I truly admire, with a hint of envy, the level Daniel Kelly is pertaining his passion. He is at a point where he has enough mastery of a specific skill (in his case the piano) that he can create unique art. This is seen through the type of music he is creating. He chooses to represent the overall theme of culture and exude specific themes from specific cultures through his music. He speaks very highly of his craft and even to a person with very little understanding of music, I somehow could tell that Daniel Kelly knows what he is talking about. In essence, he knows what he is truly about.
This is a level of passion and skill that I hope to achieve one day, both in my martial arts and in my field of computer engineering. I place Daniel Kelly on level with Munoz. Both are incredibly talented artists. Both have acquired a certain level mastery that each could dive into a unique, artistic passion. Both choose to represent the idea of culture, to represent the unrepresented.
The performance we saw on Thursday was incredibly memorable and engaging.
First off: Carnegie Hall. Amazing! The building was beautiful, the interior was beautiful and the hall gave off an intense vibe of culture. It was simply a joy to be there and moreso to see a performance there. As soon as I saw the hall, I could not help but snap a picture.
Onto the performance: all of the pieces were fairly great. They were all perfectly complemented by the mesmerizing conducting of Pablo Heras-Casado, who gave a whole other level of energy to the performance. That was the moment I realized how truly integral a good conductor is to a good performance. One piece in particular etched itself into my mind: Mendelssohn’s “Die erste Walpurgisnacht” (The First Walpurgis Night). The narrative involved with this piece made me look forward to it even before the show had started. When the orchestra played it and the singers sang with their powerful voices, I was absolutely mesmerized. The innate story of the piece also appealed to me deeply: an oppressed group winning out against the majority. The ending of the piece was also, by far, my favorite part of the entire night.
Afterwards, an evening spent at the diner with the rest of the class made for an extremely memorable night.
For me, listening to the wonderfully spectacular classical music was only 90% of the performance. The other 10% came from actually looking at the musicians play their instruments. While looking at the orchestra as a whole, one cannot help but notice how animated it is. You have the violin player gracefully moving her bow to and fro. You have the cello player tapping his feet to keep the rhythm. You have the percussionist, every now and then, getting out of his chair, reaching for his cymbals and preparing for his grand moment. Each and every musician in the orchestra was animated in some manner. I wondered to myself why this was. I questioned it in my mind. Surely, they have played these pieces numerous times. I doubt that it has the same awe-inspiring effect as it does to the audience.
Then it hit me! It all came down to one word: Passion. To these musicians, playing Tchaikovsky’s The Tempest or Purcell’s Suite from “A Midsummer Night’s Dream” is something much more than a simple gig at Carnegie Hall. To them, it is a part of their passion. Playing a crisp, clean note, rising and falling perfectly to crescendos and decrescendos, and ignoring the disturbance of syncopation is part of who they are. Playing the piece of music perfectly is their goal for that night. Perfection, in fact, is their goal in life. Their passion takes control of them, both mentally and physically. A musician, truly engulfed by his or her passion, cannot help but physically feel the music. One notices the swaying to the pace of the music, and the sharp leans and head turns as the music makes sudden changes. You can only imagine that the musicians are seconds away from jumping out of their chairs with excitement! Even the conductor himself, who is in charge of guiding these talented musicians, is under the influence of his own passion. You cannot help but notice him bump and two-step to the music, or should I say his and the orchestra’s music.
I was anticipating that this night would be a great night. It definitely was. Like Pun, this is my first time stepping into the Carnegie Hall. I couldn’t stop looking around at the architecture of the place. The architecture was simple, everything was very smooth and rounded, and surprisingly I didn’t see a fancy chandelier hanging down from the middle of the hall. This all adds up and concurs with the fact that Carnegie Hall has one of best acoustics of any halls. It was probably one of the nicest halls I’ve seen as well. Even with seats up in the balcony everything sounded very crystal clear 🙂
On to the pieces: I think all the performances were executed very well, though I personally preferred the first half of the performance prior to the intermission.
Henry Purcell’s Suite from A Midsummer Night’s Dream: Appetizer! What a great way to start! The pieces were very hip and flow very nicely for me. It reminds me of the Bach Invention pieces. In those pieces, the right hand would usually play a part, and the left hand would play the same part after the right hand stopped while the right hand accompanied, and so on. It has a back and forth feel, and thats how I felt when I heard the Purcell piece. I especially like these two, i-I and ii-VII. Here is the full suite for the orchestra:
And here is ii-VII:
Tchaikovsky’s The Tempest, Op. 18: This piece was probably the main course! Tchaikovsky was extremely talented in creating this piece, and it was executed very well by our conductor Pablo Heras-Casado! I especially enjoyed the sudden soft and loudness of the piece, which makes me feel very calm one minute, while alert the next! I was especially attention to the violinist, who’s bow was flickering at the speed of light at one point in the piece. This piece reminded me another piece that I enjoy hearing as well, Robert W. Smith’s The Divine Comedy: I. Inferno. This piece is based on Dante’s Inferno, and creates a auditory stimuli through how Dante perceived hell was like. Here is a performance of the piece (this is played by a band, not an orchestra):
Luigi Dallapiccola’s Piccola Musica Notturna: I don’t really have much to say. The piece was executed fine, but I didn’t feel that this piece was as rich as the others, especially the first 2.
Felix Mendelssohn’s Die Erste Walpurgisnacht, Op. 60: I don’t know how I feel about this piece. The sing along part was definitely a plus, plus the ending was probably the best part about this piece. I guess this piece was the long and fulfilling dessert the finished the course of dinner!
Ahh, how can we forget, crazy man in front of the hall.
Just when we thought the night was over, a random man, presumably drunk, approached us and started talking to me. No fear, the guy just was trying to make new friends, gave me a fist pound, and talk about the cops of Connecticut, some cause and affect, and murmured some other stuff. Thanks for the reassurance guys LOL
And then, diner after diner, time for some diner food! 😀
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