Seattle Symphony weekend

The October curtain came down this weekend, and it rained and rained. Saturday was college football on the TV (the "right" Michigan team won-- apparently a big deal if there's a Buckeye in the house.) Then we ate pork roast for dinner. The delicious, fatty kind you braise for hours with garlic, onions and apples. For longer than I can remember, I couldn't think of a single reason to leave the house all day Saturday. So when Sunday afternoon rolled around, it was nice to go downtown to the Symphony.


It was the second concert in our regular season series, and included Copland's Appalachian Spring and Gershwin's Rhapsody in Blue. Both are big audience favorites. To me, Appalachian Spring is like listening to a long, sweet prayer--it was written in 1943 for a ballet choreographed by Martha Graham. I like daydreaming through music with a story, and this is about a young pioneer couple beginning life together in rural Pennsylvania. It ends with the Shaker hymn Simple Gifts, made famous by Copeland.

And what can you say about the treat of hearing a live performance of Rhapsody in Blue? This is the jazzy, classical concerto that a generation of 1990's TV watchers will forever associate with United Airlines. And dang it, sometimes the music still makes you think of that old commercial:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=o_hRjDiKcv8

Paul Wiggenstein in concert, 1935
c. Joan Ripley

The guest soloist was the fine Canadian pianist Marc-Andre Hamelin. Along with the Rhapsody, he also played Ravel's Concerto in D Major, also known as the Left-Hand Concerto. Ravel composed it for the pianist Paul Wiggenstein, after he lost his right arm in WWI. But just because he had only one hand doesn't mean Ravel cut poor Wiggenstein any slack. The concerto sounds like it would be diabolically difficult, even played with two hands. In fact, Wiggenstein disliked it at first, but Ravel (being Ravel) refused to change a note. He eventually came around to appreciate Ravel's French Modernism style.

Here's a picture of Ravel near the end of his life, looking over the shoulder of Jacques Fevier. Ravel was a small, precise, dapper man, and there are many entertaining stories about him. But his personal life remains a mystery. Ravel made a remark once that because he was such a perfectionist composer, so devoted to his work, he could never have a lasting intimate relationship with anyone. He was quoted as saying: " The only love affair I have ever had was with music."