Playing With Wolfgang: A Little Night Music
I’ll admit it. I’m a complete nerd for certain kinds of music. A while back, I was listening to a new album by Nils Anders Mortensen (look for more on this in an upcoming review). All the works on the CD are tied together by their connections to the outdoors. And yes, outdoor music would be one of the exact kinds of music I am a complete nerd for.
Included in the album is Bela Bartok’s Out of Doors Suite (Im Freien). I am so enchanted by the 4th piece in the set, The Night’s Music, that I included it in a recital some time ago. You guessed it. A subset of the aforementioned pieces for which I am a complete nerd is outdoor pieces set at night.
At first, I was going to program night pieces as the entire second half but somehow the program settled in with just two night pieces at the finish: Bartok’s The Night’s Music and Alexina Louie’s I Leap Through the Sky With Stars. The contrast of the music of the earth (cricket, frog, & human) with that of the stars totally satisfied my nerdy musical needs.
After that particular recital, someone said that I sounded like a different pianist during those pieces. I wonder if it was just because my innermost nerd was on display?
I never did find a place for Richard Danielpour’s Night from The Enchanted Garden but you can listen to a sample and purchase it here.
There have been many times in my playing career that I have been so much into what I was playing I hardly knew I was playing it. I really identify with the notion that you play what you love from a different mind set.