Yesterday was a lot of fun! Louise and I attended the Nobel Prize Concert. The Royal family was
there, the Nobel Prize winners were there (I assume? Louise and I scanned the room for them, especially Herta Müller), SVT was there, we were there but mostly - Martha Argerich was there. She was of a minimum two meters away from us when she walked on and off the stage. Wonder and joy couldn't even begin to describe it! Now what I loved about her from yesterday night was that you could see the joy of playing on her. I see many pianist whom I can't pick that off of. She has a vibe about her that just makes you joyful and which makes you feel. As I watched her play yesterday, it was like a watching a child play with the greatest passion. Physically she doesn't look much different at all from what she did when she was younger, and it feels (and looks) like she has got that eternal youth and fire of passion that radiates when she performs.Our Royal Philharmonic played Shostakovich's (my favourite composer) Festive Overture - which was a smart move. The piece was pompous and powerful which set the mood for a Nobel Prize concert perfectly. I got really excited and the orchestra sounded much better than they did on last years season's opening concert with the new conductor Sakari Oramo (what a disappointment it was then). Perhaps it's because it's the Nobel Prize concert or because they had a much better conductor Yuri Temirkanov. There was such a great connection, a bond of understanding between him and the orchestra. He didn't have to over do it or do much at all to be honest, he just went with it and they did too. They felt it together and just...composed music!
Either way, the high light was Argerich. She played one of my most favorite and the most beautiful piano concerto I've heard (Ravel's piano concerto in G major). It's fantastic and so well composed, it's perfection itself! She performed it so well, her interpretation is by far the best one yet. Everything was so clear, I heard it through new ears and it was like a reincarnation. But the movement I've been waiting for since before summer was of course the second movement. It was brilliant! I know this will sound so cheesy, but every time I hear it performed live by a wonderful pianist (which has actually only been once before) it makes my heart ache and catches me out of breath. I can't even describe it in words because the only way to understand it, is to hear it - live, with a great pianist as Martha Argerich. All the beautiful tension that builds up, up, up until the english horn's solo releases it and the piano's accompaniment sounds like sparkling ocean water. It doesn't get more beautiful than that...
Leaving that topic before it gets out of hand, I wasn't that fond of the last piece. Prokofiev's Romeo and Juliet suite. We've heard it before and I think I'd like to see ballet dancers with it (sarcasm was in that for those who didn't understand it), but since when was a suite a suitable ending for a concert? Especially the Noble Prize concert? Louise and I discussed this, and she figured that a symphony would've been better - which I fully agree to.
All in all, it was great. Argerich was so modest and humble when she received her applause. She tried several times to get Temirkanov to bow with her and accept some applause too, but he refused. She was tonight's star! The fact that she showed such humbleness and the way she tried to get both the conductor and the orchestra to rise and bow, shows how she wants to convey that she couldn't have pulled the piano concerto off on her own. They did it all together!Girls being girls, it was very fun to dress up for a change. Louise and I went all the way with it. This was a Black Tie event, although women weren't allowed to wear long evening gowns (apparently they were supposed to be short). Sweden being swedish, about 89% came in black as if it were (as Louise nicely put it) a funeral. And it wasn't really nice black cocktail dresses, it was more like a black skirt with an old ragged black sweater. This is the Nobel Prize concert people!!! Either way, we were dressed for success and I actually did hear an elder lady commenting our pretty and colorful dresses during the champagne break (fancy-fancy!).
After the concert we headed home to Louise's place but had a little stop at McDonalds for fuel. None of us had eaten since 9am or 12pm. We've both been so worked up and busy (I had two doctors appointments at different ends of town) that we forgot that we were hungry. As we got to her place I met her two cats Tess and Milton, who were adorable and such sweethearts. I found Milton sleeping by my feet and somewhere at around 4am Tess woke me up. She was apparently sneezing and as I awoke she was by my head, to later settle herself on my pillow. The pillow was shared, Tess taking up 95% of it and me getting a couple of centimeters to sleep on. It was quite fun and sweet, but when I moved her twice to make room for my head she apparently wasn't keen on sharing and hopped off to roam around the apartment before settling in behind Louise's knees again.To see the whole concert press on the name The Nobel Prize Concert 2009.
Maurice Ravel's Piano Concerto in G major.
Martha Argerich, with Charles Dutoit and Orchestre National de France.
Frankfurt September 9th, 1990.
(A month before my birth. It would've been more cool if it was October 9th, 1990).
