On Wednesday, October 28th, 2015 I had the privilege to see Angela Hewitt play some of the most challenging and beautiful music ever composed. Her performance of Bach’s work rendered me speechless at the talent I was witnessing before me and sort of disappointed in myself for never being able to learn how to play music—despite the several failed attempts at learning to play the flute, the piano, and the acoustic guitar. I don’t know much about music and its composition but it does not take a genius to see or rather hear the complexity in the music that Bach composed; I was especially aware of her incredible talent as I remembered my days of struggling to learn “Mary Had a Little Lamb” on the piano. Hewitt did a phenomenal job at delivering a great performance. I especially enjoyed her introduction, in which she broke down her learning process along with the composition of the pieces for the audience. It was helpful to those of us that are not as well educated about music and she kept the audience engaged with her light humor. The performance was not super formal, it had a lighter more informal feel to it, in comparison to all of the other performances we have attended this year with our class and I liked that.
I also really appreciated the attention and passion Hewitt dedicated to her work; her playing of the piano, the body language and hand gestures, which felt almost ritualistic as if she was paying tribute to Bach by worshipping his work, was attention-grabbing. All of the passion that she put forth which was clearly evident to the audience, made her moment of silence for Bach at the end especially powerful.
Another thing also caught my attention, the second she stepped out, was her dress. I don’t know how to describe it, definitively not ordinary, but I loved it. The pink was not subtle and I spent a good deal thinking about it, which is a little strange on my part, but I think it suited her eccentric personality which was present in her humor and the way she played her music.
I’m glad I had the opportunity to attend such an event. I don’t know anything about music and I’m sure there are others that are far more educated and would have understood that performance in a way that I never could but it doesn’t take a genius to appreciate the beauty in Bach’s work. Having said that, I don’t think I would attend another hour long music performance because I enjoy music differently and I often found myself lost in thought as I tend to be when listening to music, but I did walk out of there with a newly found appreciation for Angela Hewitt, a talented, funny woman with a wicked sense of style.
