A Busy Autumn Brings Rewards.....

Last night I played my final recital of the year for a wonderful audience at The Heritage at Lowman, a Lutheran Retirement Center where I have had a piano series the past six years. The New Life Chapel is such a beautiful setting, especially during afternoon concerts when the light streams through the dramatic stained glass windows. There is a very serene feeling in this rather chaste, modern setting that reminds me of Scandinavian architecture I have experienced. The chapel has a very high dome just over where we place the piano, and this amplifies the sound in a most natural way, considering it is only a six foot Schimmel. But the piano speaks with a lovely sound, and has alot of color possiblities. Last night I played an unusual work by Ottorino Respighi entitled "Antiche Danze ed Arie", a transcription of his orchestral suite for orchestra, based on lute melodies from the 17th century. Respighi did this transcription himself, and it is a very fine example of the art. The haunting "Villanelle" is a favorite. I read where composers could break the rules of composition during this era with the Villanelle, and here Respighi uses open fifths in parallel motion...long before Debussy thought of doing it. I was inspired to learn this work after visiting Rome last year for the first time. There is something quite Roman in the work, afterall, Respighi spent his adult life there, and wrote those powerful works for orchestra..."The Pines of Rome" and "The Fountains of Rome"...both great favorites of the immortal Toscanni.

After this work I performed most of the "Carnaval" of Robert Schumann. It is what I call the intellectuals "Nutcracker". It was made into a ballet and performed by many companies long before "Nutcracker" became the thing it is today. Centered around a Viennese Ball, Schumann captures the great waltzes, german dances, and intermixes real life characters, like his future wife Clara, a current flame, Estrella, Chopin, Paganini, with characters from the Italian Comedy...the soap opera of its day. For once, keeping in mind an older audience (altho I was heartened to see more than a few young people) I outlined the story in detail, and played in groups of three pieces at a time. This way the audience was able to follow a complicated plotline without getting lost in program notes. Its not easy to play this way..jumping back and forth from microphone to keyboard..! In fact I got lost once just after I sat down to continue, and with no program in front of me, I simply asked "Where am I?". Of course, they all shouted out "Reconnaissance"...which I had just finished explaining in great detail. Playing in front of a retirement center audience, no one held it against me!!!

For the last part of the program I arranged a medley of Christmas hymns, carols, popular songs,and spirituals into a "Christmas Garland".
This comes easily to me, as I only played by ear until the age of 11, and did this type of thing often at school and church. At the close, after the stirring "Bless This House" ( which sadly you rarely hear today) a lady came up with her walker and said "I guess you know that you played all this just for me!" What do you say when you are touched to tears.

There are so many audiences around South Carolina, and I played for a great variety of them this fall. .. South Carolinas Governors' School Furman University, USC Sumter. It never fails to impress me when people say how much it means to hear live music in a quiet setting. Perhaps that what this rather broken down world needs this Christmas...