Had great seats for the St. Paul Chamber Orchestra last night at Shepherd of the Valley in Apple Valley. The pianist was a student of Leon Fleisher and performed a Mendelssohn Trio in the first half, the Schumann Piano concerto was the second half of the concert.
I'm a fan of piano concerti in general; I used to listen to the classical and romantic ones in my dorm room at college. I used to daydream about being the pianist, playing with the orchestra, the thrill of that amazing sound all around me. The Minnesota Orchestra used to offer the chance to sit on stage with the orchestra during a concert. We did that and it was exhilarating!
This concert was stellar of course-the SPCO is a premier chamber group of the world. I could not take any pictures, so imagine this group, on a large stage, transformed without any of the altar embellishments. Staging made the altar area bigger. A moving van in the parking lot brought all their instruments, including the Steinway 9 foot grand piano. They were playing this piece.
Afterward, I got an autograph from the pianist for my "Wall of Inspiration". I'm off to two days of a very interesting assembly-more on that soon.
I know what you mean about daydreaming that you were playing - I do the same with dance. Great post.
ReplyDeleteLoved you comment on my post. Thank you.
I grew up listening to that concerto. It was one of two records that my mother played all the time - the other was the Franck Variations for Piano and Orchestra. I hope I'll get to hear the SPCO live one of these years. They are the best!
ReplyDeleteI like to imagine I play like that too. In my mind, that how good I am...just a legend in my own mind.
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