Tonight I had an incredible concert experience. I am playing with the Kalamazoo Philarmonia and tonight we put on a concert titled Among Friends in which we played Overture by Grazyna Bacewicz, Piano Concerto No. 1 by Pytor Tchaikovsky with the wonderful soloist, Weiyin Chen and following intermission we played Enigma Variations by Edward Elgar. I didn't play on the first piece so I relaxed (as much as I could) back stage. I tried to stay downstairs in the warm-up area but I got so anxious that I would miss my piece or they would somehow change concert order and I messed up. So I went upstairs and listened backstage, they sounded great! Then we played the Tchaikovsky piano concerto, which was fantastic, Weiyin Chen played in such an emotive way. I especially loved the third movement with the syncopations between piano and orchestra. But the real reason I'm writing this entire post was the Enigma Variations. Fourteen continuous movements that are supposed to flow onto eachother as much as possible. I had adjusted my reed during intermission as I was playing rather sharp and a sharp second bassoonist could be a disaster. So we're going along and I'm thinking wow we sound great together, Connie (principal) and I, as well as Chris on Contra. Then we got to the ninth variation titled Nimrod, its a beautiful slow flowing adagio and I began to cry. I cried because I'm so happy and thankful for everything that I've had in my life but especially that this is exactly what I want to do until the day I die and I'm so lucky that I can do something that brings me so much joy. But...... then I started to go flat so I had to reign it back in.
In another bassoon world, I just completed my senior recital last weekend (as well as subing for the KJSO - Kalamazoo Junior Symphony Orchestra). The recital was fantastic we opened with Sonata for Piano and Bassoon by Nancy Galbraith, followed by Etude No. 3 by Franz lizst arranged for bassoon by Kristian Roones (Excuse the improper 'O') which kicked my butt, then my prized posession Guttersnipe by Paul Hayden, intermission, the first ovement of the Mozzart Bassoon and Cello Sonata, and two bassoon quartets; Profkiev's Scherzo and The Wolf and Peter by the Bubonic Collection.
It was so good! The Galbraith went well, caution to all that play - the third movement is tricky and sneaky, the Lizst will always be a difficult piece, especially for unacompanied bassoon in extreme ranges, the Guttersnipe was so fun! I started in the catwalk, moved to the mezzanene, played a recording of me playing that we took earlier in the week while I ran down a few flights of stairs to get backstage, all over the staging area WITH LIGHTS COORESPONDING TO WHERE I WAS PLAYING TOO!! The ensembles were really enjoyable, the Mozart for me and the bassoon quartets for me but also very entertaining for the audience as most of them knew the excerpts from Peter and the Wolf that were quoted. PLUS we played the Grandfather solo on a Sopranino Recorder!! It was hilarious. Then we went and ate a ton of great food and drank lots of great wine and just enjoyed family and friends.
Hours practiced today ...... atleast 1 + 3 hour concert
Don't forget about yourself,
EM
