Last time, The Piano began its journey at Birmingham New Street...
I do not understand how she is doing what she is doing.
..where Tiffany Poon and Mika
chose Grace to perform at the final concert.
But she may not be Birmingham's only finalist.
If we felt somebody deserved a second chance,
what we have come up with this year
is this idea of a wild card.
The wild card goes to Megan.
APPLAUSE
Honestly, I can't tell you. It means so much to me.
Need to get wild, don't I, really, for the next time.
MEGAN LAUGHS
The Piano was on its way to celebrate
the incredible amateur pianists of Scotland.
And we were headed for Glasgow's stunning Central Station,
but had to change our plans.
A huge fire destroyed a neighbouring building.
Luckily, no-one was hurt,
but Glasgow Central had to be closed.
Fortunately, the busiest station in the country saved the day.
So our brilliant pianists who were gonna come
and play for us in Scotland,
we've brought them here to Liverpool Street.
Liverpool Street came to the rescue. Yeah.
At the last minute, they told us that we could come
and set up and bring everybody with us.
And that's not all that's new, right?
That's not. Come on.
# I've got you under my skin... #
Tell me about today's mentor.
He is a brilliant pianist.
He is also the most successful UK jazz musician of all-time.
What?
# Deep in my heart... #
He is phenomenal.
It is the brilliant Jamie Cullum.
# Cos I've got you
# Under my ski-iin... #
He's just brilliant. Amazing.
CHEERS AND APPLAUSE
Hey.
Hey, Jamie. Good to see you.
Hi, darling.
Welcome to The Piano, finally.
It's amazing to be here.
Jamie Cullum!
CHEERS AND APPLAUSE
TANNOY:The train at platform two is
the 11.12 Greater Anglia service to...
Jamie, thank you so much for joining us.
Can I apologise for what's in my lap?
No apologies necessary.
That's Claudia's dog, Skip.
I couldn't find anyone to look after him.
How was that for you?
Have you ever played in a station before?
I have played in stations before,
and I'm a big, joyous lover of the piano in public spaces.
This is a broad question,
but do you know when you see something brilliant?
Is it a gut feeling?
If you are at the piano,
you have a touch at the instrument
where your humanity comes through.
And I think the piano releases that sadness, the joy.
The confusing nature of being kind of human
all comes out on this collection of wood and metal.
How do you think our pianists will cope?
Because they thought they were gonna play in Glasgow,
which might've been down the road from their house.
Now we're like, "Come to the busiest station in the UK."
When you sit down at the instrument,
it's a familiar place wherever it is. Yeah.
Whether you're in... That's true. ..Glasgow, whether you're in London,
it will hopefully feel like some sort of home,
and they'll get a great reaction, I'm sure.
OK. I'm going to breast-feed the dog.
Nice. And then I'm going to welcome our first pianist.
This is a magnificently strange show. I love it.
He prefers the left.Oh, lovely.
Come on, Skip.Enjoy.
God.
My name's Cailean, I'm 19 years old,
and I'm from the Highlands of Scotland.
What was it like, growing up?
It was perfect.
There wasn't really much internet or telly.
I was so lucky just being outdoors all the time.
It's the best place in the world, I think.
Hello, Cailean.Hi. How are you?
So nice to meet you. Nice to meet you.
You look lovely.Thank you. Come and have a seat.
I'm so sorry that we're not in Glasgow.
And it's probably quite a lot for you
because you were like, "No, I'm just going there."
And now you're here.Yeah.
I'm OK with travelling,
but I literally live in the middle of nowhere.
It's a 45-minute walk to the most rural bus stop in the world, so.
Wow.What?
What do you love playing?
I play Scottish traditional music.
I love how community-based it is,
but, I think people misunderstand that.
It's like, "OK, so he's a Ceilidh plinky plonky player."
It's not really like that.
I'm not that familiar with Ceilidh music.
I can imagine there's a lot of fiddle.
There's a lot of fiddle. There's... And a lot of spirit. Yeah.
And the slidy notes, and "Rrum-diddle-um..." Yes.
How do you do all that with the piano, though?
I guess we're gonna find out.
Wow.
He's the first person, ever, in four years,
to literally be playing a riff as intense as that
only with the right hand.
I love how the... Whoa! ..intensity is just growing and growing.
It's like a whirling dervish.
FAST PIANO PLAYING
The piece was written by one of the best composers ever,
in my opinion, Gordon Duncan.
But it's written for the bagpipes,
so I've built an arrangement around that,
and it's not really got a time signature.
It doesn't have one steady beat.
It changes every single bit.
Oh, here we go. Ts-ts-ts-tststs.
Mm!
Amazing how he's getting the rhythm going.
He wants someone to drum with him. Yeah.
Yes!
I mean, it just keeps on giving.
Think he also needs credit here for
the fact that he arranged this as well.
It's got this rock spirit.
It's like if Pete Townsend was playing the piano.
CHEERS AND APPLAUSE
Yes!
Thank you so much. You were so brilliant.
Cailean, everyone!
CHEERS
I'd love to have that intensity at the final concert.
Well, I don't know how many piano players you're gonna have like
this, but... You would consider him?
I would absolutely consider him, yeah. Yeah, so, would I.
I was worried about bringing Glasgow to London,
but I'm so happy that we start with something excellent.
What did you think?
He's Spanish. He can't speak any English, but he's delighted.
Fine!He loved it.
Si.Si.
My name's Jim, I'm from Aberdeen,
and two years ago I was 84.
And I'm just glad my son's with me.
What does his T-shirt say? "Never underestimate the...?"
"Never underestimate an old man who loves playing the piano."
Best T-shirt ever. Yeah.
I think we should get you one. In a heartbeat. Yeah.
# Hop a flight to Miami beach... #
Never underestimate the old man.
He doesn't just love the piano, he can play it.
Yeah.
# I'm taking a Greyhound... #
It really suits you.
# On the Hudson River Line... #
I've never been far away from a piano, ever, in my life.
Do you think the piano keeps you young?
I'd like to think so.
But my wife would probably disagree.
We used to do a lot of hotel and club work.
Nowadays we're just doing pensioners' concerts and care homes,
but most of the residents are younger than me.
JIM CHUCKLES
He's taken this really familiar tune,
New York State of Mind...
Yeah. ..and he's using it as a jumping off point
to take him where he wants to go.
I can guarantee he probably hasn't figured out this bit.
This is probably something he's feeling in the moment.
You're right.
He's using the song as like the comforting structure, right?
Yeah, exactly.
And now we're Gershwinning for the outro.
Take us to the outro, Jim!
This is the definition of somebody making the most of an opportunity.
Yes, definitely.
Yes!
CHEERS AND APPLAUSE Woohoo!
Brilliant.
And I've never been more for it.
Jim, everybody!
CHEERS AND APPLAUSE Look what... Everybody up there!
I know.
Huge audience. Absolutely love him.
Two-tiered audience. Yeah.
The biggest crowd we've ever had.
Thank you so much. For you.
I'm not just saying that.,
He's sold out the stalls and he's filling up the circle.
Oh, that's so good!
He's good, isn't he?
That was beyond my wildest dreams, that reception.
Thank you. It's a fountain of youth
having a kind of relationship with an instrument like this,
The years can slip away when you're playing.
We give reverence to the youth, and actually,
in other musical cultures,
you're not considered a master, however good you are,
until you're old and you've paid your dues.
There is no expiry date to the spirit.
What you guys gonna do now?
A vindaloo, I think, is required to celebrate.
He was gonna take me for a curry last night,
but he was just scared there might be some repercussions today.
LAUGHTER
TANNOY: The train at platform eight is the service to Clacton-on-Sea.
My name is Gabby,
I live in Edinburgh with my husband, my daughters, and my two cats.
Yes.
Hi, Gabby.Oh, hi, Claudia.
You look gorgeous.
That looks like a South American embroidery top. Yes, yes.
Tell me all about you and the piano.
Well, I started playing when I was 13,
and the first time I sat and played, it was, "Yes, this is me"
Yeah, and where was this?
Mexico. Mexico.
Yes, I'm from Mexico. You can tell?
Oh, that's it. There you go. Of course. There you go.
What do you have in Mexico that you don't see so much in Scotland?
Sun.
GABBY LAUGHS We have sun.
We moved to Scotland because of my husband's job.
SPEAKING SPANISH
He got an interview here in Scotland,
and we thought maybe it's a good environment to raise the girls,
and we said, "OK, what about the cats?
"We cannot leave them."
My cats are Misho and Toffee.
Come on.
They are family, but sadly,
you cannot bring a cat directly from Mexico.
You have to fly into the European Union
and then bring them by car.
But I didn't have the money, of course.
Well, I want to have a proper home for the girls,
and we said, "OK, and what about my piano?"
I just got my dream piano.
It wasn't new, but I mean, still, it was just my dream.
But I sold the piano to get the cats to Scotland.
Was it hard selling your piano,
something that you'd wanted for so long?
It was really hard.
This is what happens when you're a mother.
I stopped playing.
So I think playing at the train station's gonna be...
..huge.
I'm gonna be playing a piece by Julio Ituarte,
a Mexican composer.
Rompe Pianos could be translate as "piano breaker,"
because I'm gonna smash the piano.
Oh! Yeah, love that.
I love to see someone play a chord like that.
And hit the right notes. Every time. Yeah.
She has an elegantly flamboyant technique.
It's not for the sake of it.
It's part of the dance of her hands on the keys.
The piece and me, I think we're connected.
It has different phases.
I am a mum.
I am a chef,
I am a cleaner, and also a pianist.
But after all, it's just one piece, it's just one person.
Textured, colourful.
It's just genius. Yeah. Everything about it is genius.
I want to see it in person. Shall we abseil down?
I think I gave up a lot of things,
but it's really important now for me
that my girls see me not just like Mummy,
the lady who cleans, the lady who cooks.
That's real power.
Because Mummy likes piano, and Mummy has life.
CHEERING AND APPLAUSE Boom!
You are brilliant. I can't stop smiling.
It just makes you want to smile. You're amazing. Gabby, everybody!
CHEERING AND APPLAUSE
Your mummy was amazing.Wow.
She was amazing!
Ah! I mean, I would love that kind of light at the concert.
Wow, wow!
Depends where you need that kind of light and shade.
If you could describe Mummy's performance in one word,
what would it be?
Erm...love?
Love. You love it?
The playfulness was so wonderful,
but you feel the crunch and the bumps and the lumps
in a really kind of exciting way.
But actually, maybe it's lacking... Crunch?
The lumps and the bumps, but maybe it's lacking some of that...
The crunch and the lumps and the bumps? ..delicacy. Yeah, yeah.
Wow. I've never heard someone talk about piano like...
..muesli.
That's what you've been missing. Yeah!
UPBEAT MUSIC
TANNOY:The train at platform seven...
A fire next to Glasgow Central Station meant we had
to divert our brilliant Scottish pianists to London Liverpool Street.
Hi. How are you?
And they aren't the only unexpected arrivals from north of the border.
Oh, my gosh, there's the guy from the Traitors.
I'm much friendlier on this show.
Claudia Winkleman and Steven from The Traitors in one building?
Is he going to play the piano? That is hilarious.
I love you.Have a wonderful day. You, too.
So nice. What a lovely surprise! Bye! Amazing!
When The Piano meets Traitors.
I'm Paul from Glasgow.
Today, my wife Katie and son Elliot's going to be here.
Is your daddy going to play the piano?
Yes. You're very smiley!
And what was the journey like to London with a four-month-old baby?
So much better than I thought.
Hi, Paul. I'm Claudia.Hi, there.
Lovely to meet you, Claudia. So lovely to meet you.
Thank you. Come and have a seat.
Tell me all about you and the piano.
When I was about 14 or 15,
we had a substitute music teacher who played the piano for fun.
Yeah.And from that day, I said, "I want to do that."
NOTE PLAYS
Oh, you made that noise. What's that noise?
Music does something to me that I can't explain.
When I was 15,
all my friends are listening to DJ this and DJ that,
and I'm sitting here, thinking Chopin is where it's at.
I managed to get into university as a musician.
Everybody was celebrating cos I was the first person in my family
to go to university. But, about four short months later,
I started getting these headaches.
It felt like a crushing sensation.
So they sent me for a CT scan.
And then that's when I was told that I had the brain tumour, erm...
..when I was 17.
The surgery was meant to be about four hours long.
It didn't go quite as planned. it was 14 and a half hours long.
Good God. Wow.
And when I came round, my right hand didn't function.
My surgeon said,
"The only thing it really affects is writing and playing the piano."
And you went, "No, that's what I really love doing!"
And that was one of my things. Ugh!
I had a meeting with my uni, just to see where we could go.
Yeah.My professor said,
"I've heard of left-hand piano repertoire,"
and it was very difficult, but what choice do you have?
Wow.
So today I'm going to play
Scriabin's Nocturne for the Left Hand.
This was the first piece that I had come across as
a left-handed pianist.
Is that someone you've heard of? Yes. Russian composer, Scriabin,
he injured his right hand, so he developed his left hand
and then wrote compositions for the left hand.
Never heard of this.
Oh!
Jamie, this is crazy. It's incredible, isn't it?
I see two hands! Yeah.
It's great. It's really beautiful to watch. It's like a dance.
The notes playing the top line melody are being played
with a completely different intensity.
To do that with one hand, and just have your index finger play with
a completely different sensitivity,
it's like a magic trick to me.
It's like having two brains in, in one hand, right? Yes. Yeah.
This piece gave me the feeling that I could still be a musician.
And the piece itself goes through these peaks and troughs of beauty,
and then despair.
It reflects the emotions that I felt after the surgery.
What he's doing is so delicate and so fine,
to maintain that intimacy in a train station, you know...
Oh, I forgot. ..let's take aside the fact that he's only playing
with his left hand. We forgot it. Yeah.
He's just a wonderful piano player.
At the end, it returns back to this hush melody.
Yes. Yeah. I think so.
I never, for a million years,
would've thought I would be able to sit here with a wife
and get Elliot. His smiles do it all.
Brilliant. APPLAUSE
Thank you so much, Paul.
I don't feel a difficult story, I don't feel struggle.
Everything just evaporates and the only thing that stays is music.
Yeah.
Yay! He loved watching you play. Aw!
I would love to hear him on a grand piano, in a concert hall,
where you're really able to control the fineness of the touch
and the fineness of the voicing of the chords. Exactly, in a room
that's made for hyper detail. Yeah, exactly.
Ooh!
This is really difficult. It's good, isn't it? Yeah.
My name is Alex, and I'm currently a student.
I think I was learning to walk holding on to the piano,
and that was when I played my first notes.
Ooh! OK!
Great choice of song.
I'm going to play Baba O'Riley because from when I was very little,
I absolutely loved The Who.
I wanted to be Keith Moon. You know, I used to bash the drum kit,
pretending I was a rock star in my bedroom.
It's pretty complex, what he's doing.
He's separating the timings of his left hand and his right hand.
Yeah, he's creating the whole band, right there,
with his two hands, isn't he? Without losing the groove.
It's almost like he's put a kind of third hand in the middle. Yeah!
He's even doing the delay. He's doing the delay.
I think that's really clever. Ba-ba-ba-ba-ba, ba-ba-ba-ba-ba.
Yeah, no, he's really kind of translating
what he's heard on the record.
I wonder if the people walking through the station are like,
"Oh, wait a minute, that's Baba O'Riley."
Dum, dum-dum! They must've recognised that, surely.
It's The Who, isn't it? Baba O'Riley.
It's hard to say exactly how much time I've spent on this piece.
It always evolves for me, it builds up and builds up.
There's a lot of, like, different parts, like in the band,
like the guitar and the bass that I want to fit in,
so it can be quite a challenge sometimes.
But that's part of the fun of it, trying to figure it all out.
It's making me want to learn how to do it, actually. I'm thinking,
"Oh, I might have a go at that when I go home!" Yeah, it's brilliant.
Can you imagine the thrill of hearing this in a gorgeous,
acoustically perfect room like the Birmingham Symphony Hall?
CHEERING AND APPLAUSE
You were brilliant.Thank you very much, thank you.
Thank you so much. Alex, everyone!
Well done.Thank you. Very, very impressive.
Works really well as a piece of piano music,
but you've got to be able to play it well, and he really did. Yeah.
Let's see those hands. You did all of that with those?
Yeah, I know, I've got short, stubby little hands, haven't I?
Yeah, it's weird, I know.
There's an organ on Baba O'Riley. Yeah.
I've played that organ. You've played that organ? Yeah.
Oh, that's cool. Where is it? It's in Pete Townshend's house.
Oh, OK. What were you doing in Pete Townshend's house?
I don't remember, but...
TANNOY:The train at platform nine is the Greater Anglia service
to Norwich, calling at Chelmsford...
Do you mind if I say hello to your friend? What's her name?
Bella. Hi, Bella.
Does she walk around with you like this? This is...?
She comes out with me everywhere.
Can you just walk around town with a parrot?
Yeah, well, you didn't know it, but now you do.
Do we think Bella likes piano music?
No, I don't know whether I do. I'm a bit scared.
What do you mean hold it out? You're being quite casual.
No, I want to see you do it first.
She doesn't want it anyway. Oh!
Bella's full.
My name is Diana. I live in Glasgow.
I have two very special friends, Suzanne and Pauline.
"Gaun yersel, Diana." Do you know what that is?
Scottish. Basically it just means "Go for it".
It's a lovely Scottish phrase.
# Took my love, I took it down
# Climbed a mountain and turned around... #
Mm. Oh, beautiful accompaniment.
# And I saw my reflection in the snow covered hills
# Till the landslide brought me down
# Oh, mirror... #
The singing is not at the same standard as the playing,
but she's singing like a mum would sing to her kid.
# I've been afraid of changing
# Cos I've... #
I've chosen the song Landslide because of the words,
they're all totally relevant for me, like, in my life.
# But time makes you bolder
# Even children get older
# And I'm getting older too... #
It's a milestone year for me. I'm going to be 60.
I'm a palliative care nurse, and I've been working in the hospice
in Glasgow for about 20 years, so I'm acutely aware
turning 60's not to be sniffed at.
# You'll see my reflection in the snow covered hills... #
You should really make the most of every single minute.
You get one shot at life, don't you?
This is clearly someone who understands about living
in the moment, if she's dealing in palliative care.
It's different to just confidence, isn't it?
That someone who's here to take this moment now and so,
in terms of whether she should be at the final, I think one of
the most joyful things about it is that she's not thinking about that.
She's here to play. Absolutely.
Yes! CHEERING AND APPLAUSE
Thank you so much for coming. That was beautiful. Did you enjoy it?
Yeah, thank you. Well done. Diana, everyone!
I thought that was really moving. Yeah, it really was.
We're not in Liverpool Street Station. We're not in Glasgow even.
We're in her front room. And that's beautiful.
Hold up that sign, just so we have one more look at it, please.
It's really good.
It's lovely.
No rush, babe. No rush, Pauline.
There you go."Gaun yersel!"
I'll see you later. I'll make you one if you like.
Thank you very much. An orange one, please.
UPBEAT MUSIC
Next to play for us is a Scottish pianist
who has commuted further than anyone else.
Hi.Nice to meet you. I'm Claudia, nice to meet you.
I love your family. Tell me, who's here with you?
So, I've got my mum and my grandad. And you've come really far.
Yeah. Isle of Lewis. Isle of Lewis.Yeah.
One of the most beautiful places on Earth, right?Yeah. You should come.
I will.
Isle of Lewis is in the northwest of Scotland in the Outer Hebrides.
Paint a picture for anyone who doesn't know what it's like.
Picture a town, a beach, and some sheep,
and that's literally the Isle of Lewis in a nutshell, I'd say.
Can you smell it? Smell what? Smells amazing. The sea.
Eva's very resilient, very independent. Too much at times.
I absolutely love growing up here,
it's such a great place, you know, it's so safe.
I'm still in secondary school, I'm just going in to sixth year now,
so that'll be my final year.
I have no idea what I want to do as a career.
I think, sometimes, when you're from this island you feel
a bit isolated from opportunities. Yeah, totally. But, you know...
You've got to keep trying. Yeah, exactly.
Eva heading off to the mainland...
I've always threatened that I'll follow behind her,
but obviously can't do that, you have to let them go off
and live their own lives.
Do you think you'll leave soon, then, Eva?
It depends if I decide to go to university or not.
But I'll see what happens in the next year or so.
Maybe you could move to London. Maybe I could move to London.
After your performance, you know, who knows where you'll end up.
So in the station, I'm going to play Mangersta Beach.
It's a piece written about a beach on the Isle of Lewis.
It's an absolutely beautiful beach.
I've got so many memories from there.
Was such a big part of when I was growing up.
Delicious sentimentality.
Got very mature control. Yeah.
There's something about those little...
Grace notes between the notes. Grace notes. Mm. Yeah.
It just immediately transports you somewhere else.
REBECCA:I definitely don't think she'll stay on the island,
I think the island's a little bit too small for her.
Yeah, maybe one day you'll come back.
I think will end up coming back here, no matter what.
And that's it. Oh. It's the end of it. OK.
It's Eva!
I loved that, I loved how candid and unpretentious that was.
I wish it'd been longer. Yeah, exactly,
this is one situation where you're like, "Why wasn't that longer?"
It was sentimental, but in the right way.
It was simple, but in the right way.
It was like a postcard.... Yeah. ..for the Isle of Lewis. Yeah.
PA SYSTEM:The train at platform 13 is the service to Colchester Town.
This is the best hair I've ever seen. It's got...
Stop it. ..stripes... I mean it. Stop it. What's your name?
Margaret. Margaret, I'm Claudia. Great to meet you, Claudia.
OK, well, it's nice to meet you. Your hair is always beautiful, too.
It's a wig, Margaret.
LAUGHTER
My name's Samm, I'm 28 and I live in Glasgow.
Really enjoyed it there, it's a really buzzing, creative community,
and I've stayed in Scotland ever since.
I never wanted to learn the piano. I wanted to learn drums. But my mum,
you know, we're a family of eight in a very small terraced house,
she was like, "We're not doing drums."
Hi, Samm. I'm Claudia. You look magnificent.Thank you.
He does. You work with sound, don't you, for a living?
Yeah. I work with gongs, bowls. Got a little something here, actually.
Yes, please.This is just one of my little beautiful...
TING!
He's such an intriguing cat, isn't he?
When you absorb sound that way, it reduces anxiety.
I think you're totally right. I had a sound bath once.
I was asleep for seven days.
LAUGHTER
Tell me about you and the piano.
Well, I've been playing since I was about 11.
And when I discovered jazz, that really got me going.
One of my favourite pianists is Erroll Garner
who does these really beautiful, elaborate intros
where you don't even know what the tune is until it drops.
I'm going to do something like that today. Oh, wow. Good.
I'm very excited to hear that.
He's just hinting at the melody for now.
This complicated, beautiful tune, Sophisticated Lady.
# Sophisticated lady, dah-dum... #
He loves these arpeggiated runs.
This is all classic Erroll Garner kind of territory.
There's a little bit of that Thelonious Monk kind of feel.
But he's doing his version of it with his own textures,
and you can see how instinctive it is.
I play in train stations quite often,
because I don't have access to a real piano at home.
I think there's something beautiful about working with the space
and noises. PA SYSTEM: This is a security message.
If you see something... The hustle and bustle, the odd announcement.
Things rolling.
Conversations, school kids.
For me, it's not something to ignore or shut out.
It's something to work with.
I think if you're talking about it in kind of a jazz performance way,
you could put more harmonic complexity in the chords
that he's doing.
But in terms of an individuality
and something that speaks of his interest in sound
and texture in sound, he's really delivering that,
which I love that about what he's done.
My name's Sophie, I'm 14 years old,
and I'm from Nairn in Scotland.
Who have you come with today? Er, my mum, my dad, and my twin brother.
Where do you want me to stand?
Anywhere you want. You can stand with Archie.
Archie. Are you proud of your sister?
Yeah.
I'll take it.
Who was born first?
Sophie. Sophie, obviously. First. Sophie's first in everything.
I was born one minute before him,
and we always say that I took the height off him.
They're chalk and cheese.
Archie likes playing golf, he likes playing football.
But with Sophie, music will always be involved.
I think I've played the piano every day.
Since...?
Since I started playing it, I guess, when I was five.
Sometimes she'll wear her headphones
so you can't actually hear her playing piano
and it's like thump, thump, thump. "Sophie!"
Come and check the height, do you want it lower, higher? Erm...
She's taught herself all that stuff and you're like,
"How does she do it and still keep her feet on the ground?"
Sometimes she doesn't realise the talent that she has.
OK. We are all set.
# Got me to stay... #
Oh.
# Said that you need me
# Stop, cos these words
# Don't have a meaning
# No, they don't... #
Wow.
# Not to your face
# Mmm, I'll take my pride
# Stand here for you
# No, I'm not blind
# Just seeing it through
# You take my life... # Where did she come from?
# Just for the thrill
# And I'll take tonight
# And die on this hill... # She's just opened out the voice there,
there's real texture in there, right?
# I always
# Will
# I know that I look
# Stubborn and patient... #
The piano playing is simple, but it's totally in sync...
Yeah. ..with the singing.
# To be loved
# To be loved... # It wouldn't have the same power
if someone was accompanying her at the piano.
# It's all just levels
# Tell me now
# Oh... #
She has the music in her,
she was born to be playing and singing.
# I'll take my pride
# Stand here for you... #
I'm just so proud, of both of them.
Very much wanted children. They're actually IVF twins.
We had a few attempts.
Quite a few miscarriages.
And our final attempt was when we got Sophie and Archie,
so we were very lucky. Very lucky.
We've got a lot to thank the NHS for. Yeah.
# I know nothing could matter
# God, I wish something mattered
# To you-u-u-u-u-u-u-u... #
Whoa. Whoo! # I'll take my pride
# Stand here for you
# No, I'm not blind
# Just seeing it through
# You take my life... #
I think we should go down and see her.
# And I'll take tonight
# And die on this hill
# I always
# Will. #
Oh, God.
That's your fault for coming down here.
Well done. Hi! Hi, nice to meet you. Nice to meet you.
That was so beautiful. Thank you. Absolutely gorgeous.
My God, your voice, the piano, it's so amazing. Thank you so much.
What a pleasure to hear you, you absolutely nailed it.
Oh, my goodness.
Do your parents cry like that all the time? Yeah! Do they?
Don't worry, it's normal.
Very beautiful. Thank you. We'll see you later. Bye.
Sophie, everyone!
She was really bloody good, wasn't she?
So proud of you.
So proud. 14, blimey.
Give your sister a hug? Nah.
UPBEAT MUSIC
All of the pianists who swapped Glasgow
for London Liverpool Street have gathered to find out
who Mika and Jamie have chosen to play in the final concert.
What did you think of our pianists?
There were some incredible techniques on display,
but also ways of playing the piano that I was surprised to see.
We had Alex, and he played The Who.
He didn't just play The Who, he did one of the most technical
and complicated things that you could turn in to a piano piece.
You also loved Paul.
Learning that you can create that much drama and beauty with one hand,
I was really deeply moved by that performance.
Let's talk about Gabby.
She just communicated so much joy.
I mean, it's just a different kind of sunlight that she brought,
and all of that is only possible
cos she's actually a really, really good, technical player.
She's really, really good technically.
# I'll take my pride... #
The biggest crowd gathered round a 14-year-old girl.
To accompany yourself so simply
and really be able to communicate that emotion,
at that age, it's really unusual,
and I think everyone could sense that.
You two now have to choose somebody
who you want to put onstage in front of 2,000 paying spectators.
OK, let's do it. I'm going to have a little nap
because I sense this might take some time.
For seven days. OK. I need those chimes.
Hello, everybody. It is so lovely to see you all together.
I'm so sorry we couldn't do this in Glasgow,
but we're so happy that you made your way down here,
cos you were all brilliant.
You weren't only playing for the commuters,
you were also playing for two superstars -
Mika and Jamie Cullum!
Hi, everybody. Hi, everyone.
It's been such a privilege for me to hear you all play.
I've been introduced to composers I didn't know before,
so thank you for that. Cailean, your performance,
just watching your hands dance on the piano,
that set everyone up, but all of you were such a privilege to watch.
We are planning a final concert, this one's in Birmingham,
our biggest concert yet, all of you are all invited
to be part of this family that is The Piano.
Today we are going to be choosing one pianist
to go and perform onstage, and that person is...
Gabby. Gabby. Oh, my God.
For real?
Gabby, you look so shocked.
Oh...
I can't believe it, it's... I wasn't expecting it, really.
Oh, my God. Thank you. Thank you so much. Congratulations.
I always think less of myself but, apparently,
no, so I think I need to start believing more in myself. Yes.
We picked Gabby because she expressed so much joy
when she played.
And I love that she brought music from her own cultural heritage
and did it with such expertise.
We had this sun-kissed energy from Mexico
that's just entered the final concert,
and the potential that she has is enormous.
I think I'd like to go to the gym
to get ready for smash all the pianos.
Any piano I can find, smash them.
Yay. Bravo.
But Gabby might not be the only one of today's pianists
to play at the final concert.
This year, we have held back one place at the final concert.
If somebody impressed us enormously, they could get a wild card.
And so the question is, did anybody impress us enough
to get one of those wild cards and have another chance to play for us
and maybe be in that final concert in Birmingham?
The answer is yes.
And the person we've chosen
to have a chance to go through to the final is...
Next time, we reveal which Scottish pianist has been given a wild card,
before pulling in to the historic city of York...
I'm Claudia. I know all about you. OK.
..where Mika will be joined by a jazz piano superstar.
Hiromi, everybody!
CHEERING
They'll hear more incredible pianists...
She means each note.
Oh, that was my favourite bit!
..and face the toughest decision...
No way!
..of the series so far.
I didn't see that coming. It's too hard. They're equally beautiful.
I think this might be the hardest one.
I'm not looking, Hiromi. So cute.
Subtitles by Red Bee Media
UPBEAT MUSIC