16 April 2011; A University Campus --
This fine day in April, with the "Oregon Mist" falling incessantly, the Grand Mother and Friend Margaret traveled Northward to listen to the discordant tunes of Liszt played out by the various Senior students and Professors. Our Granddaughter Rachel was among the Seniors.
The performances, originally scheduled to start at 3:00 p.m., were delayed nearly 30 minutes because the day's previous performances at the same venue ran a half hour or so late. Also, the fine, new Grand Piano to be used had to be re-tuned for the piano performances. As we were to hear, the "retuning" was not well done; the highest octave keys were notably flat!!
But, despite the badly mistuned piano, the "show must go on", and we heard some wonderfully-gifted pianists display their technique as they played various compositions attribute to Franz Liszt. [Two pieces by Schubert were included -- perhaps a test of the alertness of the audience during this four-hour session!]
Rachel's piece, "Legende 2, Saint Francis de Paule Walking on the Water" was pictorially described by Rachel as Saint Francis begging for a ride from some wealthy boat owners, for a ride across some waters; the owners, observing Saint Francis' shabby clothes, declined his request and set off without him; a terrible storm came up (musical crescendo symbolizing thunder and lightning and wind!!); the owners feared to lose their boat and their lives then saw Saint Francis blithely walking across the water in the midst of the storm (at this point Rachel said she visualized the full moon peering through the broken clouds as God acted to save the boat load of people).
Here are three sequential photos of Rachel's playing: The Storm,
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| The Storm: [Lower notes, loud pedal emphasized] |
Saint Francis walking on the water with the Moon shining above,
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| Saint Francis Walking on the Water: | [Triumphant, firm, mid-register legato.] |
and, the Storm subsiding as Saint Francis reaches the distant shore.
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| The Storm Subsides: [Tinkling high register; | delicate, peaceful softness.] |
The performers were students of all levels (freshman through senior and some already graduaed students), including some who are not even in the conservatory, but just taking piano lessons for fun or credit. A staff accompaniest played, as did a retired professor and the three active professors of piano. There were no Schubert pieces played, although two pieces were those that Liszt used Schubert themes for his own improvised compositions, hence the reference to Schubert in the program. I do agree that the upper register of that beautiful new Steinway was sadly out of tune. Thanks for a nice report on the concert. Rachel won the prize for the most attendees--she had 24 persons present who came just to hear her play. Considering that the entire auditorium had only about 50 people present, that is pretty amazing, don't you think?
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