# Liberace - just how good was he **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Tags:** music\ **Created:** [April 22, 2023, 7:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/liberace-just-how-good-was-he/983058 "2023-04-22T19:48:09Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![bryanmaguire](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/d07c76/32.png) [@bryanmaguire](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bryanmaguire)\ **Post date:** [April 22, 2023, 7:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/liberace-just-how-good-was-he/983058/1 "2023-04-22T19:48:09Z")
Watching a show just now about famous piano performances. They showed Liberace play a Burt Bacharach medley that was recorded in 1972. His style seems to be “why play 1 note when you can play 6 instead”. Was he really as good as his level of fame would suggest? ---
**Author:** ![AHunter3](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ahunter3/32/368_2.png) [@AHunter3](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/AHunter3)\ **Post date:** [April 22, 2023, 9:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/liberace-just-how-good-was-he/983058/2 "2023-04-22T21:46:27Z")
We tend to think of him as a personality-star and someone who was famous for being famous. But he had real chops, without which he would not have gotten started: [![](https://img.youtube.com/vi/Pn7ImsFM13k/hqdefault.jpg "Liberace plays Malaguena") ](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Pn7ImsFM13k) ---
**Author:** ![Roderick\_Femm](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/roderick_femm/32/14875_2.png) [@Roderick\_Femm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Roderick_Femm)\ **Post date:** [April 22, 2023, 9:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/liberace-just-how-good-was-he/983058/3 "2023-04-22T21:46:34Z")
He was a showman. Playing flashy piano was his gateway to get folks hooked into his show, along with the gaudy outfits. He probably could have played some level of classical piano, if that’s what he had wanted to focus on and work at. He opted for the show biz and money approach – less effort and more profit. I don’t fault him for that, there are plenty of classical pianists around. edited to add: the Malaguena is good. Not exactly classical, but it’s nice. ---
**Author:** ![Happy\_Lendervedder](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/happy_lendervedder/32/8488_2.png) [@Happy\_Lendervedder](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Happy_Lendervedder)\ **Post date:** [April 22, 2023, 10:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/liberace-just-how-good-was-he/983058/4 "2023-04-22T22:42:22Z")
Everything I know about Liberace I learned from Bugs Bunny. [![](https://img.youtube.com/vi/dcqmvGVH9c0/maxresdefault.jpg "i wish my brother george was here...") ](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dcqmvGVH9c0) ---
**Author:** ![RealityChuck](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/realitychuck/32/195_2.png) [@RealityChuck](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RealityChuck)\ **Post date:** [April 23, 2023, 12:13am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/liberace-just-how-good-was-he/983058/5 "2023-04-23T00:13:32Z")
He was certainly a fine piano player, but he was a primarily a showman. But if he didn’t have the chops, showmanship wouldn’t have carried him. ---
**Author:** ![K364](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/k364/32/5_2.png) [@K364](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/K364)\ **Post date:** [April 23, 2023, 1:15am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/liberace-just-how-good-was-he/983058/6 "2023-04-23T01:15:12Z")
[You can’t play wrong notes this fast](https://youtu.be/6_2UHz8OsJI) ---
**Author:** ![digs](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/digs/32/14889_2.png) [@digs](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/digs)\ **Post date:** [April 23, 2023, 1:42am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/liberace-just-how-good-was-he/983058/7 "2023-04-23T01:42:05Z")
I just stopped in to say (and now echo, because it’s a common criticism) that he was primarily an “act”. He had talent… which wasn’t the point, but it was enough to be a foundation for his “embellishment”. I also stopped in to mention that I grew up next to a huge Victorian run-down haunted house. Which was really scary, especially the odd noises in the middle of the night. There were rumors that Liberace was looking to get it renovated as a Liberace Museum. The neighbors were not excited. (Although it did need renovation before it collapsed in on itself… well, one of my friends grew up and bought it! Put a couple of million into fixing it up.) [https://i.pinimg.com/736x/9f/27/06/9f27068e1bd23bb83594255be6e08b1d.jpg/](https://i.pinimg.com/736x/9f/27/06/9f27068e1bd23bb83594255be6e08b1d.jpg/) Omigosh, the caption says “Liberace has submitted a bid…” It wasn’t just a rumor! ---
**Author:** ![markn\_1](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/f9ae1b/32.png) [@markn\_1](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/markn_1)\ **Post date:** [April 23, 2023, 2:07am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/liberace-just-how-good-was-he/983058/8 "2023-04-23T02:07:20Z")
Wikipedia says > Music critics were generally harsh in their assessment of his piano playing. Critic Lewis Funke wrote after the Carnegie Hall concert, Liberace’s music “must be served with all the available tricks, as loud as possible, as soft as possible, and as sentimental as possible. It’s almost all showmanship topped by whipped cream and cherries.” Even worse, to said critics, was his apparent lack of reverence and fidelity to the great composers. “Liberace recreates—if that is the word—each composition in his own image. When it is too difficult, he simplifies it. When it is too simple, he complicates it.” They referred to his as “sloppy technique” that included “slackness of rhythms, wrong tempos, distorted phrasing, an excess of prettification and sentimentality, a failure to stick to what the composer has written.” ---
**Author:** ![Dropo](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/ce7236/32.png) [@Dropo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dropo)\ **Post date:** [April 23, 2023, 2:52am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/liberace-just-how-good-was-he/983058/9 "2023-04-23T02:52:11Z")
[Liberace Flight of the Bumblebee and The Bumble Boogie - YouTube](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=04u5sioNek8) - If he played with his feet like Jerry Lee Lewis, he would’ve been totally awesome. ---
**Author:** ![bump](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/7c8e57/32.png) [@bump](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bump)\ **Post date:** [April 23, 2023, 2:58am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/liberace-just-how-good-was-he/983058/10 "2023-04-23T02:58:37Z")
> [@digs](#): > > I just stopped in to say (and now echo, because it’s a common criticism) that he was primarily an “act”. He had talent… which wasn’t the point, but it was enough to be a foundation for his “embellishment”. It sort of feels to me like Liberace and Freddie Mercury were both unfairly panned for having chosen the flashier, more popular form of their art, rather than the “purer” forms, like classical piano or opera. But… the fact that they were panned for that is a sort of tacit recognition that they had the chops to have done those things had they chosen, and that the panning is more about their choices, than their ability and skills. Personally I think we’re better off for both having gone the popular route. I mean, had Mercury chosen to be an opera singer, would we ever had heard him, or of him? Probably not. ---
**Author:** ![Gatopescado](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/gatopescado/32/5711_2.png) [@Gatopescado](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gatopescado)\ **Post date:** [April 23, 2023, 5:45am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/liberace-just-how-good-was-he/983058/11 "2023-04-23T05:45:57Z")
Good enough to get on Batman. ---
**Author:** ![saucywench](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/85e7bf/32.png) [@saucywench](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/saucywench)\ **Post date:** [April 23, 2023, 6:18am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/liberace-just-how-good-was-he/983058/12 "2023-04-23T06:18:15Z")
Thanks for that! ---
**Author:** ![Tamerlane](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tamerlane/32/7602_2.png) [@Tamerlane](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tamerlane)\ **Post date:** [April 23, 2023, 7:55am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/liberace-just-how-good-was-he/983058/13 "2023-04-23T07:55:48Z")
> [@Roderick\_Femm](#): > > edited to add: the Malaguena is good. Not exactly classical, but it’s nice. Not bad, but no [Roy Clark](https://youtu.be/-xssnp7R51A) 😉. ---
**Author:** ![running\_coach](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/running_coach/32/15836_2.png) [@running\_coach](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/running_coach)\ **Post date:** [April 23, 2023, 7:59am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/liberace-just-how-good-was-he/983058/14 "2023-04-23T07:59:50Z")
> [@Tamerlane](#): > > > [@Roderick\_Femm](#): > > > > edited to add: the Malaguena is good. Not exactly classical, but it’s nice. > > Not bad, but no [Roy Clark](https://youtu.be/-xssnp7R51A) 😉. - Has Roy Clark ever played an [88 string guitar](https://youtu.be/9AubsUf75Dw?t=19)? ---
**Author:** ![kitap](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/b9e5f3/32.png) [@kitap](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kitap)\ **Post date:** [April 23, 2023, 8:12am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/liberace-just-how-good-was-he/983058/15 "2023-04-23T08:12:39Z")
> [@running\_coach](#): > > > [@Tamerlane](#): > > > > > [@Roderick\_Femm](#): > > > > > > edited to add: the Malaguena is good. Not exactly classical, but it’s nice. > > > > Not bad, but no [Roy Clark](https://youtu.be/-xssnp7R51A) 😉. - > > Has Roy Clark ever played an [88 string guitar](https://youtu.be/9AubsUf75Dw?t=19) Does [this count?](https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=DMtPma21Gys&pp=ygUVcm95IGNsYXJrIG11cHBldCBzaG93) ---
**Author:** ![Crafter\_Man](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/crafter_man/32/458_2.png) [@Crafter\_Man](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Crafter_Man)\ **Post date:** [April 23, 2023, 9:35am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/liberace-just-how-good-was-he/983058/16 "2023-04-23T09:35:19Z")
Liberace, when he was told his critics laughed at him. “I laugh too. All the way to the bank.” ---
**Author:** ![pjd](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/pjd/32/3009_2.png) [@pjd](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pjd)\ **Post date:** [April 23, 2023, 10:28am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/liberace-just-how-good-was-he/983058/17 "2023-04-23T10:28:52Z")
iirc, he cried all the way to the bank. ---
**Author:** ![Dinsdale](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/97f17d/32.png) [@Dinsdale](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dinsdale)\ **Post date:** [April 23, 2023, 11:40am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/liberace-just-how-good-was-he/983058/18 "2023-04-23T11:40:05Z")
Just want to add, Roy Clark had SERIOUS chops. Wanted to make distinguish his level of skill from the discussion of Liberace’s. ---
**Author:** ![Jackmannii](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jackmannii/32/311_2.png) [@Jackmannii](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jackmannii)\ **Post date:** [April 23, 2023, 1:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/liberace-just-how-good-was-he/983058/19 "2023-04-23T13:58:58Z")
My favorite celebrity pianist is Oscar Levant. He was known as an actor in major Hollywood films, a radio and TV host, songwriter and even game show panelist, but above all he had serious talent at the keyboard. I’ve always loved the fantasy sequence from “An American In Paris” where he takes on multiple simultaneous roles in performing Gershwin’s “Concerto in F”. > **[American In Paris, An (1951) -- (Movie Clip) Adam's Fantasy](https://www.tcm.com/video/247723/american-in-paris-an-1951-movie-clip-adams-fantasy/)** > > Probably the only time the ubiquitous wit and piano virtuoso Oscar Levant (as "Adam") ever got five minutes alone on screen, in a fantasy of himself conducting and playing (his pal George) Gershwin's "Concerto in F," from An American In Paris, 1951. ---
**Author:** ![carrps](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/carrps/32/2957_2.png) [@carrps](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/carrps)\ **Post date:** [April 23, 2023, 4:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/liberace-just-how-good-was-he/983058/20 "2023-04-23T16:04:28Z")
> [@Jackmannii](#): > > My favorite celebrity pianist is Oscar Levant. Me, too. I remember watching him on talk shows in the 60s. Very witty guy. Lots of issues, but smart and talented. [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/liberace-just-how-good-was-he/983058.md?page=2)