December 12, 1998
This concert was held at the University of Western Ontario where two 9-foot concert grands are already on stage; as a result, we didn't have to worry about instruments. The plan was to drive to London on Saturday (about 2 hours from Toronto), run the programme in the afternoon, and, after a light snack, play the concert. Normally, we like to have dinner a couple of hours before we play, but we were staying with some friends overnight, and assumed (correctly) that we all would go out after it was over, as there was no reception following the concert. Things went pretty much according to plan. The pianos were tuned very well for us, and they were good instruments, though the fact that we were not using our own (so to speak!) did make us aware of how... I guess there's no other way to put it: how spoiled we are! Most pianists have to take what they get, and even when the instruments are good (as they were here), it's a big pain having to constantly adjust to the new touch, sound, etc. Those who play other instruments, like strings or winds, and who always perform on the same instrument, don't know how lucky they are. Anyway, this concert made us aware of how lucky we are. The concert itself went well, though I didn't feel as comfortable with "Jupiter" as I would have liked; I guess it didn't show, though, as the audience seemed to like it. The rest of the programme came off very well, but I was especially happy with the Debussy. What an incredible piece in whatever medium. In the piano-duo version, it really does play like one of his piano Preludes, only on a slightly larger scale. After the concert, a bunch of us went out for pizza (thin crust,
very
good, and some nice Italian wine), but because the next day's event in
Elora was a matinee, we didn't stay too long, and got to bed relatively
early so that we could have a leisurely travel day, and also so we could
spend some time over breakfast with our hosts and their children.
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