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Bearing his soul in the music

By Len Butcher

One of the best live performances is taking place three days a week at the Liberace Museum. That's where pianist/composer Philip Fortenberry takes the stage for his performances of Liberace and Me, which he conceived and wrote.

To be clear, Fortenberry does not imitate Liberace, nor does he dress like the flamboyant entertainer. Instead, he offers a loving respect for the spirit and legacy of Liberace and the impact he had on Fortenberry's life.

The show, which lasts approximately one hour, features this talented musician playing Liberace tunes, his own original compositions, Broadway music and classical pieces, all the while weaving the music around his own life story.

Fortenberry is not only a brilliant pianist, but a great storyteller with an engaging personality. I sat down with him after his performance last week.

Born in the small town of Hub, Mississippi, he could play anything he had ever heard by the time he was four years old. "People said I played by ear, but I hate that phrase," he said. "As I already knew the music from listening to it, I prefer playing by memory." He admits that he never really learned to read music very well and that it is still very difficult for him when he has to play a piece that he has never heard before.

Growing up, he said he "loved rock and roll and blues" and still plays it today. "Whatever I hear is an influence on me, but my earliest memories were of Jo Ann Castle on the Lawrence Welk show. Also, I had an aunt who left me this wonderful record collection. She loved classical music and that is where I heard the first movement of the Brahms B Flat Piano Concerto. I could not for the life of me believe how a piano could sound like that and that music got in me."

He has very specific views of music. "The music itself becomes a tool to open the soul into what's next. It doesn't matter the genre. For instance -- take disco -- the point of it is to get you on the floor and get you dancing. It's not about the song, per se. People listen to it because of what it makes them feel.

"I had a teacher once who told me that you had to say something in your music. It doesn't matter if it's Mozart or whomever. You have to have communication, to create a story. My Dad always said, 'Make it talk.' In other words, don't do notes for the sake of notes -- anybody can do that. What makes the difference is the communication factor.

"I had another teacher who said that there is only one sound that is uniquely your voice -- play that. I started spending less and less time working things out at the keyboard. I think about the music and I feel it, so whenever I show up at the piano to do my work it's already worked out inside of me, and so my hands ultimately are a slave to what my soul has already heard."

Fortenberry said the "difference between a good pianist and great pianist is soul. I remember when I was taking private lessons at Juilliard and walking down the halls where the practice rooms were located and everything sounded the same. Everybody plays the same repertoire, like they do in a piano competition, so what makes one person stand out? It's soul and as a judge or listener, you can spot it almost immediately."

And this is just what you'll hear when you see Fortenberry play. I can't think of a way to spend a more pleasant hour during the day. Liberace and Me is presented every Tuesday, Wednesday and Saturday at 1 p.m. Tickets are a very reasonable $17.50 and reservations are recommended. You can buy them online at www.Liberace.org, by calling 702-798-5595 Ext. 14 or at the Liberace Museum store cashier. The Liberace Museum is located at 1775 E. Tropicana Ave. at Spencer.