This past Saturday, we performed on the final concert of the Meadowlark Music Festival in Lincoln, Nebraska. The concert featured pianist Arnaldo Cohen and we joined him on the second half for Brahms's great Piano Quintet in F Minor, Op. 34. The experience was of course a tremendously enjoyable experience. Cohen is not just a great pianist, he is able both to lead the sound with tremendous flexibility and clarity as well as follow. We were able to truly play as a quintet, with a balanced sound. In many cases, the meeting of a pianist and a quartet results in the complete obliteration of the strings inside an ocean of piano. When the right balance can be found between strings and piano, it is a magical experience. This certainly qualified in our book. Cohen was by no means quiet, you could hear him quite well all of the time, and in a few places where it is needed (like the end of the 1st movement), he very nearly covered our sound completely.
Even better, we received the most wonderfully innocent review afterwards. In most cases, reviewers tend to wax poetic on the elements of music that about 0.00001% of the population can understand. In some cases, great reviewers can find a way to educate as they critique a group while writing interesting prose as well.
The Lincoln Journal-Star chose to assign a novice reviewer to this concert, one who was unfamiliar with musical terminology such as "piece" versus "song" and the concept of a "movement." For those of you who are in the same boat, most classical music is called a "piece," reserving the word "song" for music that involves a singer. Most pieces are split up into separate sections that could work as separate "songs" called movements. It's a tradition that goes way back to the middle ages.
Anyways, there are two reasons why this is my favorite review ever. First, the review is written without much knowledge of classical tradition, and is a hilarious read for those "in the know" with quotes like:
The joint performance featured five Brahms pieces, all of which were mostly dominated by the strings.
The (1) piece we played was the 4-movement Brahms piano quintet. He thought it was 5 pieces because of the way it is listed in the program, which is to say it is something like:
Piano Quintet in F Minor, Op. 34 J. Brahms
Allegro non troppo
Andante, un poco adagio
Scherzo: Allegro
Finale: poco sostenuto - Allegro non troppo - Presto non troppo
and my favorite criticism ever: "too much strings, not enough piano fun!":
However, it would have been nice to hear a few pieces in which lead duties were more evenly split between the keys and the strings.
Nevertheless, the five performers received ample laudation from the audience and were called back onto stage twice before the crowd dispersed.
More importantly, it really highlights the strength of classical music in Lincoln, Nebraska. People who have clearly never been to a classical music concert are not only attending, they are reviewing concerts! This is fantastic news for those who are wondering about the state of classical music in the USA. It takes a lot to get a small newspaper to devote copy to a review, and the Lincoln Journal-Star did just that, and a fair amount as well. The reviewer is clearly writing with enthusiasm about an art form he has no regular contact with, and his closing paragraphs really capture the essence of his enjoyment:
And once again, the Meadowlark organizers found just the performers Lincoln’s classical music lovers were looking for — a healthy mix of new and familiar.
It was a concert of such a caliber that might not be seen again in Lincoln for a while — well, at least until next year’s Meadowlark season, that is.
Seriously - who could ask for anything more?
