For people who study music

http://www.sendspace.com/file/v9382h

This 21-second snippet is from Michael Pinnella's solo album, Enter by the Twelfth Gate. For those who don't know Pinella, he is the pianist for the power-prog metal band Symphony X. This snippet comes from "Piano Concerto #1, Movement 2" (1:20 - 1:41).

My question is this: Pinnella in this passage is playing a lot more notes than he has to in order to play the melody. The light melody here is counteracted by the poppy bass player and the high strings section. But why is the piano player playing so many notes when such a simple melody is being played? Does he just want to stand out amidst the rest of the instruments considering that this is his solo album? Is there a certain name for this technique?

To me it sounds like he is playing multiple grace notes to add to the melody. He is also playing rubato in order to prove that he is the soloist. The technique is common in music to emphasize the soloist by allowing them to have free reign over where the beat is and play out of order essentially to have that effect you are speaking of.