Liederabend II

Sometimes the best laid plans go awry; the unexpected keeps life interesting. As we didn't have enough student pianists to go around this year I was assigned only one for my Liederabend program. It turns out she is very capable, but she is young and I couldn't burden her with learning the entire program. I was also assigned one of the pianists on the faculty to help out. Of course, I gave him all the hardest pieces. The day before my Liederabend he threw his back out and was unable to play, so that left me holding the pianistic bag. I know all the pieces as I have been coaching them for weeks now, but hadn't worked them up to performance level. It took some extra practicing to get myself up to speed. Our first performance was in the Landeskrankenhaus Kirche, the church that is part of the provincial hospital near here. It is a charming Jugendstil building with its original decor intact, so cute one would like to wrap it up and take it home. (The photo is of a stylized saint.) Like last year, the concert was very well attended. As the Director of the AIMS program didn't come (I thought he would) it was left to me to offer some welcoming remarks to our audience and inform them of the program change. I have no problem speaking publicly, but I have never done so in German -- and to an audience of Austrians! I got more nervous about that then playing, but all went well. The concert was a great success. My young charges all rose to the occasion and sang beautifully. I'm very proud of them all.

The second performance took place in a venue on the Hauptplatz, in the heart of the old city. The RUEFA (an acronym for something of other) is actually a travel agency by day. The desks are pushed aside and concealed behind a curtain and, voilà, instant concert hall. A Bösendorfer grand was moved in for the occasion. Embellishing the somewhat surreal atmosphere of the place is an enormous palm tree that is wall-papered on the front wall of the room, just in front of the piano, a visual that rather put a damper on the "Winter" segment of my program. (The theme of the program was "Die Jahreszeiten" = The Seasons). The power of music had to overcome it. (Perhaps next time I can create a program around all of those Goethe South Sea Island poems; the well-known "Nur wer Tahiti kennt, weiss was ich leide" jumps to mind....) Once again my students performed admirably. I chose a particularly interesting program of Lieder, a mix of well-known favorites and lesser known songs, including compositions by Clara Schumann, Fanny Mendelssohn-Hensel, Alma Mahler, Robert Franz, Josef Marx and Charles Ives. Two duets by Mendelssohn and Schumann added luster to the evening. Two different people told me later that they thought this was the best Liederabend they had ever heard at AIMS. There could be no better compliment. This second program was taped and recorded. I hope I can add some clips to this blog at a future date.