Viva la Barenboim!

Just spent the last 2+ hours watching my newly bought Barenboim 50th anniversary concert at Teatro Colon DVD (cheapo chinese edition, no less from the same shop in Bras Basah). The fact that I'm writing this at 3+am is testimony to simply how enthralled I was with the performance. Barenboim may not be the pianist he once was, but you know, once a musician, always a musician. From the simple charm of the Mozart K330, to a very heartfelt Appassionata, to an idiomatic Iberia, to the thirteen(!) encores, Barenboim brought me on quite a journey through the full range of human emotion. I thought his last encore, the 2nd movement from Mozart's K545, was absolutely poignant in its simplicity - it really reminded me of the genius of Mozart and how only someone like him could write music which sounded as natural and effortless as that.

Earlier today, I was at a concert by the students of my former piano teacher. Was a happy reunion of sorts, as I met up with a few old friends, some of whom I hadn't met in years. Sadly, the number of us lao jiao students seems to have dwindled, as most of us have gone to college, started working and some have even gotten married. The music was pretty decent, of which the highlights were a piano duet arrangement of Feria, Bernice playing Mendelssohn's Variations Serieuses (oooh I really really love the theme going over that big big A pedal just before the last variation), an amazing pre-teen named Shaun Choo (I don't think he's in his teens yet, incredible talent, but has rather disorienting mannerisms that are way beyond his age) playing (gasp) 4 Chopin etudes from Op 25, and finally good old Michael playing a rather improvisatory (in a good sense!) 3rd Chopin Scherzo. Lovely stuff.

I think tonight was a reminder of how thankful I should be for the gift of music. Even if I may not be able to play like I once could, fortunately music can still stir my emotions and make me do stupid things like stay up till 3am watching some guy depressing some black and white strips of wood with his fingers.