Last night we attended the first of four planned concerts between now and our trip to Vienna. The first three concerts come on consecutive weekends, so we have another concert next weekend, and another the week after that. Our first concert of the new season was a performance of the Schubert Octet, one of the greatest pieces of chamber music ever written. It's a long one, too, at nearly one hour. It has six movements, and is heavily modelled on the earlier septet by Beethoven. Schubert added a 2nd violin, which Beethoven omitted. So he used a full string quartet (2 violins, viola, cello), then added a double bass and the three winds; French horn, bassoon, and clarinet. The clarinet and first violin interact continually, but the other instruments get to solo as well, and the sound combinations are nearly limitless.
There are six movements, and each one seems to be a complete world unto itself. The 12st, 2nd, 4th, and 6th are all massive in scale, and really do need to be taken one at a time by the listener. Hearing all six uninterrupted is like eating a heavy 6-course dinner! We had the good fortune of hearing 8 chamber players from the Academy of St. Martin in the Fields, from London, and they gave a magnificent performance and interpretation. Before the concert the musicians came out, and the horn player talked about the piece at some length. the group played excerpts to illustrate certain points, mainly comparisons with the Beethoven work. Then they performed uninterrupted. It was a long time to sit, as there was no intermission.
We hit heavy rain and storms once in Detroit, and again after the concert. At home, 3.2" of rain was sitting in the rain gauge!! Needless to say, our little creek is rather full today. With the warm weather we've been having (and clouds), I will be cutting the grass again very soon. Our tree and yard man paid us a visit last week. We will be getting some trees trimmed and some old branches removed, as well as having an old stump ground down, thus stopping the endless number of shoots that grow on it every year. There is still so much to do in the yard, but there are still mosquitoes, so we will wait a bit longer.
My own concert preparation has taken a bit of a dip since our return from NM. I have been finding it really difficult to get back into the pieces, though my very bad ear likely has something to do with it. I am not yet back where I was with the pieces before I left home, and am having trouble concentrating. My reading concentration is fine, and I've been working hard on my trip journal (it's about half done now). I just think I would rather be in NM right now, hiking some more. When I returned and finally sat down at the piano again, I fully realized how difficult it is to play piano and learn pieces! I actually had a dull ache in my brain afterwards. It really does take full concentration, which is very demanding, especially if you are continually thinking of mountains.
No comments:
Post a Comment