Rachmaninoff - The Bells

Saturday night was the closing night for the Rachmaninoff festival that has been playing at Boettcher Concert Hall for the last two weeks, and we got to play to a sold out house. I love that energy - there's nothing like seeing a venue filled up like that.

The performance opened with one movement from The Vespers, which is an acapella piece and was performed by a small chamber choir selected from the CSO Chorus. That group of select individuals did an amazing job with the piece, and it makes me curious to go look up the rest of the piece. Honestly, I've been so busy trying to learn our various pieces in Russian that when I got to sit and listen to the chamber chorus it occurred to me how beautiful the Alleluia in Russian really was. The piece isn't performed often, so if you ever have an opportunity to go hear it - definitely take advantage.

The second part of the first half of the concert was the full CSO and Chorus performing The Bells, which is the work that Rachmaninoff considered his best and is based on the Edgar Allen Poe poem of the same name. Rachmaninoff had a great love of bells, a carry over from the deep bells of Russia, and this piece explored a variety of these bells. The first movement was based on sleigh bells (light and childlike), the second was on wedding bells (full and solemn), the third was based on alarm bells (just wait until you see the translation for this - Maestro Kahane described it as scary - true because of the music, not just the translation and I think most of us in the chorus would agree that scary is accurate, lol - but I think Mary Louise captured it best when she described it as a mid-life crisis), the fourth and final movement was based on funeral bells. But in the end, there is peace and I love that I could hear and understand each of these shifts in the music. For me, it's always exciting when you really can read the music.

It was a unique experience, and the piece grew in leaps and bounds for me as I got more comfortable with the language (and how to spit out that many consonants at one time)! Ultimately, I don't feel that we did it justice the way that we do with pieces that are more common...there were some places where truly I was just praying that we would all wind up in the same spot at the same time. But, I'm on the lookout for the review to see what, if anything, the reviewers had to say about the performance. Our usual supporters were in the audience (I love that they hoot and holler for us no matter how I personally feel about the performance) so that made it a little easier. I can say that I was definitely working - I was kinda gross and sweaty at the end, which always tells me how into the piece I was. Hopefully someday I'll have another chance at The Bells, so that I can try to hone what I've already learned. With a little luck, I can pick up the score tomorrow at lunch so that I can transfer all my notes...not sure I want to start again from scratch next time we do this work, and my notes would be handy!

The second half of the concert for me was the highlight. Olga Kern played the Piano Concerto #2 (if you find it, you'll recognize it. I didn't think I would, and I absolutely did. Hmmm...actually, I need to go download it). That woman is so incredibly gifted and so much fun to watch that I feel fantastically lucky to have even shared a backstage with her. And her gown...seriously, that was a performance gown if I've ever seen one. It was strapless, light yellow with a yellow sash, and yards of tiered lace that actually ended in a train. I swear, if I'd seen more of those performers as a child, I might have been a little more adamant about learning to be a performance artist...if only for the dresses!!!

The one single sad moment occurred at the end of the second movement. Olga had just played the final notes of the movement, notes that were as delicate as they could possibly be and still be heard and the magic in the auditorium was palpable. And one beat after she lifted her hands, as the silence was still settling...someone's cell phone went off. Yep, that's right...it went off on a pitch just a little higher than the last notes of the bar, which completely destroyed that delicious tension the 2nd movement had created. Seriously, people...when they say to turn off all cell phone, watch alarms, or other electronics at the beginning of the show, they're not just announcing for their health. Shoot, they're announcing it for your own health - no one wants to be at the mercy of pissed off theatre goers!

Ok, now that I've vented that...as soon as I find the review, I'll post it, along with the translation. I still need to get the Three Russian Songs on here as well...so all of that coming soon!