I'll work backwards from that title. Deb and I have been taking turns fighting off colds. My turn was last Wednesday and Thursday, with fatigue, scratchy throat, and a mind that was off center more than usual. Deb's turn began Friday, and she is better now. She has had her flu shot this year; I go this Thursday. But this was strictly a cold. Deb had a tougher fight, as she had her infusion last Thursday, which wipes out her immune system for two weeks. Still, she managed to fight it off! She did sleep a lot.
VW has had our Golf since last Thursday, when we brought it in for a leaky roof. Leaves and maple keys get into the sun roof slots and can cause havoc. We have a lot of trees. But no Golf for 5 days now, though they did give us a Jetta loaner. We've been staying home and waiting for a call that never seems to come. Between our illnesses and waiting for VW, we have yet to visit with Randy G.
Last Saturday we attended the fourth of five autumn concerts. We heard Russian-American pianist Olga Kern perform a massively programmed recital in Detroit. It was a packed house, and about half of the audience was speaking Russian. She opened with three Scarlatti sonatas, with the first one being one of the most difficult of his 500-odd such pieces. To open a program with such a difficult piece is daring, if not risky. Let's just say that my opening pieces are usually chosen with cautious care. Anyway, she played them flawlessly, including one in C Major I have learned, and one in D Minor that I now feel I must learn. As for the first one she played in A Major, I think I'll just leave that one alone for now.
She followed up with the Waldstein Sonata by Beethoven, one of his very biggest pieces. Again the performance was riveting and flawless, quite possibly the finest performance of this popular program piece I have ever heard. And I have heard Schiff! The hoots and applause following the Beethoven were a sign that she should have ended the first half at that point. Instead, she made a huge programming blunder! She was scheduled to perform 5 short pieces by a Michigan composer. Instead, she replaced them with four pieces by Gershwin. Note to self, and to other piano performers. NEVER program Gershwin one minute after playing Beethoven, especially such a piece as the Waldstein. It just didn't work. When the half finally ended, the applause was minimal. I hope she noticed.
After intermission she played three big pieces by Rachmaninoff, two by Scriabin, and a monstrously difficult but essentially empty virtuoso piece called Islamey, also by a Russian composer. Her encore was more of the same, with a very fast and loud etude by Prokofiev. Needless to say, despite a journey home afterwards that lasted over an hour, when I finally got into bed that night my brain would not settle itself--too much virtuoso stimulation. Anyway, she is an excellent pianist and musician, but she needs to think a bit harder about her programming.
Mapman Mike
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