容光的音樂！

I promised Britny I would tell her how the Hamelin concert was, so here goes...

To begin with, the orchestra played Strauss' Don Juan.  I loved the program notes' description of the text Strauss used when he was writing it, because he captured every moment so clearly, right down to each love theme and Don Juan putting his sword down at the end to be stabbed through the heart.  I was on the edge of my seat the entire time.  The conductor was intensely experiencing every moment, but he also displayed some humor - every time the slightly frivolous adventure theme for Don Juan came back, he kind of smiled to himself.

Next was Hamelin!  He played the Ravel left-handed concerto first.  I think I've listened to it once before, but hearing it in person was a completely different experience.  For about half of the piece, I didn't think it was very technically difficult, but I realized upon trying to visualize the music in my head that it was probably incredibly challenging and it was only Hamelin's skill that made it look easy.  Two things stood out: his melodies came out in sharp relief against the rest of the notes, amazing when the hand was whirling all around the keyboard and only stopping occasionally to continue the line.  The other was his absolute control of the tone quality.  When he wanted the piano to sound like a harp, it did.  Each and every note was placed perfectly, with just the right amount of emphasis, and he masterfully backed off and let the orchestra take charge, then swelled to prominence again, doubly impressive while only playing with one hand.  The ending took me off guard, because I was so entranced.

After the intermission he played the Strauss Burleske.  The comments for the Ravel apply here as well, except playing with two hands he was twice as impressive, naturally.  Again he made it appear effortless.  The whole time he was on stage it looked as if his hands were the most natural thing in the world, as if the only thing they were meant to do was what they were at present doing, and it was impossible to imagine them hitting a stray key or causing a note to stick out.  If there were a physical manifestation of elegance commingled with strength, it would be Marc-Andre Hamelin's hands.

The audience applauded for so long afterwards that he reluctantly played an encore, the Chopin Nocturne #8 in D flat.  If I was entranced by his playing before, now I was off in nirvana somewhere!  I don't think my mind came back down to earth until the next day.  It was as smooth as glass, and the melody was breathtakingly beautiful.  The two previous pieces exhibited Hamelin's virtuosity, but this one took all of his emotional depth and threw it out into the concert hall.  If I could play like that, I would sit down and play Chopin for hours on end.

As soon as the applause began, I raced for the stage door around the side of the building to perhaps meet Mr. Hamelin (the concert had one piece left, but I wasn't sure if he would stay for that or leave before it ended).  The security guard checked with her supervisor and then said (all in a half-bored tone that was slightly incredulous at my ardor) that Mr. Hamelin would be signing afterwards and I could meet him then.  I said, "But I'd really like to meet him..." in a hopeful tone, glancing towards backstage in an attempt to persuade her to let me in anyway.  She didn't, so I ended up going back inside and sitting on the floor right outside of the hall to listen to the rest of Ravel's La Valse.  It was great from where I was sitting, so I can only assume the experience was fantastic inside the concert hall, but I can't speak from experience.  After that was over I went to the table to meet Mr. Hamelin first.  He came out, spoke to a few people, and then the moment arrived.  I handed him my program and told him I was a piano major about to begin my senior year and was choosing pieces for my senior recital.  We shook hands (!) and he said, "Courage, and good luck to you!"  And that was that.

It wasn't until I had been driving for 15 minutes that I realized I hadn't gotten a picture with him...bother.

Saturday I went to a Presbyterian church to practice their carillon (I'm playing a concert there this coming Sunday), attended a YSA activity, and made Thai food for my aunt and uncle, cousins, Dakin and John and their kids (Dakin is another cousin of mine), and the elders.  It was really good to see Dakin - I hadn't even met her two youngest kids, Zachary and Elizabeth, because I hadn't seen her for five years!  They're heading to Warwick, England, because John just got his PhD in mathematical economics and was offered a professorship at the University of Warwick.  Their kids were so cute; now I want to go to grad school in England a little bit more just so I can see them once in a while!

Yesterday was also good; I spent the morning preparing a talk and then gave it in sacrament meeting.  Everyone said it went really well, so I guess it went really well.  Other than that, not too much has happened over the last few days, but I'm liking Minnesota more and more.  Although it was 93 degrees and really humid today...ick.  Maybe I take that back.  Better than snow in May, however.  Anyway, there's a recap of the concert and the attending weekend.  I'm up half an hour past my bedtime, but this burden is off my chest and I can thus sleep with a clean conscience.

English title: Glorious music!