oh my! a classical music encore!!!

"Have you ever heard of such a thing?"

 

I can't say that I have, until this evening. Sure, it's been a while since I would have even been in a space to have that as a possibility. не так ли? Even so, it was quite a nice gift to us.

"And just who was us and where were you?"

Oh, I was at an SMF concert that I only signed up for yesterday. This was for another pianist, this time solo, and the blond young man was probably the same age that Christian Sands was when I saw and heard him for the first time. Maybe that was 2014?

"But who was the pianist? And where was the concert?"

This was at the Trinity UMC, over by the Jepson. It was so wonderful to see Daniela again!!! She was the house manager. See her walking up the aisle with one of the other SMF staffers? Believe me, she was thrilled and relieved to see me and Inessa there, as none of the other volunteers had ever worked that venue before. She put me in charge upstairs and 'Nessa downstairs. I had Lisa, who was a bit chatty, as well as six or seven student volunteers. For the most part, I just made sure they knew that voices carry, as does all sound in that church, so to walk softly.

 

"Sigh."

 

Why did you say... oh, my bad. You'd asked who the pianist was. I guess I thought you might have clicked the link by now.

"Sigh..."

The 22-year-old Russian from Moscow was Alexander Malofeev. I very much enjoyed watching him play, especially as he tended to telegraph when he was nearing the end of the very long pieces in tonight's performance. There were only four total, with an intermission to break up the set and allow us - and him - a chance to get up and stretch. The first two were both from Ludwig van Beethoven, known as "Moonlight Sonata" - which the composer named "Quasi una fantasia" and had dedicated to his student almost two centuries ago - and Piano Sonata No. 17 - which the composer did not subtitle, but others refer to as "Tempest". Both were composed the same year, when he was in his early thirties, before he started losing his hearing. I know I tend to think he wrote everything when deaf, but that's incorrect.

"That's cool to know. I don't recall anyone ever speaking of him having different periods of composing, ranging from hearing to partially deaf to totally deaf."

Heard... yes, pun intended.

(smile!)

"And whose music did he play after the intermission?"

That of two Russians, one of which he's been a fan of since he first began playing piano at the age of 7. I cannot imagine Leila or Alyssa taking an interest in piano, nor Miyah, and they're to either side of that age. 

"Sigh..."

Yeah, yeah, you stop that. As I was saying, Malofeev chose music of his countrymen. The first was someone I'd never heard of: Mieczyslaw Weinberg. I doubt I'd ever recognize the piece if I were to hear it again. On the other hand, Sergei Rachmaninov is certainly familiar to me, though I daresay not so much as he is to the this young man who has been a fan of his works for the majority - fifteen years - of his life. The Piano Sonata No. 2 has had bits of it used in movie soundtracks and in songs I know, so that added to my enjoyment of it. 

What a lovely way to end the performance, I'd thought.

But, no!

After making several returns to the stage for applause, the young man in black sat again at the keyboard of the good-footed piano and played a piece very familiar to me - I even left the venue whistling the tune! - but I cannot recall its title!

"Wow!"

Indeed! If I come upon the piece elsewhere, I'll let you know. I can say this: it's a tune that's been used in cartoon soundtracks! For real!

What a lovely evening... and so lovely warm! Low 80's today!

I hope it'll stay.

I'll sign up for some other concerts if it does!

(smile!)