I feel blessed to be able to attend this event by Yo-Yo Ma, where he performed three of Bach’s suites for unaccompanied cello. He dedicated this performance to Robert Mondavi, the renowned winemaker who passed away a year ago. Mondavi's the major donor of the performing arts center.
You cannot beat the acoustics at Mondavi - I can feel the music echoing back at the perfect pitch to my ears from the walls, especially the bass notes.
Ma was larger than life on stage - a lone chair in the middle. I was glad to have brought the binoculars - The myriad of micro-expressions on Mr. Ma's face was completely amazing and captivating. Bach pieces are not popular repertoire for the masses-they require "depths" from both the musician and the audience, yet give incredible emotional ranges in hands of great cellist.
And than came the encore-he seemed to have put some thoughts to it. It sounded like a Chinese song to me, beautiful-many commented that it's the best piece in the recital.
At the end of it, like one of the usher lady exclaimed - the feeling is "like God descends to earth". How lucky I am to hear two of the most celebrated musicians in the world, Yo-Yo Ma and Itzhak Perlman in the span of three months, 2 minutes from home?
(BTW, check out the youtube video of the Obama Presidential Inauguration Piece "Air and Simple Gifts" arranged by John Williams, where Yo-Yo Ma performed with Itzhak Perlman et al. Amazing and beautiful. )
Patty Yeung I am absolutely envious that you saw this concert!!! I cancelled my name on the wait list when they told me I was #700-something!
ReplyDeleteMay 17, 2009 at 11:52am · Like