Today and yesterday at rehearsal I was so nostalgic during the Rachmaninoff 2nd piano concerto. Usually I get into the music (more or less) during the rehearsals, which leaves me free to concentrate on execution during the concerts. Yes – that’s what I said! I find that I need to have a certain margin of control during concerts which I can only get (usually) if I’m in a calm, focused space. Over-emoting or surrendering to emotion only creates problems for me – I leave the zone, so to speak. <\/p>\n
But yesterday, during the indescribably lovely slow movement of the Rachmaninoff, there was a moment towards the last third of the movement, a transition, where the two flutes play five notes in thirds going into a very restful cadence – the denouement of the climax of the movement. It’s an incredible moment, and it made me think of a colleague who is fighting for their life right now against cancer, and I just began to weep (luckily, I was just counting a lot of rests at the time). My thoughts were of this person, and whether I’d ever hear them play again, or see them alive again, or how I could be any sort of help to them in their situation. And the music was the conduit to my innermost self, where these things normally lay under lock and key during public life, and Rachmaninoff had the key to this place, and the door was opened, and so was I. I got myself together during the end of the movement, and all was back to normal by the beginning of the last movement.<\/p>\n
Anyone who wonders what music is “about” and why it’s “important” should look to any similar moment they might have had in their own experience as a listener. Music expresses that which would be too painful, too private to express in words or concrete images. Music can do this despite having been written by someone days, years, decades, or centuries ago – and it still has that immediate impact: how did Rachmaninoff know I needed those flutes in thirds yesterday? He didn’t – but the fact remains that those two instruments, capable of being shrill and staccato and strident in their upper register, were instead mellifluous and limpid and soothing at just the right time to open my eyes to what was in my heart. It’s a miracle, really. Tonight, listen to the your favorite moment of your favorite piece, and see what your heart tells you. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Today and yesterday at rehearsal I was so nostalgic during the Rachmaninoff 2nd piano concerto. Usually I get into the music (more or less) during the rehearsals, which leaves me free to concentrate on execution during the concerts. Yes – that’s what I said! I find that I need to have a certain margin of […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":303,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_feature_clip_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":false,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2},"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false},"categories":[2],"tags":[55,53,3656],"class_list":["post-449","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-the-orchestra-world","tag-orchestra","tag-piano","tag-the-orchestra-world"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/pa8kC-7f","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":6927,"url":"https:\/\/www.nobleviola.com\/wordpress\/2011\/09\/27\/on-napping-and-fingering\/","url_meta":{"origin":449,"position":0},"title":"on napping and fingering","author":"Charles Noble","date":"September 27, 2011","format":false,"excerpt":"It's official: I've reached the age where an afternoon nap is essential to a decent performance. My eyesight is also not as good as it used to be: I have to go to the eye doctor soon and see if I need glasses. These two factors seemed to play a\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "the orchestra world"","block_context":{"text":"the orchestra world","link":"https:\/\/www.nobleviola.com\/wordpress\/category\/music\/the-orchestra-world\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.nobleviola.com\/wordpress\/wp-content\/uploads\/2011\/09\/prokofiev.jpg?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.nobleviola.com\/wordpress\/wp-content\/uploads\/2011\/09\/prokofiev.jpg?resize=350%2C200 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.nobleviola.com\/wordpress\/wp-content\/uploads\/2011\/09\/prokofiev.jpg?resize=525%2C300 1.5x"},"classes":[]},{"id":7853,"url":"https:\/\/www.nobleviola.com\/wordpress\/2012\/09\/16\/rocky-can-dance\/","url_meta":{"origin":449,"position":1},"title":"rocky can dance","author":"Charles Noble","date":"September 16, 2012","format":false,"excerpt":"Monday morning we start rehearsals for our first classical series concerts. It's a program that pretty much has something for everyone. It includes a charming suite by the Swedish composer Hugo Alfv\u00e9n, an engaging and colorful work from 2005 by Andrew Norman entitled Drip (but formerly called\u00a0Drip, Blip, Sparkle, Spin,\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "the orchestra world"","block_context":{"text":"the orchestra world","link":"https:\/\/www.nobleviola.com\/wordpress\/category\/music\/the-orchestra-world\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.nobleviola.com\/wordpress\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/09\/51MBvdyaCCL._SL500_AA280_.jpeg?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":6918,"url":"https:\/\/www.nobleviola.com\/wordpress\/2011\/09\/23\/russian-triptych\/","url_meta":{"origin":449,"position":2},"title":"russian triptych","author":"Charles Noble","date":"September 23, 2011","format":false,"excerpt":"The rehearsal period for our first classical series concerts has finished, and Saturday night we play our first of three concerts here at the Arlene Schnitzer Concert Hall (click here for tickets). It's an all-Russian program (which can often feel like an all-rushin' program, with all of the fast passagework\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "programming"","block_context":{"text":"programming","link":"https:\/\/www.nobleviola.com\/wordpress\/category\/music\/programming-music\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.nobleviola.com\/wordpress\/wp-content\/uploads\/2011\/09\/17_18-300x382.jpg?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":450,"url":"https:\/\/www.nobleviola.com\/wordpress\/2007\/09\/30\/what-a-difference-the-day-makes\/","url_meta":{"origin":449,"position":3},"title":"what a difference the day makes","author":"Charles Noble","date":"September 30, 2007","format":false,"excerpt":"We finished our second of three subscription concerts tonight - a big program of Dvorak, Rachmaninoff and Strauss.\u00c2\u00a0 It's so interesting to me the differences in the personalities of the audiences each night. Usually Saturday night's audience (which used to the famous \"Tuesday Nighters\") is pretty boisterous and excitable.\u00c2\u00a0 There\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "the orchestra world"","block_context":{"text":"the orchestra world","link":"https:\/\/www.nobleviola.com\/wordpress\/category\/music\/the-orchestra-world\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":7879,"url":"https:\/\/www.nobleviola.com\/wordpress\/2012\/09\/24\/last-chance-for-parkeroso-combo\/","url_meta":{"origin":449,"position":4},"title":"last chance for parker\/oso combo","author":"Charles Noble","date":"September 24, 2012","format":false,"excerpt":"Want so hear some of the most gorgeous Mozart piano playing ever? Want to hear a cool new piece that will make you laugh with glee? Want to have your senses overloaded with the incredible Symphonic Dances of Rachmaninoff? Your last chance is tonight at the Oregon Symphony. 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