Some people!

Chatting online with a friend of mine, when asked what was up, I mentioned how Hubby is writing an opera for one outfit, an orchestra piece for another, how his CD was launched recently and received pretty good reviews, and she said that I say these things, which everyone else would consider rather amazing, as though they were just everyday occurrences; and I had to say that in the world I inhabit, they are just normal things. Now, having introduced this entry with that anecdote, I must also admit that I go to more concerts than your average bear, and now that the school term is up and running, this is as true as ever.

Last night Hubby and I drove to Montreal to hear the final doctoral recital of our Serbian violist friend. She played a piece by Hubby for solo viola, a devilishly difficult composition which he had written at the behest of one of Canada’s better-known media organizations for a competition they have on a regular basis for young performers. In this case the category was strings, and Hubby was commissioned to write something that all four of them (violin, viola, cello and bass) could play. That is a tall order. They are very different instruments with quite different challenges, even though they all look the same. He conceived of the composition as a quartet, actually, and as four separate solos. The violin version has been recorded, and the cello version has been played by one of the world’s renowned performers, but until last night the viola version had never been heard in public. The bass part has not been played either.

Anyway, our friend was stunning. She had on a gorgeous red, very slinky, dress (she has a beautiful figure), and she played amazingly. The solo piece was a tour de force. This was followed by a sonata with piano, a world premiere, which went very well and was very well received. After intermission she played the Canadian premiere of a concerto (she assembled a huge orchestra which a friend of hers directed), and surprised everyone by playing the middle movement on an electric 5-string viola, complete with fuzz and other distortions. The third movement called for a tango, and a beautiful young man walked on stage and they danced. It was astounding. She let go of her partner long enough to pick up her instrument and play the last chord with the orchestra, and it was over.

Afterwards there was a reception in the foyer of the theatre, and then we had coffee and something to eat at a nearby café, after which we drove home in -28°C temperatures. We got home around 1:00 a.m., exhausted.

The kitchen tap wasn’t frozen today and the freezer is totally defrosted now. Even the puddle on the basement floor is more-or-less dried up, and I just have to clean out the interior of the appliance with warm, soapy water (according to the manufacturer’s directions), and then refill it with the frozen food that is still on the deck and plug it in.

Ed popped in when I was out buying groceries. He has just returned from a trip to India and brought me a small present, a piece of hammered brass with the elephant-headed god Ganesh on it. I’m quite touched that he thought of me.

Tonight’s concert was the pianist who joined Hubby’s trio on their recent CD and a percussionist, playing a concert of all new music. It was really very good. I am only sorry that I’m so sleepy right now, or I would have enjoyed it more.

Hubby told me that a woman from the town where the pianist lives had come to this concert, thinking that she was going to hear jazz, and was so offended by the sounds of contemporary concert music that she left in a huff, stormed to the box office and demanded her money back. I don’t know if she got it, but I thought it was a funny story.

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