We decided to attend a concert for Phillip’s birthday, and when we reviewed our options in the area, he was thrilled to learn that Andre Watts would be performing with the USC orchestra this week. Phillip reserved us seats on the front row, and he made sure they were on the side that would allow us to see Watts’s hands as he played.
The music tonight was glorious, but I confess my favorite part of the performance was watching Watts and the conductor, Carl St. Clair. Both men demonstrated that you can be serious about music without taking yourself too seriously in the process.
Carl
The orchestra began the concert with Berlioz’s Roman Carnival before being joined by Watts for Brahms’s Second Piano Concerto. St. Clair conducted both pieces with gusto. Every emotion he wanted the music to convey radiated tenfold from his face. He spent most of the rollicking Roman Carnival grinning like a Cheshire cat, and I couldn’t help grinning, too, as I watched him. It was as if Robin Williams had lost 50 pounds, donned a grey Bon Jovi wig, and decided to conduct an orchestra.
Andre
Watts played with incredible energy, too, but he made it look so easy. He sat astride the piano bench as if he was sitting on his back porch sipping lemonade, and he often tapped out the beat with his foot, occasionally stomping it loudly for emphasis. His hands bounced wildly across the keyboard like they were made of rubber, and when he finished playing a sequence he would fling them up in the air, like a flourish at the end of a signature. He played intensely, yet you never got the feeling that he was doing anything difficult. He just enjoyed the music, and put his whole heart into playing it. It was a thrill to be along for the ride.
I also love the fact that when Watts bowed to the audience at the end of his performance, he noticed a ten-year-old girl in the front row and waved at her with a smile. “It’s nice to be important, but it’s more important to be nice,” eh?
Incidentally, I’m glad we heard Brahms’s Second Piano Concerto for Phillip’s birthday. When we compiled a photo DVD to show at our wedding reception, he had a cheerful section of that concerto playing in the background of his half. For the rest of my life, whenever I hear that music I will think of those pictures of my sweetheart as a little boy.
6 comments:
What a wonderful date.
I love the energy present in live performances, and the chance to see how the music exists as a product of such varied parts--composer, instruments, musician. Perhaps most of all I love the sense of being one of those parts, albeit a small one--being an enthusiastic listener for those who have more ability than I do!
It is also very pleasurable to see those perform who have enough sense of self to let that self out without inhibition and without any feeling of falseness. I would rather attend a staid performance than one that is melodramatic and the sentiment is just that--sentiment--false or unreal emotion. How wonderful that you and Phillip were able to attend the best kind of performance, and that it evoked such special memories.
Christian would be pleased too. He's a huge fan of Brahms. And I count Brahms' clarinet trio among my favorite classical pieces because of attending a superb live performance while at BYU.
I need some more live performances. I've been too easily discouraged by the hassle of getting into downtown Chicago at night and parking. I miss the greater ease associated with that experience in LA/ Orange County, where it is anticipated that most people will be trying to stash a car somewhere.
I guess you just don't recognize some of the Socal perks until you have something to compare them to.
The air's cleaner here, however.
I love the energy present in live performances, and the chance to see how the music exists as a product of such varied parts--composer, instruments, musician. Perhaps most of all I love the sense of being one of those parts, albeit a small one--being an enthusiastic listener for those who have more ability than I do!
It is also very pleasurable to see those perform who have enough sense of self to let that self out without inhibition and without any feeling of falseness. I would rather attend a staid performance than one that is melodramatic and the sentiment is just that--sentiment--false or unreal emotion. How wonderful that you and Phillip were able to attend the best kind of performance, and that it evoked such special memories.
Christian would be pleased too. He's a huge fan of Brahms. And I count Brahms' clarinet trio among my favorite classical pieces because of attending a superb live performance while at BYU.
I need some more live performances. I've been too easily discouraged by the hassle of getting into downtown Chicago at night and parking. I miss the greater ease associated with that experience in LA/ Orange County, where it is anticipated that most people will be trying to stash a car somewhere.
I guess you just don't recognize some of the Socal perks until you have something to compare them to.
The air's cleaner here, however.
WOW!
sounds like a great evening! happy brithday phillip!
Alex falls asleep at concerts. So, I haven't been to one in a long time. How nice to feel, hear, and see, them perform. It sure uplifts the spirit.
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