Power blackout fails to halt Rachmaninoff Etudes
UncategorizedAbram Kreeger reports for slippedisc.com from Miami:
Tuesday evening in Miami, lightning struck when pianist Asiya Korepanova was in the middle of performing the complete Rachmaninoff Etudes-Tableaux at the Coral Gables Congregational United Church of Christ. A total power outage followed less than 15 minutes into the program.
In complete darkness, Korepanova continued her performance until her former mentor, Santiago Rodriguez, tapped her shoulder after one of the etudes and offered to hold his cellphone to provide a little light on the keyboard.
At the conclusion of opus 33, the attentive audience, which sat through numerous power flickers and the noise of a torrential downpour, provided the pianist with a lengthy ovation for her persistence. Miss Korepanova, Russian born, is the only pianist in the United States performing Rachmaninoff’s entire solo repertoire in concerts within the composer’s 150th anniversary year. Her next performance of the complete Etudes-Tableaux program is scheduled on September 30 at the St. Thomas Church Fifth Avenue, New York City.
Reminds me in part of a performance of the wonderful Strehler production of Simon Boccanegra presented by La Scala in Tokyo’s Bunka Kaikan late in 1981. At one point the pit went completely dark. Leaning over from my upper tier seat, I could see Claudio Abbado frantically using his left arm all but begging the musicians to continue. Like the pros they were, they played on with minimal light spill from the stage until about 15 seconds later the pit lights flickered back on.
In 1977, I attended an Andre Watts concert in Bloomington where the lights went out during the first half. Watts was playing Schubert, and he finished the sonata without missing a note.
I guess I have to admire with this…. Anyone wants to repeat the heroic performance? or even more – go to Ukraine and play a concert. Here is a title: “Music under russian missiles attack
Much like any simpleton in politics, you have to give your cropped half-witted ideas in a place that has absolutely no relationship with it. Tell me: what part of this inspired you to comment that. Was it just the fact that you read the word *Russian* and thought you were going to be some sort of political hero?
A grand piano doesn’t need amplification and an artist who has internalized the music doesn’t need light.
Brava!