plays piano concertos for hours is baffling police.

The six-foot tall man, believed to be in his 20s or 30s, has been dubbed the 'Piano Man' since being found, soaked to the skin, on a beach on the Isle of Sheppey, Kent, five weeks ago. Now in a psychiatric unit at Medway Maritime Hospital, in Gillingham, he will not speak but, when left a pen and paper, drew a Swedish flag and a picture of a piano.

When staff sat him at a piano in the hospital chapel, he played expertly for two hours and, since, has staged recitals lasting up to four hours.”



You can read the full article and a picture of “piano man” here:

https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/main.jhtml?xml=/news/2005/05/16/npiano16.xml&sSheet=/news/2005/05/16/ixnewstop.html

Does anyone know this guy?

Best wishes,
Bernhard.

[bernhard]

I blame it on Hanon.

[xvimbi]

Daevren already posted this:

https://www.pianoforum.net/smf/index.php/topic,9020.0.html

Bernhard, use the search function before re-posting things that have already been discussed. Sheesh, I wish people would do their homework better instead of bringing up the same things over and over again.

[bernhard]

Daevren already posted this:

https://www.pianoforum.net/smf/index.php/topic,9020.0.html

Bernhard, use the search function before re-posting things that have already been discussed. Sheesh, I wish people would do their homework better instead of bringing up the same things over and over again.

 

(confused pianoforum poster found posting repeated posts all over - nervous breakdown suggested).

[Daevren]

Hehe.

I thought about suggesting that it might be Bernard who collapsed under all his knowledge. But I thought it was a bit rude.

[xvimbi]

Hehe.

I thought about suggesting that it might be Bernard who collapsed under all his knowledge. But I thought it was a bit rude.

It could not have been him; I just coaxed a post out of him. It sounded a bit confused, and he spoke about having a nervous breakdown, but I don't think that pianist was him

[bernhard]

It could not have been him; I just coaxed a post out of him. It sounded a bit confused, and he spoke about having a nervous breakdown, but I don't think that pianist was him

when left a pen and paper, drew a Swedish flag and a picture of a piano

Has anyone seen Nils around lately?

[i_m_robot]

Does anyone know this guy?

Could be 1900

[puma]

    If he was able to play concertos expertly for two hours +, I wonder if this is not a publicity stunt to pump up his image and then sell an album, possibly under the title "Piano Man"  (but he may have problems with that because of Billy Joel's copyright for the song).  Anyone who's that good - but it is also possible he just had a nervous breakdown.  Or maybe he figured, "you know what?  I've been practicing everyday for ten hours a day and I'm *** good.  So how about everybody minding their own f---king business and letting me play without having to speak all the d--n time."

[brokenagraffe]

Could be 1900

right-o. just a thoroughly wasted Tim Roth.

[Daevren]

Maybe if they send us a recording of him playing we could identify him.

[cadenz]

Maybe if they send us a recording of him playing we could identify him.

or atleast indentify the pieces! darn non-musical doctors

[Bacfokievrahms]

Ah exactly what I want to know, what the hell was he playing?

[thalbergmad]

Judging by the picture in the papers today, i see he is going to be presented with a casio keyboard. That will finish him off completely. He is staying in a hospital only 5 miles from me. I might pop in and say hello.

[Egghead]

Judging by the picture in the papers today, i see he is going to be presented with a casio keyboard. That will finish him off completely. He is staying in a hospital only 5 miles from me. I might pop in and say hello.

did you do that? To me that sounds like a good idea - especially if you play some stuff at him as well! And start identifying those pieces he is playing. Maybe improvise together?

Apparently it is not uncommon for people to simply leave their current environment, forget all their friends and family (i.e. becoming unable to recognise them etc: they have amnesia of all things emotional) and roam the country. That is a known medical condition, affecting about a thousand people a year in a country like the UK. Not sure if that fits this case but it sounds similar.

Regards, Egghead

[raw_passion]

Thalbergmad, you MUST go in and say hi!! Give him all our regards. He sounds fascinating. Infact, he sounds just like my kinda guy. Is he looking for a date??

LOL

Seriously. "Tortured musical geniuses" turn me on, big stylie.

On second thoughts: poor guy! and i hope he finds his family!

[klavierkonzerte]

i wish i could visit him 

[Daevren]

raw_passion, haha.

For some reason I got really exicted too by this story. But then again, I am male. In some way it is so romantic, not in a love kind of way, but different. A person insane, pure musical genius, lost everything except his skill and love for music. Amazing.

[stormx]

Hi !!

According to what i have read:

1) the man plays the piano well, but is by no means a concert player.

2) From what he played, some fragment from Tchaikovsky ballet music was identified, as well as something from Lennon. The remaining seemed to be own compositions (or at least not much known).

[pianowelsh]

Maybe the guy has an end of year exam coming up and has just totally flipped and was trying to commit suicide but some well meaning person found him and that sent him over the edge? I know several pianists who feel that way right now - he is their inspiration!! the mystery pianists programme???: Balakirev islamey
                                                                               Rach sonata 2
                                                                               Barber sonata

[thalbergmad]

He has been named. He is a French entertainer called Steven Villa Masson.

I doubted if he was a famous concert pianist or one of you guys would have recognised him. As for his virtuoso recital, we must remember he was found on the Isle of Sheppey, which is not the cultural centre of England. He probably played some simplified Joplin and the theme tune from Cheers and was pronounced a genius.

What really gets me is that he is staying at the same hospital i was in 10 years ago and has even got the same shrink. I don't remember being given a keyboard.

Anyway good luck to him and hope he gets better.

I better not pay a visit or they might not let me out.

[nicko124]

I wish they could get a musical expert in to find out what he is playing. I can't stand listening to vague reports about the whole thing.
Thats funny what you said (thalbergmad) about 'probably played some simplified Joplin'. It's very true that you can play the easiest pieces of music for people, as long as you move them some way they will complement you (even if you play it badly or wrong). 

[raw_passion]

He has been named. He is a French entertainer called Steven Villa Masson.

I doubted if he was a famous concert pianist or one of you guys would have recognised him. As for his virtuoso recital, we must remember he was found on the Isle of Sheppey, which is not the cultural centre of England. He probably played some simplified Joplin and the theme tune from Cheers and was pronounced a genius.

What really gets me is that he is staying at the same hospital i was in 10 years ago and has even got the same shrink. I don't remember being given a keyboard.

Anyway good luck to him and hope he gets better.

I better not pay a visit or they might not let me out.

Yeah, I heard that he was the French street musician Steven Villa Masson, on teletext news, but I didn't think it had been CONFIRMED!

How do they know? and do they know exactly how old he is yet? Apparently the missing persons helpline has received thousands of calls.

[jbmajor]

Judging by the picture in the papers today, i see he is going to be presented with a casio keyboard. That will finish him off completely. He is staying in a hospital only 5 miles from me. I might pop in and say hello.

How insulting that must be to him.

[Bacfokievrahms]

How insulting that must be to him.

heh imagine if they presented him with one of those two octave miniature keyboards that operate on like double A batteries? that would've been pretty cool.

[cadenz]

heh imagine if they presented him with one of those two octave miniature keyboards that operate on like double A batteries? that would've been pretty cool.

my first keyboard was one of those i thought it was pretty cool at the time. i taught myself green sleeves on it.

[bernhard]

Here is an update on the “piano man case”. His identity remains a mistery, but the article below is the most detailed I came across so far (it tells what music he played).

https://www.timesonline.co.uk/article/0,,2087-1622775_3,00.html

“He accepts anything to do with the piano and just about everything in his room is to do with the piano,” said Camp. “He always keeps his manuscripts with him, and his drawing pad.” But when they took him a guitar and a keyboard, he was not interested.

“He did not even touch them,” said Camp. Neither would he play the organ in the chapel. Yet the Piano Man is not the concert standard virtuoso that some have claimed. As Steven Spencer, the hospital chaplain who listened to him playing for an hour on one occasion, said: “He has this repertoire where he seems to repeat snippets or phrases from McCartney and Lennon, and Tchaikovsky, and he obsessively repeats these phrases. He’s a good amateur.”

A mime artist in Rome claimed that he had known the Piano Man in Nice and that he was a French street entertainer called Steven Villa Masson. Tracked down in Nice, Masson was bemused.

Best wishes,
Bernhard.

[nicko124]

Here is an update on the “piano man case”. His identity remains a mistery, but the article below is the most detailed I came across so far (it tells what music he played).

https://www.timesonline.co.uk/article/0,,2087-1622775_3,00.html

“He accepts anything to do with the piano and just about everything in his room is to do with the piano,” said Camp. “He always keeps his manuscripts with him, and his drawing pad.” But when they took him a guitar and a keyboard, he was not interested.

“He did not even touch them,” said Camp. Neither would he play the organ in the chapel. Yet the Piano Man is not the concert standard virtuoso that some have claimed. As Steven Spencer, the hospital chaplain who listened to him playing for an hour on one occasion, said: “He has this repertoire where he seems to repeat snippets or phrases from McCartney and Lennon, and Tchaikovsky, and he obsessively repeats these phrases. He’s a good amateur.”

A mime artist in Rome claimed that he had known the Piano Man in Nice and that he was a French street entertainer called Steven Villa Masson. Tracked down in Nice, Masson was bemused.

Best wishes,
Bernhard.

Thanks for the updates. It is a really interesting situation and it has had a lot of publicity. I still can't beleive that he hasn't been identified. Can't they identify him by his figerprints or something? I find it amusing that he has been playing Beatles songs and others have thought of him as a virtuoso. I wonder what he has been playing of Tchaikovsky, Nutcracker Suite for Piano maybe.

[Chrysalis]

so the entire time he was playing lennon and people thought he was a virtuoso?
damn,.... mayb even I can fool people this way

[pseudopianist]

I heard he was playing fragments of the Swan Lake.

Also I read in newpapers (translated from Swedish) "I'm not musician but what I've heard is damn good!!!"

I guess people think of his as a virtuoso

[al]

piano man speaks!

https://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/england/kent/4172662.stm

The man was first taken to Medway Maritime Hospital where he drew a picture of a grand piano and was then taken to the hospital chapel.

It was reported that health and social workers said they were "stunned" when he proceeded to give them a virtuoso performance.

However, newspaper reports now suggest he was only able to play one note continuously.

[bernhard]

You just beat me to it

Piano man’s mystery has been solved.

-   He is a Bavarian-German
-   He was pretending to be the silent type all the time.
-   He did it because he had been unemployed for a while and was contemplating suicide.
-   He has returned to Germany
-   More is not known on account of hospital confidentiality.
-   The Daily Mail – a British tabloid claims that he could not paly tht piano at all, and his playing was confined to striking repeatedly the same key. The hospital disputes that (they probably have been listening to too much John Cage recently )

Here are the details:

https://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,166376,00.html

Best wishes,
Bernhard.

[chopiabin]

HAHAHAHA - that would be awesome if he could really only play one note!!! You'd be the exact opposite of a virtuoso, worse than a 3 yr old who smashe the piano with their hands - at least theyre able to play more than one note!!

[pianistimo]

sounds like he had a nervous breakdown.  it sounded so funny at first, but i'm glad he's home and i hope he has family.  poor guy!